Consultation Complete

OooOo my goodness gracious so my consultation was great! I am really excited! He was very nice, thanks to this board I was able to ask him some great questions and get some great answers. My hubby was able to ask him his own questions like while she is in the hospital can I stay in the room with her. LoL and he said that most bariatric patients at this hospital get their own suite/room. So he didn’t think that would be a problem and he would note my chart prior to scheduling requesting my own room due to the travel involved. He said I am looking at 3-4 days in hospital.

Day prior to surgery I would have all my preop testing completed and then the next day we would begin! I met with the insurance coordinator/nurse and she was really confident I had enough documentation to get an approval.

So they are waiting for his dictation to come back and they will submit probably by Wednesday. So of course she gave me the number to the direct line to their insurance department to follow up. Regardless I am pretending that we aren't submitting to insurance yet and I have another PCP Supervised Diet Visit next month! But I am crossing my fingers!

Good luck, Nicole!

Nicole...

I have heard of several patients who had someone stay in their room with them while they were inpatient at Virginia Mason... just make sure when you check in the morning of your surgery to tell them again that you need to have your husband stay with you since you are traveling so far.  I had my own room.... but this has not been the case for most of the patients I have visited last year.

FYI... there are 3 Hotels within a block of VMH and one expensive (the Serento) and 2 lower priced ones. The "Inn at Virginia Mason" more expensive of the 2 and the "The Baroness" both will give a discount for VM patients. I just got a flyer about these hotels ... and the lowest  medical patient rate is $86 per night ( I am sure that there are taxes added to this). 

I am SO excited for you!!!

Helen

Thank you I am going to need all the luck I can get!!   OoOo my goodness I will for sure. Maybe I’ll even go by there the day before while I am running around getting all my preop testing and just ask/remind them about it. That way we can make arrangements (hotel) for the hubby, wow that’s pretty neat that they will do discounts for patients!

 
im so happy for you  you are getting so close, it was a pleasure to meet you at the meeting.

keep in touch

barb

How exciting. That is one hurdle you'll be glad when it is done.

A private room was the only thing I wish I would have had. I didn't want to be any trouble so just went with the flow. A private room would have made my stay there absolutely perfect. I have no complaints about the care. The nurses were very attentive and friendly. You are in good hands.

Dr. Thirlby is a gem. I know his patients love him.

I am anxious to see you on the loser's bench.

Good luck,
Connie

Yeahhhh Nikole
I am glad you are one step closer to the surgery. I never thought to ask about my hubby staying with me, so I will make a call. We will be coming from a long distance and it would be so much better to have him there.
I can't wait to hear your date, maybe we will be surgery twins.
We stayed at the Barioness and I am sorry to say I wasn't very happy with it. I should have checked out the Inn. It was inexpensive to stay there but our room was over the hospital ER, there was construction, and very noisy. We had to keep the windows open because the heat was on and it was very stuffy with no thermostat for us to control. We had a double bed and every time I moved I almost bounced hubby to the floor. The people there were awesome and friendly and maybe it was just the room they gave us, but thats my experience.
We are not sure where we will stay in April but I am looking around.
Anyways let me know when you hear about your date. Good luck and good wishes
Conni