Meeting with Dr. Landers

Published on April 12, 2012 4:39 pm

Got up this morning at 5AM along with my devoted wife and got ready to go to Bellevue Washington for my pre-op with Dr. Landers, my gastric bypass surgeon. It was at the Group Health hospital there in his office. Under normal conditions it would only take about an hour and a half to drive from my home to the hospital, but if you have ever drove in the Seattle metropolitan traffic, you had better plan on doubling the travel time.

 His nurse came in and did the normal examination things, weight, BP, temp. etc. She then asked me several questions about my tests and gave me several handout about the procedure, like what would be expected of me 30 days, 7 days and 1 day before the surgery. She gave me several emergency numbers to call if I have questions and told us the Dr. Landers had an unexpected emergency call as he was “on call” but would be with us as soon as he could.

 As Jackie and I were very tired because of leaving quite early and not sleeping that well, we both fell asleep in the office while we waited. After sleeping for what seemed to be just a minute or so, which was really over an hour, Dr. Landers came into the examining room. He examined me, listened to my heart and lungs and then called up all my records on the computer and asked me some questions about past operations and medical problems I had through the years. He said all tests came back just fine and it looked like I was ready to go. He made sure I felt confident about the surgery. I asked several questions about how the surgery would be done. He went into great detail to tell me the sequence of events in the operating room and how the surgery would progress and the responsibility of each surgery member. He said they would be going down my throat with a small camera to look at my gal bladder to see what it's condition was before they took it out. They are going to take it out but wanted to know it's condition before doing so. I don't really understand this but he knows more about it than me, that is for sure.

 He was very jovial and nice, cracking some jokes and engaging me in conversation. He has gained my respect and confidence. He made it a point to remind me that this is a tool, and that it will be up to me to use it. I told him and will tell anyone that at my age, I know I have made my share of commitments and guarantees and sometimes have not lived up to them. But, in this case, I told him that I have known that this gastric bypass is the answer to my problems as I do not eat sweets, I am not a frequent consumer of fast food places. I am not a binge eater, I don't hide food or eat between meals. I simply eat too much for ME. I live on 1400 calories today. That is not much for a man. But for me it is way to much and I can gain weight. This tool will allow me to cut that down and maintain my weight. I was a problem drinker and a 3 pack a day man. I overcame those problems a long time ago. Over eating is my latest dragon to slay.