Pre-Op Testing Prior to Appt.??

Hi all, Kinda sad that I'm inside on the PC onthe 4th...LOL...but DH woke with horrible back pain and after a visit to the emergency clinic he's flat on his back in bed with pain killers and muscle relaxers. Anyway, I have my 1st appt with Dr. Ryder (in practice with Roye and Harrington) in a couple weeks. Thought I'd read somewhere that some ppl get some pre-op testing done early if they can to expediate the process. I have insurance that doesn't require a referral, so is this a good idea? Has anyone done it? If so, what should I try and schedule? Any suggestions?... Thanks! (and Happy 4th!) Trace

Hi Trace, I am in to today, doing laundry... but it looks like rain anyways...I had my surgery in May with Dr. Harrington. You will see Helen the nutrishionst first. You will then get your paper going on the approval and you will get a bunch of papers in the mail telling you where and when you will get your test done. I personally told the office to schedule anytime for these tests as I wasn working. I got it done much faster, and even then it took months to complete. I believe you are looking at 5 to 6 months at the minimum. Hope this helps... Carol b

Hi Trace! Here's my time frame with Dr. Roye: Filled out survey and called for first appointment-October 25-05 Saw Helen for first consult-December-16-04 Verbal approval over the phone-December-20-2005 Received "official" packet in mail-December-26-2006 Started testing-January 18th 2006 Finished testing and did final Blood work-Feb-23-2006 (That's also counting a two week delay due to my endo scope being rescheduled) Saw Dr. Roye March 20th 2006 Had surgery June 27th 2006!!! So from first appointment to surgery date for me was 5 months.. And like I said that was with a delay that was out of my hands. I've heard of people having to redo test because they did them with doctors Dr. Roye did not approve of. At the last meeting someone questions him about the testing and using other hospitals and such. His answer was, he uses who he uses because he knows them well, is satisfied with their quality of work, he trust them, and he knows their rep. I look at it like this, I'm blessed to have been approved and to have had my surgery done, There are things that needed to be done Dr. Royes way, if he required it, I'm doing just as he says. It's for a reason, I might not of understood why and it might have seem screwy or unfair, but he has his reasons and wants things done just how he says he wants it done. It's for our benefit not his... Myself, I'd wait on the jump start of the testing, In the end you may just have found out you wasted your time and dished out more co-pays then you needed....... Good Luck! NaDene

Carol and NaDene, Thanks so much for your good explanations. I think you're right. I'm just going to wait until my appt with Dr. Ryder before I do anything! Trace

Trace: I have heard that Dr. Pohl lets you do appointments before hand, but Ryder has certain people at RIH that you have to see, and her office will schedule those appointments for you and send them in a packet in the mail, my first appointment was Feb 1 and I had surgery with Ryder June 8, which I think was pretty quick considering others, hope this helps!! Kristin