Yesterday was my appointment with my bariatric surgeon Dr E.
We left home at around lunchtime as it’s an hour and a half drive to his offices.
We arrived a little early in the city, so went for a drive to Bunnings first to get some plants as gifts for my Wife’s work colleagues.
We arrived on time for my 3:30pm appointment, and I filled out three pages of paperwork.
And then we sat and waited, and waited, and waited…
My name was finally called at about a 4:45pm.
Once the usual introductions and pleasantries were worked through, we got down to the business of going through my medical history.
It didn’t take long for him to determine that definitely the best option for me would be to have bariatric surgery because of my chronic health conditions, my age, prior weight loss history, etc etc – and of course, my weight.
On going through my recent gastroscopy results from July, he also determined that – whilst I had not been advised of such at the time – he believes that I have a long-term undiagnosed hiatus hernia!!
This explains a lot!
We spent the better part of an hour with Dr E and he explained very thoroughly and well, all the options that I have and asked what I would prefer to do.
As I had told him at the beginning, I prefer to be guided by his expertise, and that whilst I had made an assumption based on my research that I would be more likely to be recommended bypass, he is the Professional and so I want his guidance.
He explained the pros and cons of each, and we agreed for us all to hold off on the final decision of which procedure to lock in, until after I have a CT scan and a barium swallow – which he gave me the referral forms for.
However, he said that he would initially book the time slot for a Roux-en-y Gastric Bypass as opposed to a Sleeve Gastrectomy until we know more from the scan and barium swallow, as that gives a two hour Theatre window instead of a one hour window, and its simple to finish operating early, but not so simple to add Theatre time mid operation.
Definitely make sense!
I also need to have a full panel of bloods done – standard practice so we have a base-line of various levels to refer to going forward.
He then said that his Receptionist would go through the paperwork required with us, and book a date that suited me, for the procedure.
It was now getting very real!
We went out and met with C – the Receptionist.
First was to pay for the Consultation we’d just had. ($250*)
Next was signing of the Consent for Surgery paperwork.
Next – was to choose a date.
I was offered 6th Feb 2023 – so after discussing with my Wife, we said YES to that date.
Holy Shit!
That’s only 8 weeks away!
EEEEEEEEEK!
It was late when we finally left to drive home and it was a very quiet drive, each within our own thoughts.
We’d occasionally reiterate or discuss something that had been talked about during the appointment, but for the most part it was just thought-filled quiet.
We ended up getting take-away (I recognise the irony!) on the way home, as we were both pretty shattered and knew that we were going to arrive to three dogs that had been locked inside for the last 7 hours, and that they would be pretty full on with excitement once let out – and we just didn’t have the stamina left for meal-making on top of that.
A bit of post-dinner (ours and the animals) tv viewing, and we were in bed and asleep by 9:30pm – exhausted.
*Medicare rebate: $39.75
