ParrotheadCathy

Very possible.....Womble Carlyle?

Hope yours was a good one!!! Mine was fun but I was almost relieved to come back to work today....where there is no cooking or cleaning up to be done.

For me, I met with the physician's assistant, who took a lot of information down, made sure I fully understood the procedure, discussed pre-op testing (and gave me a bunch of written materials). I was self-pay, so I ran all my pre-op testing through my primary care physician and was able to get my insurance to cover it all. If you are going in on insurance, they will set up your pre-op testing for you. Once all that is done, you will meet with the surgeon about 2 weeks before your surgery and he will put you on the pre-op diet. For me, it was 2 shakes per day using their protein shake powder ($30 for a BIG jar) and two lean meals per day (3 oz. lean protein and vegetables and occassionally whole grain carbs). Mix those shakes with skim milk! I tried with water and they were gross, but with skim milk were actually not bad at all.

Atlanta Medical Center is an excellent hospital. But parts of it are quite old. My sister was born there in 1958 and the original building wasn't new then. The bottom line is you have to be comfortable with everything about your choice in doctor, surgeon, whatever. Emory's bariatric practice has a well-respected practice. I will mention that an acquaintance went there and felt that it was a bit impersonal and ended up going to my surgeon (True Results/Dr. Chris Hart -- who was the founding partner of Emory Bariatrics). The first surgeon's office I contacted may have had a great reputation but his staff acted like they were doing me a favor just to speak to me on the phone. Bottom line, you have to have your own comfort zone. Let me know how it goes! And, what the GI Doc says. Good luck. And if I don't talk to you before next week, have a great Thanksgiving!

Feeling MUCH better! I would go with the GI consult. Double check with your surgeon's office. They may require an upper GI as part of your pre-testing and you can schedule it with the GI doc while you're there. PLUS, he very likely will want to do that anyway and can just forward his report to the surgeon.

Hi! Thanks for the message. I was in Key West for a week and then came home sick with bronchitis so I haven't been very good about reading anything here, so sorry for the delay. have you gotten your approval yet? I know you are eager to move forward, and waiting can be killer. Keep me posted!!

It's almost here!!!!!! I know you're excited, nervous and READY. Dr. Hart completely fills the band to test it before he puts it in and drains it. Mine had .6 cc left after the testing. That's almost nothing. But you will have some swelling so i'm not convinced it's such a great idea to do a fill at surgery. I've read too many posts from people who had to have that fill removed not long after surgery because they couldn't drink their liquid diet. My first fill was exactly 4 weeks post op and they put in 4 cc (had had to take 1 cc of that out because it was way too tight). They really aren't stingy with the fills like some docs.

I'm so excited for you! Keep in touch. I'm always glad to answer questions if I can. parr0thd51@aol.com

You CAN do it! The time does go by pretty fast once you start getting your pre-op testing done, then start the pre-op diet. It seemed like it flew by for me. You have your goal clearly visualized and it will come to you.

Larry, I'm with Unforgettable...I Love My Band! Yeah, I could have done gastric bypass but, frankly, that scares the heck out of me and nothing anybody could say made me more comfortable with the idea of doing something that the most common side effect is malnutrition. But me and my band, we're getting along just great . Hope your experience is stellar!

Heck, I told everybody pretty much. At first I was quiet about it at work, but when my boss (the managing partner of my law firm) found out I was having a stress test, she got all freaked out and I had to come clean to calm her down. (My predecessor in this job dropped dead of a heart attack on her 40th birthday so I understood the concern.)

I'm now down 70 pounds, as of yesterday. How are you doing?

I had my surgery through True Results (on Peachtree Dunwoody Road) at a surgery center across the street from their office. I've lost 55 pounds since my surgery on 2/10.

Conyers is out I-20 east of downtown Atlanta (Exit 82). I live about 45 minutes or so from Macon. Long ride to Dalton area. Anybody more in my area?

Got your message, sorry I'm a slow answer! Conyers is East of downtown Atlanta like you're headed toward Augusta. I'm about 30 miles east of downtown Atlanta. If there's anybody in your group who lives out that way, that would be great! Cathy