Heyyy, anybody in the Washington,DC area?

[laurenella82 625]

Just curious. I see a lot of people from the West coast and up north like Jersey and PA...

[Beni 1,484]

Northern VA

[BeagleLover 1,020]

Maryland

[laurenella82 625]

Have you already had your surgery?

[Melissayw816 62]

I'm from the Washington DC area I work and had my surgery at Medstar Washington Hospital Center

[laurenella82 625]

Cool! I'm going to have mine at GW. When was your surgery?

[Melissayw816 62]

It was Oct 1st I'm exactly two months post op!

[laurenella82 625]

Congrats!! How are you doing so far? How long were you off work?

Edited December 1, 2014 by laurenella82

[BeagleLover 1,020]

@@laurenella82, who is your surgeon?

[laurenella82 625]

@@laurenella82, who is your surgeon?

Dr. K. Vaziri

[Beni 1,484]

I almost had my surgery at GW but the wait was so long I decided to go with my doctor who was able to do it in 1 month and he ended up being a great doctor. Zero complications and I went home after two days with no pain meds except for Tylenol. At first I thought he was joking but he was 100% right I had no pain. I did take the Tylenol the first night because I couldn't sleep and I thought it was pain and then again twice for headaches during the first week. I was much better then my C-section. I did have to sleep on my back for 3 weeks as sleeping on my side was uncomfortable but I can do any position at 4 weeks post surgery. The first week home was the hardest as getting out of bed required thinking it through. But I have a very low pain threshold. My husband calls me a pain Diva.

Drinking was a little challenging for the first three days home as it took 15 minutes to get 1 ounce in with tiny sips. I had to have a schedule and a game plan because i didn't want to go back to hospital for IV fluids.

You will do fine!

[laurenella82 625]

Was that for the actual surgery or for a consult with the surgeon? I certainly hope the wait isn't that long now. They haven't been told anything about a wait.

If turns out to be easier than my c section then I'm golden. Aside from having to be put to sleep because I felt her cut me, it wasn't so bad. Very little pain/soreness.

[Beni 1,484]

I did like the doctor at GW and the RN was fantastic. I went to the support group meetings twice, I think. The patient navigator lady though was not the nicest. She had an attitude. "Like I told you" kind of answers and she required 1 month to process the paperwork to submit for insurance once all the my paperwork (tests and other clearance items) was in. I was so incensed I decided to go find another doctor pronto. My doctor's office processed the paperwork in one day and insurance took 3 days to respond.

[laurenella82 625]

Hmmmm...maybe this is a different person. Or she got reported and is nicer now. She's fine with me. Our conversations are less formal and more like I'm talking to a friend. She's been really helpful and encouraging. She also told me that it takes the doc a week to get the info out for insurance approval and 6 weeks for them to approve (though she did tell me off the record that it's never taken my insurance more than 2 weeks). I'm hoping it won't take the entire week to send my stuff off.

[Beni 1,484]

Well, at GW they told me it takes 4 weeks for the patient navigator to process the paperwork to submit for insurance because she has a two week back log and the RN has to approve it as well and she has a 2 week backlog. Once the insurance approval is received, it usually takes 6 weeks to schedule the surgery. My doctor processed the paperwork in one day, the approval was in 3 days and my surgery was 3 weeks later. I could have gone earlier but my husband was going to be out of town. They were able to schedule my surgery ahead of insurance approval because based on my BMI above 40 and my insurance they expected it to be a done deal. I am sure it would not have been the end of the world to have to wait another 2 months to get my surgery at GW but I had to do the 3 mont NUT visits and I was so ready I wanted it ASAP. But patience is a virtue. You will be fine. GW is a great Hospital and so are the doctors on the Bariatric team.

Really the surgery was much better then expected for me.