Ilianexy
Rejected...
Jun 16, 2010
I was rejected by the Harlem Hospital for bariatric sugery this morning :( . They felt that performing surgery on my belly was too risky due to my previous surgery and scars. They said they would've to cut open my belly to perform such surgery and that the Lap-Band was out of the question and the RNY was going to be difficult because I had a surgery on my intestines before. So they decided not to go ahead with it. I was a little sad about it but at least I went to another hospital yesterday for a second opinion and that was the best thing I did...I went yesterday to the St. Luke's hospital for an orientation and then we were told that we could see the doctor if we wanted to so we all went. I didn't know that agreeing to see him meant to start the process right away. When I went up his office I was first given a form for my blood work, they told me to go right away so I went, got my blood taken, like 7-8 tubes! Then went up again or down I don't even know. Then they registered us to see him, I thought I was going to see him and ask him some questions only and that was it but we were called by the nurse practitioner whom you will not believe it but she was my nurse when I had my colostomy surgery! I remember her so well because she used to buy me food. She was so surprised to see me and hugged me and started whispering as if I was a protected patient still (the colostomy was performed due to a domestic violence attack and I was protected by the hospital), she asked me if that was my real name because was given another at that time for protection and not even the nurses knew my real name...wow! Well, she weighed me and stuff and then I was seen by her again and talked about my history and of course she knew about my belly problem but didn't find the big deal about not being able to have the surgery so I felt glad about that. The doctor came in and she told him a little about me and he was friends with Dr. Wedderburn who performed my colostomy in the same hospital so he said he will talk to him about what's going on in there and told the nurse to start the work-up with me. By the time I was done I couldn't see the nutritionist, but the other girls were able to, I'll see her on my second visit. They gave me the paper for the stuff I have to do within 1 month like getting an abdominal ultrasound again, getting a letter of support from my PCP, and getting a psychological evaluation which will cost me $300!!!! The department that does this kind of test don't take insurance so it has to come out of our pockets!! The second visit will be to set a surgery date and see the nutritionist and then of course do the testing. My surgery will be perfomed by Dr. Teixeira, if he doesn't change his mind.
It surprised me how fast the process is in the St. Luke's hospital, they do things so you don't have to go to so many visits, for example the surgical pre-testings are done in 1 day, it takes around 4 hours and a half and that's it. At the Harlem Hospital however you have to make an appointment for each test, plus you see the doctor,nutritionist and psychologist on different days. I will be honest, the Harlem hospital bariatric clinic is very clean, pretty, chairs are comfortable, the floor shines, is very spacious, they have a huge staff, they are nice, everything is super organized, there's no complain. The only thing was that they turned me away and it's a little far from my home. The St. Luke's bariatric clinic is very different, it's old, dark, small, very little staff, the orientation was kind of crappy, the just put a video and that was it, no one went there to talk to us, they sent the receptionist to greet us, we watched the video and that was it. But the St. Luke's hospital is the second best hospital to have WLS in NYC after NYU, so I guess I'll be in very good hands...
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About Me
New York, NY
Location
39.1
BMI
Surgery
11/02/2010
Surgery Date
May 30, 2010
Member Since
