Surgery date set!!
rpyle111
Posts: 1,060 Member
I went in for my last pre surgery appointment today. It started with a weight and BP check, where they recorded me as down 74 pounds since the orientation class on April 15.
Then I had about 45 minutes with a surgical resident and a med-student, where we talked about the surgery, confirmed my history and understanding of what I am getting myself into. They were both very happy with my progress and were very positive about my chances for success. They took me through the official surgical consent form, where we had the no flowery talk real discussion about the potential complications and death. I was very pleased with how that discussion went, and signed the consent form.
They went through a risk assessment based on history, weight, etc. and I ended up as medium risk for blood clots due to my post history, so I will have a post surgery injection to prevent clots.
Forms done, the surgeon then came in and we had another good discussion, covering most of the same stuff. He has an excellent bedside manner, and I feel very comfortable with him. During the resident talk, the resident was telling me how good of a surgeon Dr. Carlin is. He told me that they have a practice laparoscopic simulator, and that Dr. Carlin can do some of the things in seconds that the resident takes minutes to do. He seemed really impressed with Dr. Carlin's dexterity, which seemed sincere. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
Next came the nurse for the actual scheduling. I was not sure how quickly to expect the surgery, and have a golf weekend scheduled for mid September, so I was hoping for late September. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if they offered me late august. Luckily for me, the earliest date was September 20ish, so delaying a week wasn't a big deal.
My date is officially September 30!!
This means my pre-op liquid diet will begin the day after my wife's birthday, so we can still have a nice birthday meal.
After that, there was some paperwork for a long term study that my surgeon participates in, and then a final meeting with Wanda, the program coordinator. She led the orientation meeting and is a large part of my success thus far, as she was so direct and informative, but laid out a clear plan for me to follow. I was very happy to let her know how important and helpful she has been in my journey, and that seemed to have an impact on her. Wanda is also the one who pointed me here, which is another huge help to me.
I was out of there in about three hours, and now have two more months to keep driving for healthy weight loss success!
Rob
Then I had about 45 minutes with a surgical resident and a med-student, where we talked about the surgery, confirmed my history and understanding of what I am getting myself into. They were both very happy with my progress and were very positive about my chances for success. They took me through the official surgical consent form, where we had the no flowery talk real discussion about the potential complications and death. I was very pleased with how that discussion went, and signed the consent form.
They went through a risk assessment based on history, weight, etc. and I ended up as medium risk for blood clots due to my post history, so I will have a post surgery injection to prevent clots.
Forms done, the surgeon then came in and we had another good discussion, covering most of the same stuff. He has an excellent bedside manner, and I feel very comfortable with him. During the resident talk, the resident was telling me how good of a surgeon Dr. Carlin is. He told me that they have a practice laparoscopic simulator, and that Dr. Carlin can do some of the things in seconds that the resident takes minutes to do. He seemed really impressed with Dr. Carlin's dexterity, which seemed sincere. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
Next came the nurse for the actual scheduling. I was not sure how quickly to expect the surgery, and have a golf weekend scheduled for mid September, so I was hoping for late September. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if they offered me late august. Luckily for me, the earliest date was September 20ish, so delaying a week wasn't a big deal.
My date is officially September 30!!
This means my pre-op liquid diet will begin the day after my wife's birthday, so we can still have a nice birthday meal.
After that, there was some paperwork for a long term study that my surgeon participates in, and then a final meeting with Wanda, the program coordinator. She led the orientation meeting and is a large part of my success thus far, as she was so direct and informative, but laid out a clear plan for me to follow. I was very happy to let her know how important and helpful she has been in my journey, and that seemed to have an impact on her. Wanda is also the one who pointed me here, which is another huge help to me.
I was out of there in about three hours, and now have two more months to keep driving for healthy weight loss success!
Rob
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Replies
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Congrats, Rob! I am really excited for you!!!0
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Congrats Rob! I wish you the best of luck!0
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Sounds like you have the perfect date set for you. Congratulations on your loss thus far. How in the world did you lose that much weight since mid-April? That must have taken a lot of hard work.
Wishing you the best of luck.0 -
Sounds like you have the perfect date set for you. Congratulations on your loss thus far. How in the world did you lose that much weight since mid-April? That must have taken a lot of hard work.
Wishing you the best of luck.
At the orientation session, they laid out the pre surgery diet rules:
1500 calories
100 g protein (guys)
Min 64 oz water
Stop caffeine carbonation and alcohol
Start exercising
Log all food and exercise
At my size, MFP suggested about 2700 calories to lose 2 pounds per week, so 1500 was a serious deficit. The high level of protein though, made it workable for me, and the weight was just falling off. I asked at the next appointment, when I met the nutritionist, if I should add some calories or if 1500 alas god for even big guys like me. Her answer was that if I could tolerate 1500 it would be good training for post surgery. So, I gave done 3 months at about a 1000 calorie deficit per day, and then exercising on top of that.
After about 6 weeks, I looked at the numbers (intake exercise, weight lost) and back calculated that my BMR is just over 3200 cal, which matched what MFP's numbers for maintain were, so the math works.
Tl;dr. My size allowed me to eat at a really big deficit without too much difficulty, and my nutritionist told me to keep doing it.
Rob0 -
Congratulations Rob. You have worked very hard for this and it looks like all your hard work is paying off. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
I am also very happy for you that you can still enjoy celebrating your wife's birthday and your golf event.
It sound like the timing is excellent.
I have watched you work very hard these past few months and this is so very exciting.
Way to go my friend. I can't wait to watch the rest of your journey unfold.
Hats off to you. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:0
