Sarah R.

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Sharon Neva 23 years, 3 months ago

SARAH~~BEST WISHES ON YOUR WLS JOURNEY~~ May the world hug you today with its warmth, and love.....Pray it whispers a joyful tune in your heart.....And may the wind carry a voice that tells you there is a friend sitting in another corner of the world wishing you well!~~ PLEASE STOP BY THE MESSAGE BOARD, IT'S AN EXCELLENT PLACE TO FIND INFORMATION AND SUPPORT

Sarah R. 23 years, 3 months ago

1-22-02 Had my appointment at Dr. Grant's office yesterday. It was a long day, to say the least. Got there at 7:45 for an 8:00 appointment and made sure I was the first one at the registration desk. Paid my $10 copay and $250 for the psych eval. Drew four or five tubes of blood. Did height, weight, temp, BP, pulse, fat composition (52.1% IIRC) and took pictures. Did the test where they measure the number of calories you burn in a resting state (sorry I can't remember the name of that one). Then I met Hilary Blackwood, the nurse practitioner. We talked for a bit, she did a brief medical exam (heart, lungs, etc.). We discovered that although I do still have my gall bladder, no one had arranged for an ultrasound over at the hospital in addition to all the other tests. We eventually agreed that Hilary would write me a prescription for the gall bladder ultrasound and I would arrange to have it done at one of the hospitals here in Raleigh, rather than driving all the way back to Durham from Garner (more about the ultrasound later). Went upstairs to meet with Dr. Applegate. She was great, younger than I expected for a PhD, but very personable. After almost an hour and a half, she declared that I had "better insight than most folks" about the issues that accompany significant weight loss, so I guess that went well. Hopped over to the hospital where they got me registered, did all these breathing tests and the arterial blood gases (wasn't as painful as I thought it would be). Did the EKG. Then, I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if I could con my way into the gall bladder ultrasound as long as I was there. After all, even if I didn't have an appointment, I did have a prescription in my hand, and honestly, it struck me as the kind of place where if you acted like you were supposed to get the ultrasound, they would just take you at your word. They tried to do the barium swallow first, but I insisted that I couldn't take the barium because the ultrasound requires you to fast (did I mention that it was about 2:00pm at this point and I was starving and dehydrated and losing patience). So they finally squeezed me into an appointment with ultrasound, which took a LONG time because the tech kept looking at my left kidney, I mean for a really long time. Finally, she said, "You wait here. I get doctor." Grrrrrr. Doctor came, took the same pictures of my left kidney, and assured me there was nothing wrong with it (although I had and still have an uneasy feeling about how long they spent on it). Bottom line from the ultrasound is I have gall stones. Don't know much about this except that a lot of people apparently live a long time with gall stones and never have any pain or symptoms. I guess this means he'll take my gall bladder when he does the RNY, yes? Anyway, after the ultrasound, over to radiology for the barium swallow which, I have to be honest, was the worst part of the whole day. That stuff is just foul, foul, foul. Every sip made me gag and I barely kept it down. Guess they got what they needed though because I only had to take three sips. Finally was released about 3:30pm So, all in all, a productive but difficult day. By the end I was nearly in tears from wanting something to drink. But, at least I got ALL of my pre-op testing done. Now I guess we wait for all these doctors to send my results back to Dr. Grant and submit to insurance for the REAL waiting game. By the way, Hilary also set me up for a group consult with the surgeon on January 31. This is a new procedure for them to allow folks who are still undecided to meet with Dr. Grant before they submit their application as well as those of us who are farther along in the process. I'm looking forward to meeting him. I will say this about the hospital......although the facility wasn't gleaming new or very sophisticated, the staff was VERY polite and helpful. Everyone I encountered was sensitive and treated me with great respect. I was asked twice if I needed help by people (nurses?) who were just passing by even though it clearly wasn't their job to assist me. I got a very good impression of the staff.

Leslie E. 23 years, 6 months ago

I wrote a letter to my Dr asking him for a letter of referral for the bariatric surgeon. In that letter, I listed all my info. My weight, my BMI, my cormidities(ailments),my diet history,my desire for wls, and my thoughts on how obesity had changed my life--what I had to deal with from being obese.My Dr. used that letter as a basis for his and he sent my surgeon a great letter,of which I got a copy of. By the way, make sure you get a copy of everything-letters and test results.You'll need them if you have to make an appeal to the insurance co. or perhaps start with a new Dr. Good luck. Leslie Elwood