First Appointments - Nurses

Nurse appointments are the first actual appointments you will get. Ours were on February 7, 2013, both of us with a different Registered Nurse or RN. Ally had a woman named Colleen and I one named Nikki. In our separate appointments we both had out height, weight, blood pressure and pictures taken. Ally came in at 295lbs (133.8kg) and I was 422lbs (191.5kg). Although those are the numbers that we were more or less expecting it is still horrifying to see them staring at you from the scale. We discussed which surgery you are interested in, both Ally and I have decided on the Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass (RNY). They then asked us all kinds of questions about medical, family and diet history.

And they both went over with us some of what is expected of you during the program, including but not limited to…

1. Monthly appointments at the clinic
2. Daily Food Journal (if you don’t bring it you don’t see them)
3. 10% weight loss before surgery (from weight on first appointment)
             - For Ally that will be 29.5lbs
             - For Evie that will be 42.2lbs
4. You have to meet with all the different branches of the staff (team)
             - Nurse, Surgeon, Dietitian, Psychologist
             - You will have to see the on staff Psychologist who is there for you to talk to and to
               evaluate how you are doing and the off-site psychologist who will evaluate if you are
               even right to have surgery (mental capacity included)
5. You have to get a gastroscopy done by the surgeon

After taking my blood pressure and seeing that it was really quite high, Nikki recommended that I make an appointment with my family doctor to discuss blood pressure medications. She also sent in a referral to a clinic in Calgary for me to get tested for Sleep Apnea. It’s been recommended to me in the past to be tested for Sleep Apnea, as a lot of my family members including Ally have it. And although I have a suspicion that I do have it, I never went and did the test because I didn’t want to be pressured into having to get the machine that I know I cannot sleep with it. Not to mention I dread the test itself, I have visions of wires, large machines and not being able to move.

They went over our food journals with us, and they were very impressed with how organized we were, (all credit goes to Ally for her exceptional template). We both have a binder dedicated to this, with tabs and everything. We put our food journal, questions, and any relevant information/papers in it. Each of us has a printed list of our medications and conditions so when they ask you just read from the list which cuts down on the chance of forgetting something. With my OCD I have even put my Food Journal in sheet covers, but there is no need to go that far. Ally often rolls her eyes at me whenever she sees I’m obsessing over my binder.

Nikki recommends slowly cutting back on the amount I am eating and making healthier choices. She wants me to gradually change and become more aware of what you are eating, so I can make healthier choices. Colleen recommends that Ally begin the 1 cup diet (more to come about that later) first thing Monday.

Before the end of our appointments both of us asked our individual nurses what the soonest we could get the surgery would be? They both gave us the same answer, that although a few have done it as soon as four months it would probably be closer to six.

Both Ally and I are given forms for blood tests. They are just routine tests, checking to make sure all your levels are ok and if there is anything that they should be worried about. Referrals are sent in for both the gastroscopy and the psychologist. Our RN’s recommended we see the surgeon right away, so after we were finished we both booked our next appointments.

When we left and compared notes we were both excited about getting started.

XOXO Evie and Ally