Ottawa pre op thingy

I think ppl refer to this as patts? Anyways she said its a 3hour appt??? Does is really take this long? what will they be having me do?

Some waiting... Meet with nurse, she asks questions and checks basics for 30-45 min,

if you need an ECG a tech will come do tthat someone comes from the lab for blood wwork if you have a Capp I think you have to bring for the nurse or specialist to see and record ppressures you will also meet the anaesthetic dr, not necessarily the one who will be with you, but someone to go over your questions and to ask you health questions as well.

sorry about typos iPad is a pain

When I had my pre-op, I had brought my CPAP machine with me, as outlined in the booklet.   The nurse said that I need not have brought it, and that the WMC was going to revise their book of instructions.  (That being said, if it's not a total hassle, and if in fact you are on CPAP, there's nothing lost by taking it in.)  

I'm cutting and pasting my blog entry about the pre-op visit, if it's of any help.

"January 17, 2013 - Pre-admission Unit

My appointment was for 8:30 at the Admitting Department on the main floor. I had arrived early, 8:15, and had no wait at all. I signed the necessary forms, showed my insurance forms, declined both a television and a phone. Total time? Eight minutes max.

"Then I walked over to the elevators to take me to the first floor, E wing, for the pre-op part of the visit. I checked in at the desk, was given two booklets and waited no more than six or seven minutes. I was then taken to a private room where several vials of blood were taken by a technician. I was asked to change in to a hospital gown, nude from the waist up, and get on to the hospital bed as another tech arrived and took an ECG. After that a nurse spent about 30 minutes with me, taking blood pressure, blood oxygen. We went through all my medications (which I had taken with me), covered all the procedures for Same Day Admission outlined in one of the booklets (the other booklet is on Pain Management), and answered any questions I had.

"One thing that falls under "I wish I had known that and they are going to change it" was the fact that while the Weight Management Clinic booklet "Patient Information - Your Guide to Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery" (given at the pre-op information session in December) says I should bring my CPAP machine to this appointment, it was not required. While not unduly heavy, it was just annoying to have lugged it in unnecessarily.

"That being done, I waited another ten minutes, still in the same room, still on the bed, still in the gown, and then met the anesthesiologist. He listened to my heart, lungs, reviewed all the cardiac tests, had me open my mouth and he checked my throat. We had quite a laugh over my hesitation/embarrassment over my full dentures. He said that when they see folks in beds lined up for the operating room and they have their blankets over their mouths, the staff know that they aren't going to have any trouble intubating those people without teeth, and that the staff call us their favourites. Who would have thought? I will be asleep for the intubation, which suits me just fine.

"I left the unit at 10:30 -- just over two hours from start to finish.

"I stopped at the Pharmacy on the ground floor on the way out and bought some unflavoured Beneprotein.

"A good day ... this is very real now."

What was also cool was that the same nurse is the one who did my pre-op work on January 23 (IV insertion, more history, etc. and sent me off to the operating room.   Lovely woman.

I'm in no way a "morning person", but I tell you, if you get the first of the day appointments, life goes really smoothly.  :)

I hope this helps.

mmm

 

 

 

I was there for just over 3 1/2 hrs with no ECG... Ad they never told me to go to admissions before... Which meant someone had to come see me during my stay and ask me questions about insurance and tell me what I may be responsible to sign and pay for.... Do yourself a favor and do this at your pre-op... I found this overwhelming during recovery.

Most of my time was spent waiting...bring a good book.

The good news in Ottawa is that after visiting admissions, you go to the 2nd floor for the PATTS appointment, they call you back to a room and all the testing goes on in that room (the specialists come to you).

 

It took only 1.5 hours for me when I had this appt.

 

Judy