Hi, this is my first post! I have a consultation on July 14th with a doctor in southern ca. about four hours away. My concerns are I don't want to drive down there (268 miles!) a lot. The office said I would come for the initial consult and then come down for my pre-op and surgery the next day, that's it. I'm wondering if I do all my testing (not sure what it's going to be) here? I don't want to get down there, get committed and discover I have to do all the testing down there. I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced this and were able to do all the pre-op stuff in their hometown?

Hi, this is my first post! I have a consultation on July 14th with a doctor in southern ca. about four hours away. My concerns are I don't want to drive down there (268 miles!) a lot. The office said I would come for the initial consult and then come down for my pre-op and surgery the next day, that's it. I'm wondering if I do all my testing (not sure what it's going to be) here? I don't want to get down there, get committed and discover I have to do all the testing down there. I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced this and were able to do all the pre-op stuff in their hometown?

I did my testing at a hospital closer to my house in the lab and just had them fax over the documents. They didn't fax it for a couple of weeks so make sure it gets faxed as soon as possible. My doctor's office is about a two hour drive because they are the only office that takes my insurance. Probably want to check with the doctor's office to make sure that doing your lab work somewhere else is ok because every place is different. I have to go to the doc's office for the pre op apointment. They should be ok with it though, hope this helped a little.

I did my testing at a hospital closer to my house in the lab and just had them fax over the documents. They didn't fax it for a couple of weeks so make sure it gets faxed as soon as possible. My doctor's office is about a two hour drive because they are the only office that takes my insurance. Probably want to check with the doctor's office to make sure that doing your lab work somewhere else is ok because every place is different. I have to go to the doc's office for the pre op apointment. They should be ok with it though, hope this helped a little.

Thanks for sharing your experience. My doctor was originally about 2 hours away. (Ara Keshishian) I found out that he no longer does surgery at that hospital, only in Glendale. So I guess I get to travel....hopefully not too much though!

for your labs, ekg, & endoscopy you should be able to choose to go to anyone that takes your insurance. I would caution you on choosing your NUT and the person to do your Psych. Evaluation, along with your PCP (if you don't have one). You want to make sure you choose people who are familiar with and supportive of WLS, not all will be. I have read many posts where someone's PCP or Psych has caused some issues with the approval process.

Since I had just moved to this area I asked my surgeon to refer me to a PCP which worked out great. I went to the Psychologist and Nutritionist they suggested also. It made the process less stressful knowing that the Drs. I was seeing were familiar with/supportive of WLS.

It shouldn't be too difficult to find out what nut/psych. your local bariatric surgeon refers patients to and use them. I'd advise doing that vs. going with a random selection.

good luck!

Lori

I currently live in Michigan and will be having my surgery in Cincinnati Ohio area (5.5 hour drive one way). The surgeon wrote the orders of what tests he wanted my PCP in Michigan to order for me as well as gave me information about the letter of medical necessity he needed from my PCP. All of my bloodwork and gallbladder testing was done by my PCP in Michigan and those results were faxed to the surgeon. The letter took longer and several phone calls on my part, but it finally got sent so that by the time my EGD came around that the surgeon performed on Friday, he had everything else needed from my PCP. Monday I had my pre-op teaching and everything, so the next time I have to be in Cincinnati is for my surgery.

Thanks for sharing your experience. My doctor was originally about 2 hours away. (Ara Keshishian) I found out that he no longer does surgery at that hospital, only in Glendale. So I guess I get to travel....hopefully not too much though!

Well good luck to you sweetie. You will just have to get some good tunes to travel with you to make the time go faster. The drive is probably worth the fabulous journey you are redding to embark on..

Ditto to what others have said. My doc was 8 hours away. I did ALL of my pre-op tests locally. That included the EGD, blood work, gall bladder ultrasound, psych eval, NUT, and I think that was all I needed because I don't have any health issues besides being overweight. They still drew blood the day before surgery but that wasn't a big deal except that nobody seemed to know how to find a vein which was nerve wracking.

You will be fine. Just be sure to communicate with your doc on what he needs/ wants done. Often they will want tests beyond what the insurance requires depending on your situation.

Hi!

I live 2 hours away from the nearest hospital that did my surgery. I have Kaiser for my insurance and was allowed to do all my needed testing at my home facilities. I only had to go to the needed appointments to see the surgeon and attend the seminars at the facility that was 2 hours away, oh and for the surgery too!!.

Each program IS differnet and you should just ask them.

Hope this helps.

Kelly