Consultation with Pacific Bariatric

I know some of you are curious as to what happens at the first meeting with PBG, so I figured I'd write up a quick post and let you know what to expect.

First off, you will not need to go to the hospital, like you did with the information seminar. The PBG office is located accross the street from the hospital at 4060 Fourth Street. There is a parking structure on that side of the road, next to the building.

All three appointments, the Internist, the Surgeon and the Psychiatrist were in the afternoon for me, ranging from 2pm to 5pm. The Internist and Surgeon are located in the same building, on the same floor, with each office side by side to the other. The Psychiatrist is located about a 5 minute drive away on Front Street.

My first appointment was with the Internist at 2pm. The nurse took my vitals, weight, height, etc, and also completed an EKG (it took longer to put the sticky pads and cables on me than the actual reading itself!!). Then Dr. Khehar came in and asked me a few medical questions. He is a very friendly (and quite good looking), young Indian guy. He was happy with all my responses and my vitals, and told me to head on over to my next appointment with the Surgeon. Who, is only in the office next door. There was no co-pay for this visit.

So out one door and into the next, my Surgeon appointment was scheduled for 2:45pm. They were running behind, just a little, but from what I could see, patients were going in and out fairly quickly. The nurse took some vitals again, asked which surgery I was wanting to have and gave me some information, including a CD for the computer that contains a large PDF document to read through regarding surgery prep, what will happen surgery day, and post surgery. I hate to tell you this, but a lot of the information that is in the PBG document, is different to what we learnt from Kaiser Options Class, but don't panic. We know the fundamentals of it all, and the PBG instructions are right in front of us in black and white!

I met with Dr. Rumsey, and he was wonderful. You will need to strip down to your panties and put on a paper gown. He'll do a quick physical (nothing internal), and have you dress before sitting down and talking to you. He went over the surgery (very briefly), asked me about my support network, and also requested that I try to lose 10 lbs between now and surgery day. He was very easy to talk to and seemed pleased with my current fitness level, and that I would be perfect as a surgery candidate.

I did have to pay $20 for a co-pay with the Surgeon visit.

Finally, I headed off to the Psychiatrist appointment, which is about a 5 minute drive away, for a 4pm appointment. It is a big, Victorian style home, in a residential area. You walk in and just head straight to the waiting room, and the Psychiatrist will come out to get you. Parking is a bit of a ***** its all street parking, so pray that you get that lucky parking space find, or practise on your reverse parallel parking skills! LOL

I met with Dr. Margolis, and she was a very nice lady. She came accross as one of those alternative, almost hippie style people, but very easy to talk to and provided a relaxing space. She asked questions about my weight, how long I've been overweight, etc. Also asked about my childhood, growing up, my family, my support network, goals for after surgery, adjustments that I'd need to make, etc. In all, I was there for 30-45 minutes, I'm not 100% sure. There was no co-pay for this appointment.

Basically, the Internist and Psychiatrist will forward their reviews to the Surgeon, within days, and PBG will contact me within 2-3 weeks, after corresponding with Kaiser, to schedule a surgery date. And that, ladies, is about it! Nothing to be nervous about. They were all very friendly and easy to be around.

Ok, and I realized that this post wasn't so "quick" as I thought it was going to be. LOL

Thanks for posting info!!!!! Im just fineshing my paper work I thought the test was little funny!!! but i'm going to fax it tomorrow and I have my sleep vist for my CPAP  on  The 29Th it's shouldnt stop my process tho! I hope!