1st surgeon/consultation appt - update!

I'm back from the consultation...2 hours long! Phew! I learned a few things right off the bat...first - I am 5ft 6 3/4 inches versus the 5'8 everyone has always told me so that was a surprise. I made them measure me twice to be sure. That sort of threw me for a loop! I also learned that my insurance will cover the surgery as long as I do 4 months (versus 6) of a medically supervised program! I need an endoscopy which I'll schedule in a few months. I am also going to need a breath rate test to figure out my metabolic rest rate. They surprised me with blood work today  ... I despise needles but the nurse who did it was probably the best I've ever had which made me feel so much better. Honestly, taking the bandaid off is worse and yet I can do that without my hands getting clammy and my insides getting all freakish - go figure.  The NP was great and asked all the right questions, and gave me a once-over. Then Dr. Gersin came in - I like the guy! He is clinical in his approach and not warm and fuzzy which is awesome for me and great for my husband. (For anyone following along, you'll remember my husband is not a fan of my going down the WLS path.)  He is head of the bariatric unit at CMC and has done over 2000 WLS's himself. I'll pay extra to have him do the surgery, I'm sure, but that is just fine with me. He has had 2 leaks and both more than 7 years ago. He never tried to sell us on WLS at all and just answered my questions - I never felt rushed and never felt like he was watching the clock. CMC doesn't do DS and he isn't a fan of the band ("I have removed more than I have put on"). My options with him are VSG or RNY...and his recommendation for my situation is RNY (which is where my head was anyway so that's cool). He answered my husband's questions too...mostly around whether I am a candidate with my BMI under 40. Dr. said the average BMI for WLS is around 50 but that didn't mean I wasn't a candidate. He did say, rather pointedly, that I had a higher chance of being successful if my husband was supportive of the surgery - and that he would leave it to us to work that through. Next steps:
- Start the medically surpervised program (scheduled to begin Monday!)
- Schedule my psych
- participate in a couple of group supports (scheduled for end of August!)
- Do the fitness eval (scheduled for end of August)
- Do the breath rate test (Monday!)
- 5 years of BMI history (already submitted)
- schedule the endoscopy (going to give this a month or so before I schedule it)

Driving home, I asked my husband where he was at with it...and I got this answer, "I still think this is the lazy approach." Ugh. At least he is being honest with me. He agreed to attend the support groups with me so I hope to change his perception. Then I asked if after the 4 month program I still wanted to go through with it, would he support that decision and he said he would...so I'll take that as progress and just move forward slowly over the next few months. I want to be sure of this decision too so it's probably good to go slow...

Thanks for listening - and thanks for all the support. Sitting in the waiting room this morning, I pulled up OH and read the supportive responses from my post last night. Ya'll are great! 
L

Sounds like a good visit.  good that they did blood work today so they can start fixing anything that needs work before surgery.  many Drs don't do that.  Your DH will learn this is not the easy way out and will require quite a bit of work, but at least you have a fighting chance to not only lose the weight but keep it off. 

Sounds promising even if he doesn't do the DS. lol  Go with your gut feeling and get on with your future, babeeee!

--gina
 

Great!!!

sounds like you are on your way, hopefully your hubby will come around