Re:'m confused-What is held on Satudays? - Kathie

[Guest guest]

Kathie265@... wrote:

>

> Is this a clinic for those of you who live close?

Until about a month ago, Dr. R. held clinic on Saturdays. Now he holds

clinic on Tuesdays. It is for everyone who is going to have surgery (or

thinking about it).

You are required to attend a clinic before surgery. If you are from out

of town, most people attend clinic on Tuesday the week of their surgery.

The clinic is held in a medical annex sort of building a few blocks from

Dr. R.'s office and just up the street from the hospital, in a room

large enough to hold about 40 people. There's a chalkboard at the front

of the room and a video screen to your upper left at the front of the

room. There are chairs in the room, some with arms, some without.

Don't be last if you want a chair without arms. Prospective patients

and some of their family members, significant others or friends are

there.

Dr. R's staff is in the back of the room gathering information from each

person as s/he comes in, including another copy of the patient

information form (so print off extra copies of that for yourself when

you fill yours out and you won't have to do it again at clinic!). They

also measure your waist and take your weight.

Often, the class will include some post-op people who may have just had

surgery the day before or within the past 2-3 days, or some longer term

post-ops. Some may show their scars and tell about their personal MGB

experience.

Dr. R. explains the MGB and shows a video of an actual MGB being

performed, which is very interesting and not at all gory. Fortunately,

he points out what parts of the body are what in the video, too, since

otherwise, I would have had no clue at all. He shows how the MGB can be

reversed. Then he calls on each person in the room to introduce

themself and anyone who has questions can ask questions and he answers

them until everyone is out of questions. At that point, he goes back to

a patient room area and calls each person in one at a time to talk with

her/him.

Everyone who is not in seeing Dr. R. mills around and meets each other,

like a nice social gathering. It's the way to find out who is pre-op

that week and who is from where, and put faces on the names you may have

seen here on the list.

All in all, it lasts about 2-3 hours.

Kind regards,