Last month felt like the longest ever. After speaking with the surgeon at length, my nerves are much more at ease. I had a chance to ask my questions. Thanks to my buddy Lap Band Gal, I had a nice base of questions to start with. My surgeon is Dr. Beth Schrope. She is super sweet and knowledgable. Being that I work in the medical field, I come in contact with tons of doctors, and by comparison, she is very humble. So many can be quite jerky, but she has a comfortable disposition and I really like her. She asked me what I was thinking, listened to me thoroughly before offering much of an opinion, which I really was appreciative of, and then got to the nitty gritty. We talked about my options.
Something that I loved about this visit, was that she offered me the more permanent option of the gastric sleeve surgery as well. I liked that she shared with me that she didn't jump on the bandwagon when that surgery was first introduced. She waited for the 5 year studies to be complete before moving forward with her own patients. I am not really comfortable with this option, as permanent resection kind of scares me. But I was thankful for the information and glad she gave me the option.
So this is the plan moving forward.
1. Bloodwork
2. Pulmonary Function Tests (I have asthma and need to be cleared for anesthesia)
3. Psych Evaluation (Insurance requirement)
4. Nutritionist & Nurse Practitioner
Once all this is complete, which will be in the next 1-2 weeks, I'll arrange my surgery date. It looks like early to mid June. Ready... Set... Go!
WOO HOO!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteDo you get to choose which band you get?
She said that they typically use the Lap-Band but I could have the Realize if I wanted it. She said she tended to use the realize more with men because the port was a little more flat and was less visible and that with women, it didn't seem to make as much of a difference. She also said she didn't feel that one was much better than the other from her experience.
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