Patience is not one of my virtues!

Aug 07, 2009

My first consultation with the surgeon was today! I really liked Dr. Maffei. He's very down-to-earth and explained everything thoroughly. I found out that my insurance (GHI) does require 6 months of nutritional consultations. Grr. So it looks like my surgery will be in late January.

The consult was the usual weigh-in, height check and blood work. TEN VIALS OF BLOOD! I've never had so much blood taken at one time. Then I had the urea breath test where they make you drink this citrus drink and check for some kind of parasites in the stomach. I also had to breathe in to a machine for 10 minutes (saliva, much?) to see if I had a low, normal or high metabolic rate. Shockingly, it revealed that my metabolic rate is about 11% above normal for a person my height, weight and age. This is good, because it means after the surgery, I should do quite well with the weight loss and after a couple years, as long as I stick to diet and exercise, I shouldn't have a problem with gaining any back.

We decided on gastric bypass because the idea of some foreign body that has to be adjusted creeps me out. I'd rather just be cut.

Aside from the 6 month wait, I have a checklist with about 4 other things to accomplish before a surgery date can be scheduled.

-- Letter of medical necessity from my PCP (DONE)
-- Clearance from a cardiologist/ECG, ECHO, Stress test (DONE)
-- Psych Consult (not covered by my insurance, $210)
-- 2 support groups

Doesn't seem like much at all now that I type it out.
He is not requiring that I see a pulmonologist or have an endocrine consult, so that's two less items I have to worry about.
I do have to lose 5% of my body weight (~12-15 lbs) before surgery so that my liver will be small and easy to manuever around.

Dr. Maffei said that if it was up to him, he'd schedule my surgery as soon as all the clearances are received. Damn insurance protocols lol

I need the rest of the year to fly by just as quickly as the first half has!

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