pre tests

1. Blood Work

• Labs are always fun. They take enough blood to create another person. It is always nice to be able to eat breakfast in the morning......HA!
• I had to breath into a bag, then drink this sour, lemony stuff and then blow into another bag 15 mins later
• 6 Vials of blood were taken
• I also had to urinate into a cup first

2. EKG

• I had to lay flat on a table and she put these sticker things all over my body. Then hooked up these wires all over my body.
• The test take less than a minute. Just has to take a reading of your heart rhythm.

3. Initial Consult with Surgeon

• Met with the nurse first, she took my height, weight, blood pressure etc...
• Got my Pre-photos taken. Will compare one year from now.
• Met with Dr Shapiro. Had to draw what my stomach would look like after surgery.
• Dr Shapiro went thru some questions with me. He wanted to know eating patterns, etc.
• He did a physical exam and then stated that he felt i was a good candidate for this surgery.

4. Upper GI

• Yes, the barium test!!!
• The test wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be.
• They had me stand first and i drank some barium
• then i was given carbonation to help the barium show up on camera
• I drank the rest of the barium.
• Then i was placed on a table and had me roll on my back, etc....

5. Respiratory tests

• I was was given a breathing aparatus thing. After surgery it will help bring my lungs back to health.
• Then came the wrist test. OUCH!!! The insert a needle into my wrist straight down to the artery. This is done to get the "true" blood and they are able to get more acurate readings. The readings they are looking for is the Oxygen levels etc....
• All i can say is that i wasn't prepared for it. I thought she was just going to take blood from my wrist the normal way. I wasn't prepared for her to go so deep.

This coming wednesday i will be meeting with another doctor to go over my test results and he will give the final approval to Dr Shapiro. Then i will call and get my confirmation on my surgery date.

NLB