LONG 5 Hour Appointment Review

Thursday March 12th was my "new patient" appointment at Scottsdale Bariatric.
*****A quick side note (already? I know.) I WAS going through Dr. Schlesinger before, so part of the reason this is taking SOOOO long is because I changed surgeons. I really didn't feel Dr. Schlesinger's office was well managed or organized. My final straw was when I drove an hour and a half hours to north Phoenix for my scheduled appointment at the office and NO ONE WAS THERE! So...my very good (and beautiful) friend, Victoria, referred me to her surgeon, Dr. Robin Blackstone. Dr. Blackstone is WONDERFUL, and I haven't even met her yet. She's the only female bariatric surgeon in AZ and her practice has the highest long term weight loss success rate as well as the lowest complication rate in AZ and she's one of the highest/lowest in the country. From my very first contact w/her office, I knew this was the clear choice, as everyone at the office makes you feel so wonderful and they are all so helpful. They are very fast, efficient, and on top of things. *****
Anyway, I got to the office after an hour and 15 minutes drive and I had to laugh a little at the irony that the bariatric office was on the second story of the building, and there was no elevator :) So I climbed up the two flights of stairs and tried my best to pretend that I wasn't completely out of breath. After I signed in, gave my insurance card and paid my co-pay, they immediately walked me over to a different office where I would meet the majority of my "people."
My first person was Dorrie, my exercise coach. We went over my current level of activity (none) and what my long term goals would be. She gave me a pedometer and we set small goals for me to start working on before surgery. My first small set of goals is to wear the pedometer whenever I leave the house and just track my steps. The second is to work out for 5 minutes a day, 5 days a week on my elliptical. That's it! I think I can do that for now :) She went over the things I won't be able to do after surgery, like the elliptical, and what I will be able to do instead (just walk on flat surfaces).
Next, I was taken to a little "testing table" where I started working on the psychiatric test. There were two books of questions and then an additional single page. Oh my goodness...the questions were so funny. They asked things like "Do you feel that everyone is out to get you?" or "Is there sometimes a voice that no one else can hear that tells you what to do?" LOL...the voice I hear told me to say "no" to that question. That whole thing took me almost an hour to finish, there were SO many questions.
My next person was Dr. Messer, the psychiatrist. WOW he's so cute! I seriously blushed every time he complimented me for something. LOL. So we talked for a good hour or more, just going over the basics...childhood, family, marriage, friends (yes that's right...I talked about a lot of you!), work (and you!), and stuff like that. He gave me slightly disappointing news though. Based on my bad emotional eating habits, he wants me to go to Behavior Modification therapy :( I totally understand WHY he wants me to do it; I just really don’t want to drive to Scottsdale every week for who knows how long! It’s just really inconvenient. Hopefully I will be done really fast, but I want to be ready. It could take anywhere from 3 weeks to like 10 weeks. Please everyone pray for the latter :)
After I finished up w/Dr. Messer I went over and met with Sammy, my nutrition person. She was so cool; I really loved talking with her. She showed me a model of a stomach w/a real lap-band on it. It was kind of interesting to actually see a 3-D replica instead of just a picture. It really gave me an idea of how small the pouch will be. So we went over what things I would need to eliminate from my life. The only thing I really can’t EVER have again is carbonated beverages like soda. That’s just because the gas in the carbonation will stretch out my stomach. Other than that, there’s nothing I “CAN’T” ever have again, just some things I shouldn’t really have often or very much of like sugar. Because sugar is my favorite and my trigger, she wants me to try to stay away from even sugar free things for a while, just to kind of de-sweet my taste buds. Yeeahhhh, not sure if I can do that. I’ll try for sure, but I really don’t want to de-sweet because that’s what makes me happy. SEE this is why I need behavior modification! She set up some small goals for me also. My first set of goals is to eat ONLY in a designated area to eat and make “NO EATING” zones, like the couch! That will make it easier to focus on eating and be aware of how and what I’m eating so that I don’t all of a sudden realize that I ate an entire pack of Oreos without realizing it because I was lost in a TV show. I also have to drink 64 oz of water a day and I have to add a vegetable to each meal. But it’s great because a lot of surgeons say that lap-band patients can’t have things like steak or pineapple or celery because it’s tough or stringy. But my surgeon says that’s crap and we can have that! And also we don’t have to do the mushy food stage which I am SO relieved of because I really don’t like mushy foods other than mashed potatoes. The BEST news was that I do NOT have to do a six month supervised diet!! YAY!!!!
Then Sammy walked me back over to the main waiting room that I started in and I got to sit there for half an hour since we finished nutrition early. While I was waiting, I was VERY much appreciating that all of the seats were huge! They were very large to accommodate the horizontally challenged of us. NOTHING is worse than being forced to sit in a waiting room in tiny chairs that are digging into your outer thighs. I had plenty of room to sit at an angle and have my large purse next to me and still some space for the magazine I was reading! It really made me feel so much better knowing that I did not take up that entire chair. I love how they take that attention to detail to make their clients feel better.
Finally (I swear I’m almost done…how do you think I felt!) I was taken back to another patient room and got my vitals taken…weight, blood pressure, heart rate. My weight was actually down! I have no idea how, but I’m 6 lbs lighter than I thought I was. Then I was even more excited to hear that my blood pressure was way down! I’ve been on blood pressure meds for like 2 weeks now so I’m super glad it’s working so fast w/such a low dosage. Then the nurse practitioner came in…and I cannot remember her name right now, but she was so nice and so funny. She basically was trying to see if she thought I was ready for surgery or if she thought there were some things I needed to do first. She said that I’m fine and she doesn’t have anything for me to do! YAY! Then she said everyone else (Dorrie, Dr. Messer, and Sammy) all said that they approve me 100%!! I think it’d be kind of hard to not get approved unless you show like zero motivation, but still, I felt proud. Then Heather came in, she’s my insurance/billing person. She was also just super wonderful and told me how the insurance process would go. She checked to make sure I have everything in my packet, which I did :) And then she told me all I have to do is wait for my behavior modification therapy completion letter. Basically once I get that, she’ll call my insurance and request to open a new claim request. They will tell her that someone will call her back, which usually takes about 2 weeks. When they call her, they’ll tell her to fax over my paperwork, which she’ll do that day. Then they usually approve it or, God forbid, deny it that same day! If it’s early in the day she’ll call me right away, if it’s late she’ll call me in the morning! YAY! Then I’ll have to go in and meet w/the actual surgeon, Dr. Blackstone, and she’ll give me my surgery date!
WHEW!!!! I know, it’s a LOT. But it’s totally worth it. Any questions? :)