Meeting the intern

Ok so I have 2 days of appts this week, Monday I have 2 at the clinic and I meet with Dr Sebastian, the respitatory specialist. Then on Tuesday I meet with the intern. For some reason I'm scared to death.
If anyone has meet the interns, please give me a heads up on what to espect. Are there any questions I should ask. I have some in my head but I'm scare that I won't ask the right ones. I hate being put on the spot and sometimes it makes me anxious and then i forget what i'm doing. Help me please.

Kee.

Relax and breathe.

Let him lead the conversation and if your questions are not suitable to the direction of the conversation, call the clinic with them after.

There is no reason to stress yourself out. Remember what you are doing all of this for and trust that it will all work out.

You have all of us here- CHEERING YOU ON!

 

Chance is right, don't stress!  LOL!

I have met with an intern twice.  The first time they just asked me if I was planning to have surgery and which one I thought I wanted.  The second time was when I got the go ahead for surgery.  They will check your blood pressure and maybe ask you what you expect as a result of surgery.  That's about all.  And I think they just want to be sure for themselves that you are going in the right direction for what you want.  I promise it's not as scary or as big a deal as you are thinking right now.  You will come on here when it's over and post something about how you were so worried for nothing:) 

Good luck!!

Hi Kee,

I understand your feeling nervous.  I always feel the same way.  My blood pressure is always really high when I have to see the Doctor.  I have ADHD (they will give you a test to see if you have ADHD) and when I get really nervous I get confused and overwhelmed with my thoughts.  So I write things down it a note book.  I also write down some of the Drs instructions or ask them to write down there instructions for me.  They are really nice and very accommodating.  They want you to be successful.  You are not being tested or judged like with other Drs. 

How far are you in your process?  Have you seen any Dr yet?  There is a sort of 2 part process where you meet with the Regular Dr and then later you meet with the Surgical Dr. 

For the Regular Dr Appointments I met with Dr Sharma and Dr Yalto  (sorry I may have spelled her name wrong)  I found both Dr Sharma and Dr Yalto to go thru things really fast.  They do ask some uncomfortable questions about your past such as if you have ever been sexually abused.  They ask about binge eating and bulimia.  They will ask you dates.  This was hard for me but journalling helps with this.  So I could tell them the dates of when I took the modules, when the last time was that I binge ate,  I had written down what medication and vitamins along with the dose so I did not have to remember on the spot. 

The Strangest thing that happened when I saw Dr Sharma and Yalto is that they dictate a letter to your family Dr right in front of you.  This was soooo weird to me.

When you go see the Surgical Dr it is totally different.  I was soooo nervous my blood pressure was 157/107 and they got me to sit quietly in the room by myself for a few minutes so I could relax and take deep breaths.  Then the nurse took my blood presure again and it was 137/77.  LOL.  Once I met Dr Birch I found him to be very relaxed and not at all rushed.  They walk you thru all the surgeries and go over all the positives and negatives of each surgery.  Dr Birch was so nice and informative.  My first appointment with him was 45 mins and he answered all of both mine and my husbands questions.

I hope this helps...just know that everyone at the clinic is there to help you be successful on this journey.  I have seen some people write that they had to "jump thru all the hoops" before they got to meet the surgeon and I found this statement to be a little dishearting.  Lets face it...if you are obese enough to require weight loss surgery you are doing something that requires you to change,  whether that is better nutrition, adding exercise, learning better ways to deal with stress, dealing with your unresulved emotions...the list is endless.  If you are just "jumping thru all the hoops" and not working on improving yourself I am not sure how successful you will be with surgery.  This is just my opinion and not ment to be offensive to anyone.  I wish everyone success in there journey!


Katrina

Awh Kat! You are so smart and so right! I will never again used that particular term.

I totally believe that the clinic helping obese people to deal with the issues that led to there obesity and that dealing with those issues, even surgery can do little to help us!

Thanks for being such a smartie-pants! I didnt even think of the power of those words!

Thanks everyone for replying.

Katrina I have been with teh program sinec July of 09. I have done the first consult with Dr Sharma and that particular day he had 5 other interns in training with him. I felt hulimated and embarassed. When he started the dication back to my family Dr. I sat and listened and then started to cry just because hearign someone else relay back to you what you just said makes it more real.

I will see the internist, which i don't have a name for yet on tesday. I will be sure to update with
new after all is said and done.

Thanks again girls, i so love havign someone to go throught this journey with. Even though we haven't meet I feel like i have gained many friends.

Thanks Chance...I love seeing your photo.  Your smile always makes me smile, which is so important in this process. 

Kee,  I understand why you cried during the dictation.   To hear them say everything about your obesity related issues all clumped together was really unnerving.  After the appointment I kept running it thru in my head.  I actually got my family Dr to give me a copy when she received it so I could read it again. 

Good Luck on Tuesday!  I does feel good to move on to the next step.  Unfortunately for me  I did not get approved for surgery my first time meeting Dr. Birch or my second.  I have a lot of stomach fat and my BMI is over 55 so i was sent for the CT liver scan.  Hopefully there are no health concerns for you and you will move on to the next stage but  please don't be to disappointed if you don't get approved for surgery right away.  I felt really sad, like I had done something wrong this made me lose my path a little but I have been talking  a lot with my nurse and she is helping me stay focused and positive.

Please let me know how it goes. 

PS: Thankfully the surgical Drs don't dictate in front of you!

I too have seen Dr. Sharma and Dr. Yalto . Dr. Sharma's meeting with his entourage is a lil unnerving but I got through and was excited to have made that step . Dr. Yalto's appt was more laidback and was more or less a reguritation of all the appts I had in the last few months rolled into one 30 minute question session-- eating habits, excercise regime, medical history etc. - that was dictated to my family doc at the appt. This wasn't the frst time this happened to me at an appt so I didn;t find it strange LOL

My next step is Dr. Birch on May 3rd and I am nervous already. I think more so about the fact that I hear about him not approving people right away. I have a BMI of 45 but that is all. I have no underlying medical concerns and even though my RD and RN have said I'll be getting the surgery- it's still not their say right. Ohh the stresss!!! LOL

Well I found out at the clinic today that Dr Sharma is the one I will be seeing tomorrow so I'm a little more comfortable with the fact that I have meet with him already and I know that he is blunt and to the point.
I also meet with Dr Sebastian today and was send home with a sleep study kit. he is pretty sure taht I don't have sleep apnea but doesn't want to not to the test and hinder my movign forward in the program. he was awesome and there was no charge for the testing. If I ahd it done in my home town it would be 150 bucks. I'm pretty happy about there being no charge.

Kee

How did you appt go with Dr. Sharma?