Thursday, February 21, 2008

Two Down, Two to Go.

Well, true to his nurse's word, my cardiologist called me this afternoon and we had a nice little telecon for about 10 minutes regarding my suitability as a surgical candidate for gastric bypass surgery. He was solicitous. He was concerned, lest I hadn't explored all of the available options (Rouen en Y vs. adjustable band, etc.). But at the end of the conversation, when I put it to him point blank, he agreed that I could tolerate ALL variations of the surgery with no foreseeable threat to my heart and that he would, indeed, sign off on it in writing.

So, having gotten my endocrinologist and cardiologist on-board, that leaves my internist and, finally, the nebulous surgeon who will actually perform this miracle surgery.

Actually, I know who it will probably be. Both doctors mentioned his name in the course of my conversations with them. He has a rather thriving surgical practice in the area, devoted entirely to gastric bypasses.

Moreover, he does these surgeries at Princeton Hospital and not at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital.

This is the same Princeton Hospital that's aka Princeton Plainsboro Hospital, where Dr. House malpractices medicine. It's also where the ambulance took me on January 4th with blood gushing from my forehead.

I have a feeling that if I can get my internist in line with my surgical expectations, the actual surgeon will have no problem whatsoever in taking my insurance company's ill-gotten premiums.

I haven't been this excited about something since 2005, when they sliced open my carotids and sucked the congealed cholesterol out of both of them.

I hope I'm not getting hooked on being mutilated.

Tattoos would be cheaper.

3 comments:

Bev Sykes said...

Do they make you go through psychological testing before they do this surgery?

JoyZeeBoy said...

No.

But I'm a Type II diabetic and, apparently, that makes all the difference in the world. The docs all said that the usual BMI cutoff is 35 or 40, and that my BMI is 34. But because I am diabetic they'll waive all the usual requirements.

Under the heading of "More Will Be Revealed" my internist pretty much admitted that my heart problems, dating back to my heart attack in 1989, were more likely due to nascent diabetes than to any other single factor.

And I was 41 when that happened. I guess I've been on the edge ever since.

Bev Sykes said...

I'm surprised there is no psych requirement. I thought that was a routine part of the prep pre-surgery for gastic bypass. Cap sure did tons of those reports.