After the seminar I did not wait very long before calling the office to schedule my first visit with Dr Pirrello, actually I only waited about 12 hours until the office opened up. I was able to make an appointment for the following week.
My first appointment was very exciting. I got there very early and was greeted by an awesome group of people. The lady named Scarlett at the front desk was very delightful, happy and very welcoming. I checked in, gave all my information, signed my life away and went and sat in the waiting room; this had to be the longest 5 minutes of my life as I waited to be called back. Once I was called back I was once again greeted by some awesome nurses. Like always they checked my vitals and all the normal stuff. Long story shortened, the doctor finally arrived. He was very personable and has an awesomely dry sense of humor. We talked like we had known each other for years. We talked about what I was looking for, and what I was hoping to gain out of this operation. After spilling my guts to him he asked why I was going to have the bypass and not the sleeve; I couldn't give him a very good answer; he didn't tell me this I just knew I didn't have a good enough answer; so I followed up his question with a question. I asked him why I should get the sleeve over the bypass. He went on to explain that I am only 24, had no medical issues that needed to be corrected by gastric bypass and I would be able to get the same results from the sleeve as I would the bypass with a lot less risk of complications. So, being the hard headed person I have grown to be, I told him I would think about it and get back to him. The rest of the appointment we discussed what my next steps were to be and what kind of time frame I was looking at. I had a goal of getting this operation done at the end of June beginning of July due to me knowing the 4th quarter at my job is always very busy. The doctor told me it was possible I just had to move fast.
After that meeting with the doctor I immediately left the office, went home and started calling and lining up all the other required doctor appointments that my insurance required. I was very luck to have Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, they recognized this problem I had as a problem, so they did not require me to go on a doctor supervised diet or anything like that, all the required was a psychological exam, Gastrointestinal exam, one nutritionists meeting and my Primary Care Physician to sign off on the operation.
The first person I called was my Primary Care Physician; Dr Christopher Zagar with Lakeside Family Physicians. He has been my doctor since my senior year in college, and if anyone ever ask me, he is the best doctor on the face of this planet. I had already discussed with him my intentions at a previous meeting with him, and he was very supportive and told me that he would do what ever necessary to help me. So, when I called him he agreed over the phone that he supported me and didn't really require meeting with me as he knew all about me; so in my mind I racked that up as a check mark off my list. The next person I called was the Psycho (what I call the psychologist) He was able to get me in the following week, so I scooped up that appointment as soon as they gave it to me. The last people that I had to call was the Gastro people. I called them and found out they were booked solid for a month; this was a very big blow to me as this was going to put me behind in my schedule; so I took the earliest appointment they had and decided to just hope and pray something else would come up so I could get in there sooner.
I was able to go to the psychologists and tell him that I was a fat person and wanted to be skinny, he asked the typical psychologists questions and then said he approved me for the operation. The one down fall that he told me about as I was leaving his office is that his transcriptionists usually takes two to three weeks to get my report out to my doctor, when I heard this I was once again dealt with a blow to my time schedule I was trying to work through....I expressed my concerns with the doctor and he said he would work with me as much as he could.
The next doctor I went to was the gastro doctor. during this visit the main goal was to get a good picture of my insides and to check to see how bad my refulx. Like I stated earlier in this post, this doctor had been booked solid for weeks out, but I called every day to check for cancellations and to see if something had opened up for me to come in, and lucky me, one day I called and they had an opening that day. So I jumped in the car and went to the office. I had been warned about this visit, because I was told I would have to drink "chalk". So I was a little nervous about what was going to happen, but once I got into the x-ray room I was relieved to find the nurse and the doctor to be very kind. The chalky material wasn't the best tasting stuff in the world, but then again it wasn't bad. During my examination I had to drink this substance while standing and sitting in about every type of position you could imagine, but the whole time I just told myself that it was worth it in the end. This appointment only lasted about one hour and I was out of there. This doctor was able to submit my report pretty much the next day, so come to find out the doctor that I was most worried about when it came to time constraints was the doctor that moved the fastest.
The last appointment that I set up was with my nutritionists. I meet with her and we talked about what I could expect with my operation in regards to food intake, output and other things such as that. We went over the supplements that I would have to take, and the progression of food intake I would have after the operation. This lady was very helpful and extremely nice. We set up a plan for me to meet with her every month from then on after my surgery to follow me throughout the food timeline.
Around the 2nd week in June, I scheduled my next appointment with Dr Pirrellos office and was set up to see his PA Christy. I went into the office and we talked about what all I had done and the time frame that I was looking at. I told her I was looking at getting this done ASAP and she told me it was very possible at the speed in which I was getting things done. I found out during this meeting that all doctors had approved me except for the psychologists as he had not yet submitted his report. I left this meeting determined that I was going to get this doctor to submit his report so I could get this show on the road. Finally during this appointment I had to decided upon which operation I wanted to have. Like I have said before I was set and determined that I was going to have the bypass, but after doing a ton of research and reading reviews and everything else you could think of, I had decided to go through with the sleeve. So this appointment wrapped up and while I was leaving my case manager told me that she would call as soon as everything came in and my insurance approve my operation.
Well the next few days were long as I awaited that call; but one day I got off work a little early and stopped by the fire department and decided to call my psychologists office and see if they had submitted my report to the doctor yet. This was on June 25th. When I called the receptionist told me that the report had been submitted the previous Friday to Dr Pirrellos office. Man was I excited, I hung up the phone with such happiness and called Dr Pirellos office ASAP and got my case manager. When she got on the phone I asked if she had received my report from all of my doctors now, and she told me yes, and that insurance had approved my operation. When I heard this there was such a peace that all of a sudden came over my body...I was so excited I almost broke down crying. My case manager then asked me what I thought about the 2nd of July. I then asked her, the 2nd? is that for my pre op workup, and she replied "no that will be your operation date, I will need you in here this Thursday for your pre op work up and and blood work". Man oh man when I found out that my operation was going to be a week away I felt like I was walking on cloud 9.
Well that Thursday arrived and I went to the hospital to meet with Doctor Pirrello. I arrived about an hour early so I could go and meet with the Anesthesia team as well. I went to the 2nd floor meet with that team and got my blood work done, and all my questions answered by them.. The explained how the Anesthesia worked and what I would feel, etc. I was very familiar with this process as I have had many operations as a child on my ears. So as soon as I got done there I went down to Dr Pirrellos office and waited to meet him. I had to wait forever this day because his office was very backed up due to an incident that morning, so I was scheduled to meet the doctor at 11am, but didn't get back to see him until after 1pm; but I didn't care, I knew what was happening in 5 days so nothing really mattered to me. I went back, we talked and he assured me that all was well and that he was going to make me right. The meeting was very personable and very informative. He told me everything he would do and how long it would take and all things like that. During this meeting he went over all the pills that he wanted me to take, when to take what and how to take them. It was a long list, but he assured me that after the operation the list would shrink down fast.
After this meeting, I went home for the day and began the wait of the 5 longest days ever. I felt like I was a kid waiting to go to Disney World in 5 days, I could not sleep at night, the days could not go by fast enough, etc!!! But the day finally did arrive, and boy was I excited.
Look out for the next post as I discuss my day before operation prep, and the morning of my operation.
Also I know this is a lot I am typing, and I am not able to get all the information in that I really want to, but please if you have any questions for me please add them in the comments section and I will answer them for you.
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