I'm off to San Francisco for my sugery which is scheduled for 12:30 today. I've have my bouts of "what on earth are you doing" to unbelievable calmness. Right now I'm hovering around the middle of those. Keep me in your prayers. Thank You - Julie

Wow, somebody else who is going to SF, not to Mexico! =) Are you going with LapSF? I'm heading to the city in a few weeks too.

I'm off to San Francisco for my sugery which is scheduled for 12:30 today. I've have my bouts of "what on earth are you doing" to unbelievable calmness. Right now I'm hovering around the middle of those. Keep me in your prayers. Thank You - Julie

Best of luck Julie. But you have Dr. Jossart, so you are like in the best hands. Good for you, and welcome to the losers bench. Les

Thank you for your prayers. I'm home now. At first I thought this was going to be a piece of cake - then the meds wore off. Now, I just took a swig of vicodin and went for a walk around the block. It's not too bad. Dr. Jossart repaired a small hiatal hernia and he told me pre op that it would cause some chest/back pain. He wasn't kidding. I don't have much pain in my abdomen - more discomfort. The staff at California Pacific Medical Center were right on top of things. No complaints except for my room being right next to the "housekeeping" closet. Lots of noise. Every Bariatric patient gets a private room. I've managed to get in some water and most of my protein today. I'm glad that I haven't had pain with swallowing. Small sips....my Nurse gave me a 1 ounce plastic cup which really helps me to figure out what a proper sip is. After awhile, I won't need it, but it is a good visual to start with. I'm pooping out now and the vicodin has finally hit.....talk to you tomorrow.

Congratulations, I hope that pain is gone now. When did you get your bloodwork, ekg, etc. take care of? I'm going to have to have it done a day or two before the surgery, as I am flying in from out of country. How did you get through all this crazy paperwork? I'm freaking out, I even had to start a binder for all of it there is so much! What did you have to do the day before surgery and are you staying in the City for 5 days after or did you get to go home? I live about 3 hours north of SF. Sorry for the deluge of questions but I've had nobody to talk to who used lapSF.

Julie, I will be praying for you that your surgery will go well and I know God will see you through. Let me know how you are doing once you return.

Globetrotter:

I too will begin the process of doing the sleeve. I just got approved by my insurance company. Now I need to send Lapsf my non-covered fee of $4500.00. I'm not sure what the next steps will be. I live in Hawaii and will be traveling to San Franciso for the surgery. I know that I need to complete a Upper GI test, Ekg, Lab work, and a psy test.

It would be great to know what the paper work consists of and how the accomodations are for overnighters. I know Dr. Cirangle shared that they will put my husband and I up for a week in a hotel. Which one, Where its located, etc. I don't know. If you happen to have any information to share that would be helpful... Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations !! My Husband stayed at the Kabuki Hotel. CPMC gets a discount for patients and family. He said it was nice. They have a free continental breakfast too. There is a shuttle bus that transports between the two places. The Hotel is 6 blocks away. My room at CPMC was a private room with a GORGEOUS view of the Golden Gate Bridge. I was a private pay patient so I don't know what the process will be like for you. We only stayed overnight since we live so close to SF - about an hour north. I had to have an endoscopy instead of an UGI - I don't know why Dr. Jossart wanted that instead, but I'm glad he did because I had mild gastritis and a very small hiatal hernia. He had me take Prilosec OTC for the 2 weeks prior to surgery. He fixed my hiatal hernia at the time of my sleeve. I'm 2 days post op and I think I'm doing pretty good. I've had some pain and some nausea, but it's been pretty mild and tolerable with the meds I have. It took me about a month to get all of my pre op stuff done. I had an abnormal chest x-ray which needed some follow up. I had to have a chest CT (all turned out fine with that). The Gastroenerologist that was going to do my endoscopy was on vacation - so I had to wait for him to get back before I scheduled. I think 2 weeks should be doable if you don't have any wrenches thrown in. Good luck to you and Good luck to Globetrotter. LapSF really are the best - in my very humble opinion. :thumbup1:

Thank you so much for the information. I was concern with all the paper work that Globetrotter mentioned that needed to be filled out. I hope its not something that will take me weeks to do. In any case the process is worth the outcome and the end. Thanks again.

Beautiful Day - I printed out everything the surgery coordinator sent me and started a 3 ring binder. I'm self-pay and the consent forms and pay forms and all the forms that needed my hand-written response or signature or whatever, added up to 20 pages worth. I sat down for a dedicated hour and got the paperwork done and the various coordinators have said that I can get all the tests and face-to-face meetings taken care of the day before surgery.

I will stay at the Kabuki the night before surgery and my Mother will stay there the night of.

The paperwork suggested that anyone having surgery might want to go on a liquid diet in the week prior to surgery but there was no directive from Dr. J telling me to do so.

I am in Iraq right now and I had the Dr. consult and psych eval by phone. I will pre-reg over the phone and have the nurse consult over the phone. The day before surgery I will meet with the nut., Dr. J., and have my blood ekg etc.