Surgeon Consult
I met with Dr. Tarnoff (surgeon) this morning and he feels that my disability (spina bifida) won't make surgery unneccessarily risky for me! I went in there undecided about the surgery type but leaning towards the band, and came out very confident in my decision to be banded. Dr. Smith (psychologist) had made a special trip up to his office yesterday to tell him about me, and he was impressed with my weight loss so far. He wants to meet with my family, so we're going to set something up for next month. They'll be discussing my case on Monday and Dr. Tarnoff will also be contacting my other doctors, just to make sure that this surgery is safe for me - they've never done it before on someone with spina bifida. I see Dr. Smith tomorrow afternoon and I anticipate starting my behavior change classes on Tuesday. I'm interning on Capitol Hill this summer, so we're not looking at surgery until late summer or fall. I'll be able to recover in the dorms and Dr. Tarnoff will keep me in the hospital an extra day or two just to make sure. I'm so excited to learn that this is a possibility for me -- although it's a long way away, I'm just glad to know surgery is in my future.