Consultation

My husband and I drove up to Cambridge to meet Dr. Paul Super in The Hospital Group's Cambridge Park Hospital for my gastric band consultation. I was really nervous on the 1.5 hour car journey and Sunday drivers all around us didn't help.

We've been met by a very friendly receptionist who took me in for a quick weight and height measurement. I was busting for a wee and hoping this would make me lose a couple of pounds (desperate i know!) I headed to the toilet first, only to find out that I had my period, bleh...

So my BMI, which I was desperately trying to maintain below 50 (around 48-49ish the last couple of weeks) was a big fat 53 on the day I had my consultation and I don't know why exactly. Maybe because my scales aren't accurate or I've bloated up a bit thanks to my period or maybe I'm shorter than I think! I'll have to remember to ask my patient coordinator what they measured my height.

Then Dr Super invited us to his room and although I wasn't expecting to become best mates with him, his weak hand shake made my heart sink a little. Then I got to like him as he told us about the procedure, how the gastric band works, risks etc. He came across as a very honest person and I liked that. Also it's obvious that he knows what he's talking about by no doubt he's one of the best if not the best in his field. So no regrets whatsoever. I'm not looking for a babysitter to hold my hand (that's what my husband is for!) but a good surgeon who'll do his job well and I trust that Dr Super will do just that.

He explained how the band worked. I knew this but I'll write here anyway in case someone finds his/her way here and read it, they might find it interesting. Unlike what we initially thought, the band doesn't work by limiting the amount you can eat because of the little pouch it creates but instead the way it sends the brain signals of satisfaction as the food passes through and stimulates the nerves. So after you heal from the surgery, it's important to eat food with the right texture as liquid/soft food slides down easily while solid food goes down slower and keeps sending 'I'm full' signals to the brain.

We went through my medical history. Although I was tested for diabetes and thyroid levels, I had no idea if I had high blood pressure or not. So suddenly I panicked and at that moment I was 100% certain that I had high blood pressure! And if you have it too high, they can't operate. He told me that I didn't have the shape to have high blood pressure and most likely I didn't have it. He also said that I didn't look as heavy as I actually look and being pear-shaped is less risky for internal organs (hence, I assumed, less risky for the operation) and if I didn't lose weight I should expect joint problems more than, say, heart disease while apple-shaped bodies are more likely to develop it. He added that should I have high blood pressure, it would go down anyway because I would go on a pre-op diet.

I had already pre-booked the 15th of October for the op as Dr Super is mega busy and super popular - he had only 2 slots available which would work around my work commitments and I didn't want to miss and wait for another 3 months! It was 4 weeks before the op and we decided that I would immediately go on a diet of two stages. First stage for the first 2 weeks, I will do a low carb, low fat, high protein diet and then in the second stage I will do the milk and yogurt pre-op diet to shrink my liver. As the liver sits on the stomach, they need to lift it to reach the stomach to put the band on. If the liver's too large, it's got bleeding risk and it may not even be physically possible to move it at all! So this is serious stuff... It will be a bitch to have nothing but 3 pints of milk and 4 pots of yogurt a day for 14 days but I'll worry about it when I get there. First two weeks' dieting will help me go down to 50 BMI. This, again, is a must because if you're over 50 BMI, you'll have to have the operation in another hospital and pay another 1.5k...

After Dr Super, we met my lovely patient co-ordinator Emma who went through the procedure again with other logistic arrangements etc and she advised that the normal blood pressure reading is 120/80 and they can operate 160/90 or below. Then she said that they can go as high as 180/95. Frustratingly, her blood pressure monitor didn't like my arm, kept refusing to give a reading so we agreed that I would get my blood pressure checked at the GP or a Boots branch and email her the reading. Really nervous about this, hope it's ok...

We said our goodbyes and left the clinic and headed to town for a 'last supper'!

I didn't want to think about it too much so we just went in the first restaurant we fancied at the spot (Italian), had starter, pizza and desert - yummy! Then we drove back home and opened the bottle of champagne that was sitting in the fridge for the last few weeks - it was for our anniversary but I was really ill and on meds so we were saving it for a better time. As I will start dieting the very next day we just had to drink it :)

A little nervous but feeling very positive. Looking forward to the good things to come our way...


I will always remember Sunday, 16th of September 2012 as a very good day indeed :)