Anyone have their WLS at University of Washington?

I am finishing my 6 month pre-op to qualify for surgery and will be having my surgery at the University of Washington. While I do not have a surgery date at this time, I was hoping to hear about other people's experience at UW. I have seen my PA, the social worker and dietician once, and have had several tests (ph/Manometry, Xrays, will have an endoscopy this Friday, etc.), but am concerned about how many more things that I will have to take care of before surgery. I live about 1.5-2 hours from Seattle in Bellingham, so each trip is a big deal for me.

Thanks!

Judy

hi  Judy. I live in Mount Vernon, and am having a vsg done @ Swedish Hosp. hopefully soon. I don't have a surg. date yet either, but I'm thinking we are around the same time frame out. I'm at a simular place in my pre-op work up. Seminar 3/24 ; 1st consult, met surgeon, and nurse coordinator 4/19 ;       met w/nutritionist and psych eval. got weighed (401 lbs). Next trip to Seattle is 6/15 for another meet and greet w/ nut and psych person. Then a phone call comes on the morning of. 6/22 and we'll see what the next steps are. I'm seeing people have many different trips through pre-op stuff. I had 14 different blood viles drawn at once about a month ago. Plus I had to have my cardiologist give his blessing. (3 heart attacks and 1 stroke). I will have to have a "bridge" of Lovenox to replace warfarin a few days before surgery.(self injection, never done that before. The self injection part I mean). I have a consult for colonoscopy on 5/31 with the actual colonoscopy 2 weeks after that because I'm on warfarin.

    I called U of W about 2 years ago and they gave me this long laundry list of hoops to jump through. And I guess I wasn't ready yet. Only a couple places will take medicare, and the U was one of them. I've heard people talk favorably about u of w. My wife was born there and she turned out alright lol. My PCP referred me to Swedish or I would probably be going to UW.

     I wish you the best, I read on here all the time. Trying to learn all I can.

Thanks Wejhead for your reply! Yes, it sounds as though we are both in similar places in our journeys toward weightloss surgery. As my 6-month insurance requirements comes to an end, I am starting to get a little anxious about where it is all headed! But I am keeping myself calm and trying to relax about the whole process. Afterall, the more weight that I lose before surgery the better!

Good luck with your health issues! Luckily I have not had too many health issues due to my weight, although I did have to see a UW doctor to vet me for surgery.

I have to ask ... why did you chose VSG? That is my first choice, but I have not yet completely made a decision. With 200 pounds to lose, I do question whether I should have the RNY. But since I still work, a quicker recovery time is important to me.

Take care!!

When I went to the seminar, I was very naive. So I listened to the whole schpeal very carefully. They all seemed to have their own benefits, but not being a Dr. I totally let the surgeon tell me which she recommended. She chose the VSG over RNY because I didn't have a serious issue w/diabetes and I don't have any reflux problems. Those were her 2 bullet points.   I drove bus most of my working career and I certainly wouldn't want her driving me on a bus, so, likewise I wouldn't begin to try and tell a surgeon what surgery is best for me!

Hi Judy  

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery.  I know it seems like the surgery itself will never happen, use this time to get ready for success.  Learn all you can, I tell people I speak with to "get it right between the ears before re-arranging the plumbing".  I was so upset when I found out it was going to be 6 months to a year before I could get a surgery date. Looking back all I learned during that time helped me lose my weight and keep it off.

Here are links to the surgeons you may be seeing....

Saurabh Khandelwal, M.D. Bariatric Surgeon - ObesityHelp

Marcelo Wilfran Hinojosa

Keep us posted on how things are going

Thanks Kathy for your message! Yes, I keep reminding myself that the longer I'm on this journey before surgery, the more weight I will lose and the better habits I will have built ... and of course the better the chance for the surgery being performed laproscopically. But I am anxious to see an end to this process too!

I would have surgery at UW.

It took me about a year to get to the surgery date. I used that time to research.  I was on here everyday reading what it was like post op.

I would not chose a surgery based on the recovery time. This is (for most) a one time thing.

Continued luck.