Message Boards

I have been reading the info out there on the message boards.  Initially I read alot on GastricSleeve.com.  They were relative active on there, but I didn't realize that the site was created by one of the doctors who advertises on the site and I started to feel some of the information was biased in that direction.  Most of the sites allow members to post their surgeon and this site had an overwhelming number of his patients.  This is good if you are one of his patients, but I will not be.  The other board was VerticalSleeveTalk.com.  That one was ok too, but not as active.  I was very spoiled by BreastCancer.org.  That had tons of current posts on anything you could think of relative to BC.  I did notice that a couple of blogs that I read mentioned ObesityHelp.com.  I started looking on there and their vertical sleeve forum is pretty good.  That is where I look mostly now.

Visit with the Physicians Assistant

Today I drug myself across the lake and went to "Big Ochsner".  I really dislike going there.  It is so huge and the parking garage is a mess (although better than it used to be).  Robyn was born there, so it does hold a special place in my heart.  My appointment was for 2:40.  I was not called back for an hour.  I was not happy about that.  They had recently begun the change over to a new system of keeping patient records.  The Northshore had done this last November and it was a nightmare.  It is just now getting back to normal.  I am assuming this was causing the back up in appointment times.  Being later in the day, the extra time it took to enter and or find past patient information was compounded.  The length of my visit was scheduled to be 20 minutes.  I was in there about an hour.  My appointment with the P.A. went well.  She thinks I would be a good candidate for the sleeve.  They weighed and measured my height.  I am not 5'7" like I always thought.  I am actually 5'8".  Cool.  Better to be taller than shorted that I thought.  The P.A. went over the different tests that I would need.  Unfortunately, I will have to be self pay as our Humana policy does not cover weight loss surgery.  Individual policies usually don't.   I have appointments scheduled with the dietician, psychology (need to get psyc clearance), lab work, and an EKG.  The lab work and EKG are scheduled on the day I go to do my stuff for my 2 year checkup with Dr. B.  They will be able to use the chest x-ray I will need for oncology.  My homework is to check with Dr. C to see if the Tirosint I am on can be opened.  For approximately 3 months I will need to crush any medications.  She also wants me to check with Dr. B to see if there is a problem with possible malabsorption issues with the Tamoxifen.  All in all I was pleased with the visit.  It looks like I will be able to schedule the surgery over Thanksgiving break.  I would love to get it done ASAP, but I agree it would be better to do it when Cara is off from school and home to help me if I need it.