When I finally made the decision I was going to go forward with the surgery, I talked to some of my friends that had gone through it, and I asked about their doctor. I decided to go with Dr. Graber in Utica (http://www.drgrabermd.com/). I called and got my initial consultation scheduled for May 18th, 2010.
First thing Dr. Graber's office insists upon is the attendance of an information seminar that his office puts on. I arrived at the Holiday Inn at 8 am, and was surprised at how many other people were there for the same seminar. The seminar was very informational, and before I knew it two hours had blown by.
Upon my arrival for the consultation later that day, I was a little nervous and didn't know what to expect. I had heard that the doctor was a little strange, but I was looking forward to meeting him and hearing what he had to say. Turns out I met with two women before I got to him. The first woman took my vitals and went through my medical history. The next woman also went through my medical history and talked to me about the surgery and the life changes following. I felt it was a bit redundant, after having had to sit through the seminar that morning, but I figured it was probably good to have it all beat into my head so I knew what to expect.
Meeting Dr. Graber was a pleasant experience. He was conversational in his own way, cracking jokes with his very dry sense of humor. After going through my history (again!), he said, "Yes, we have to get this weigh off of you." Yes sir, I agree. And so I left his office feeling buoyed and hopeful, awaiting the date of my surgery.
A few days later I received an envelope in the mail from his office. It contained all my future appointments that they had made for me, and the date of my surgery: July 14th. My first reaction was dismay, as the 14th is the day before my daughter's birthday, and that meant I'd be hospitalized for her big day. But I put that worry aside for the time being and focused on the letter. They had made appointments for me to see my own physician, to clear me physically fit for surgery; an appointment with a psychiatrist, to make sure I don't have any issues with food that would threaten my success post op; a dietician, to go over what my diet will be like for the rest of my life; and a pre-admittance appointment for any last minute bloodwork and paperwork. I was grateful that they took care of all that for me.
Fast forward to the appointments. The meeting with the dietician was basically a waste of time, in my opinion. She didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know, as I had done my own research and talked to others that have gone through it. That lasted about 20 minutes. My next appointment was with the psychiatrist. What a super guy he was. I enjoyed talking with him, and after a short time he declared that I didn't need a psychiatrist, and that I didn't have any threatening issues. Yay me! (I even have a letter stating this for all you non-believers, haha!) His parting words to me were, "It doesn't matter if you are beautiful on the outside, it only matters if you are beautiful on the inside. But with you, I don't know why you want to do this, you have both." Aww....how sweet. But wait--are you genuine or hitting on me? OK, I know he wasn't hitting on me, but I found it amusing either way.
The appointment with my regular doc was uneventful. She and I had already discussed this at length so basically she gave me a physical, and sent me for an EKG and a chest x-ray. She also gave me a tetanus shot, which if you've never had one makes you feel like someone punched you hard in the arm for days after!
Lastly, I had my pre-admissions appointment a week before surgery. There I had blood drawn by an evil phlebotomist (she had no idea what she was doing, and I have great veins). I also met 3 other people in the waiting room that were also having the same surgery with the same doctor. That was reassuring. Then I met with a pre-op nurse and someone from the anesthesiologist's office. When I left, I had a feeling of relief...and of trepidation. I was on my way...
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