First appointment at L&D

[skz86]

Hi everyone

I have my first appointment at L&D tomorrow, originally was going to be the end of January 2018 but managed to get a cancellation today. I am just wondering what to expect? The lady on the phone said I will have to follow Tier 3 for 6-12 months before I can get referred to Tier 4- surgery options. Will I be given a diet plan to follow tomorrow? Any info/advice would be appreciated. Thanks x

 

[Bling Babe]

Hiya and welcome, congratulations on getting a cancellation, I’m also with L and D and have just got a date for 27th March, my assessment was for 1 year and I begun my journey with them in June 2016 so it will be 21 months in total when I get my surgery, the assessment period depends on you BMI and any co-morbidities you may have. At my first appointment I saw a dietician, I was weighed and gave blood samples I was asked where I wanted to go with my journey as they also offer weight management without surgery at the end. I was given a food diary to fill in which you must do in an honest way I then went back 1 month later and was given the milk diet to follow for 4 weeks, it really wasn’t that bad to be honest as it takes away food choices, you have 4 pints of milk a day, flavoured with sugar free Crusha if you like, you also have 2 Bovril or OXO drinks a day, my favourite was chicken OXO in hot milk, these are to replace the electrolytes in your body, 3 small pots of sugar free jelly or 1 sugar free sachet of jelly, I made mine with some of my milk allowance oh and 2 sugar free chewing gums, unlimited sugar free drinks and plenty of water, you’ll pee for England ,,,,the reason for the milk diet is to prove commitment, show you can tolerate a high protein diet, help you lose 5% of your body weight which you must do to move on with your journey and at a later date, 2 weeks before surgery you have to do the milk diet again as it shrinks the liver so the surgeon can access all areas needed to when he operates. let me know if you need any more info or you can search for my diary titled “I’ve only gone and got a date” somewhere in that is the whole years procedure but you can just ask me anything.
Good luck tomorrow everyone there is really nice x

 

[skz86]

Hi, sorry I don’t know your name but thank you for taking the time to reply, that’s really helpful. I just have a couple of questions:

Would I be able to begin the milk diet tomorrow if I wish to?
Can you remember how much you lost after your 4 weeks on the milk diet?
What step did you take after those 4 weeks? Do you move up to food?
If you’ve lost 5% of your body weight will you definitely get recommended for surgery if you still want it?

Thanks
Sarah

 

[OkieGirl]

Hi and welcome! I'm with L&D as well and can confirm what Bling has said. I had my first appointment last Thursday and have my next one January 5th. I found the dietitian I spoke with to be very kind. I can't really add much more to what Bling said apart from that if you're taking a car there, leave yourself plenty of time to get parked. The car parks there are ridiculous and not very well signposted!

 

[skz86]

Hi and welcome! I'm with L&D as well and can confirm what Bling has said. I had my first appointment last Thursday and have my next one January 5th. I found the dietitian I spoke with to be very kind. I can't really add much more to what Bling said apart from that if you're taking a car there, leave yourself plenty of time to get parked. The car parks there are ridiculous and not very well signposted!

Thankyou for the reply. So we may be at similar points in the journey. Have you been asked to fill in a food diary and do you begin the milk diet in January? Will you be referred for surgery in 6 or 12 months? Thanks x

 

[sandra overton]

Hi everyone

I have my first appointment at L&D tomorrow, originally was going to be the end of January 2018 but managed to get a cancellation today. I am just wondering what to expect? The lady on the phone said I will have to follow Tier 3 for 6-12 months before I can get referred to Tier 4- surgery options. Will I be given a diet plan to follow tomorrow? Any info/advice would be appreciated. Thanks x

hello and welcome I'm also at luton and Dunstable and I'm on the waiting list for bypass they are really nice there and I wish you good luck the time flys by

 

[skz86]

hello and welcome I'm also at luton and Dunstable and I'm on the waiting list for bypass they are really nice there and I wish you good luck the time flys by

Thankyou for the reply. How long have you been going there? X

 

[Maria61]

Hi everyone

I have my first appointment at L&D tomorrow, originally was going to be the end of January 2018 but managed to get a cancellation today. I am just wondering what to expect? The lady on the phone said I will have to follow Tier 3 for 6-12 months before I can get referred to Tier 4- surgery options. Will I be given a diet plan to follow tomorrow? Any info/advice would be appreciated. Thanks x

Hi there I am also at Luton. First seen in June 2016 and had bypass September 2017 as my BMI was over 50 I did tier 3 for 6 months so it took me 15 months from first appointment to surgery. Good luck and as everyone says the team at Luton are excellent

 

[skz86]

Hi ladies, back from my appointment.

First of all, Parking was a nightmare but got there by the skin of my teeth lol. Then navigating around the hospital was a bit chaotic but a nice lady showed me the way. All staff were really polite and friendly.

I had my initial assessment, talked about existing health issues, weight history, lifestyle, height and weight taken. So the next step is an appointment with the doctor/anaesthetist and then an appointment with the specialist nurse to get me started on the milk diet. She then said I would be given a diet plan for the remainder of the 6 months. The final step is looking likely to be surgery, I was asked if I would want that and I said yes. I was really hoping I may be able to start the milk diet today but unfortunately not as the lady said they need all my blood test results back before I can begin the milk diet.

So now it’s just a waiting game until I’m seen again and can start properly, but in the meantime I will complete the food diary.

 

[Maria61]

Hi ladies, back from my appointment.

First of all, Parking was a nightmare but got there by the skin of my teeth lol. Then navigating around the hospital was a bit chaotic but a nice lady showed me the way. All staff were really polite and friendly.

I had my initial assessment, talked about existing health issues, weight history, lifestyle, height and weight taken. So the next step is an appointment with the doctor/anaesthetist and then an appointment with the specialist nurse to get me started on the milk diet. She then said I would be given a diet plan for the remainder of the 6 months. The final step is looking likely to be surgery, I was asked if I would want that and I said yes. I was really hoping I may be able to start the milk diet today but unfortunately not as the lady said they need all my blood test results back before I can begin the milk diet.

So now it’s just a waiting game until I’m seen again and can start properly, but in the meantime I will complete the food diary.

Good luck to you, the time will go really quickly xxx

 

[OkieGirl]

Thankyou for the reply. So we may be at similar points in the journey. Have you been asked to fill in a food diary and do you begin the milk diet in January? Will you be referred for surgery in 6 or 12 months? Thanks x

We're at very similar stages. I've got my next appointment through for the 5th January and I suspect I'll start the milk diet then. In the meantime I've got my food diary to fill in and the workbook(s) in the pack they gave me. I'm assuming all was well with my blood work because I've not had any panicked calls saying GET THEE TO A DOCTOR! At least I'm hoping all was well. As far as I'm aware the only co-morbidities that I have are high blood pressure and slightly elevated cholesterol, like... they like for it to be 5 and mine's 6, but I don't know what the exact breakdown of LDL to HDL.

Speaking of workbooks... @Maria61 and @Bling Babe, do I need to do all the workbooks or just one at a time? It seems to rush through all of them before my next appointment would defeat the object of making me slow down and think things through. I know it's probably pretty obvious, but I'd just like some confirmation of this.

 

[Maria61]

We're at very similar stages. I've got my next appointment through for the 5th January and I suspect I'll start the milk diet then. In the meantime I've got my food diary to fill in and the workbook(s) in the pack they gave me. I'm assuming all was well with my blood work because I've not had any panicked calls saying GET THEE TO A DOCTOR! At least I'm hoping all was well. As far as I'm aware the only co-morbidities that I have are high blood pressure and slightly elevated cholesterol, like... they like for it to be 5 and mine's 6, but I don't know what the exact breakdown of LDL to HDL.

Speaking of workbooks... @Maria61 and @Bling Babe, do I need to do all the workbooks or just one at a time? It seems to rush through all of them before my next appointment would defeat the object of making me slow down and think things through. I know it's probably pretty obvious, but I'd just like some confirmation of this.

Hi OkieGirl I did as much of the work books as I could but they did not look at them in too much detail, more concerned on the weight progress but such a helpful and reassuring team at Luton. Good luck to you xx

 

[Bling Babe]

Hi, sorry I don’t know your name but thank you for taking the time to reply, that’s really helpful. I just have a couple of questions:

Would I be able to begin the milk diet tomorrow if I wish to?
Can you remember how much you lost after your 4 weeks on the milk diet?
What step did you take after those 4 weeks? Do you move up to food?
If you’ve lost 5% of your body weight will you definitely get recommended for surgery if you still want it?

Thanks
Sarah

Hi
Sorry for late reply, I would not recommend starting the milk diet until they want you to, I lost about 8kg others have lost a lot more but it’s not about that so much as shrinking the liver, afterwards you go onto the “re-feed” diet which is sensible choices of food and I think it was 200 calories for breakfast, 300 for lunch and 400 for dinner plus 1 pint milk and yes if you have lost 5% and have not experienced any problems you will continue with your assessment of either 6 months or 1 year
Good luckx

 

[Bling Babe]

We're at very similar stages. I've got my next appointment through for the 5th January and I suspect I'll start the milk diet then. In the meantime I've got my food diary to fill in and the workbook(s) in the pack they gave me. I'm assuming all was well with my blood work because I've not had any panicked calls saying GET THEE TO A DOCTOR! At least I'm hoping all was well. As far as I'm aware the only co-morbidities that I have are high blood pressure and slightly elevated cholesterol, like... they like for it to be 5 and mine's 6, but I don't know what the exact breakdown of LDL to HDL.

Speaking of workbooks... @Maria61 and @Bling Babe, do I need to do all the workbooks or just one at a time? It seems to rush through all of them before my next appointment would defeat the object of making me slow down and think things through. I know it's probably pretty obvious, but I'd just like some confirmation of this.

Hiya I honestly can’t remember any workbooks I just done the food diary which they took of me....never to be seen again . X

 

[skz86]

Hi everyone. Happy new year! Just a quick update from me.

So I last posted back in November 2017 before and after my first appointment at L&D. I managed to reschedule my appointment (which would have been in January 2018) to December 13th 2017. On this day I saw the physician and the dietician and my blood tests were reviewed. Physician said he’s happy to put me forward for surgery and that he wouldn’t need to see me again. Dietician gave me the information to begin the milk diet and said she will review me at my next appointment. She said I would not need to commence the milk diet until the middle of January but to make sure I had done it for 4 weeks up to the day of my next appointment- which is February 19th.

I got so bored of waiting that I decided to commence it on 27th December. I have now completed 5 days on it- time of writing will mean I am now on the 6th day- and I am feeling good! I’ve lost 6lbs and not felt hungry once. I will have been following the milk diet for 7 weeks by the time I go back in February. I will update you all after that!

I’m going to try the milk with oxo tomorrow. So far I’ve liked the jelly and the oxo with water, it’s nice to be able to have crusha and the fizzy drinks once a day but I am getting tired of coffee!

Not sure what to think about the food reintroduction stage but hopefully I’ll get on ok!

 

[Maria61]

Hi everyone. Happy new year! Just a quick update from me.

So I last posted back in November 2017 before and after my first appointment at L&D. I managed to reschedule my appointment (which would have been in January 2018) to December 13th 2017. On this day I saw the physician and the dietician and my blood tests were reviewed. Physician said he’s happy to put me forward for surgery and that he wouldn’t need to see me again. Dietician gave me the information to begin the milk diet and said she will review me at my next appointment. She said I would not need to commence the milk diet until the middle of January but to make sure I had done it for 4 weeks up to the day of my next appointment- which is February 19th.

I got so bored of waiting that I decided to commence it on 27th December. I have now completed 5 days on it- time of writing will mean I am now on the 6th day- and I am feeling good! I’ve lost 6lbs and not felt hungry once. I will have been following the milk diet for 7 weeks by the time I go back in February. I will update you all after that!

I’m going to try the milk with oxo tomorrow. So far I’ve liked the jelly and the oxo with water, it’s nice to be able to have crusha and the fizzy drinks once a day but I am getting tired of coffee!

Not sure what to think about the food reintroduction stage but hopefully I’ll get on ok!

Well done and happy new year xx

 

[BikerBabe65]

Hi to all, I’m under Luton & Dunstable and was beginning to think I was the only person who was so I’m well pleased I’ve found some others who are too!

I was under a consultant called A-L Tann
(well something like that anyway) lol he is sooooo super nice as was the anaesthetist I had unlike a couple in the actual clinic!

I’m currently 4 weeks post op and the only advice I would give you all is please don’t do this lightly?
It’s not a quick fix and changes your whole way of life.

After day 3 being on the milk diet doesn’t seem that bad it’s the starting of it that’s the hardest so hang on in there!

If I can offer any advice I will certainly try to answer as honestly as possible!

 

[OkieGirl]

Hi @BikerBabe65! There's quite a few of us at L&D. Congrats on getting to the loser's bench and welcome to the forum!

 

[sandra overton]

Hi to all, I’m under Luton & Dunstable and was beginning to think I was the only person who was so I’m well pleased I’ve found some others who are too!

I was under a consultant called A-L Tann
(well something like that anyway) lol he is sooooo super nice as was the anaesthetist I had unlike a couple in the actual clinic!

I’m currently 4 weeks post op and the only advice I would give you all is please don’t do this lightly?
It’s not a quick fix and changes your whole way of life.

After day 3 being on the milk diet doesn’t seem that bad it’s the starting of it that’s the hardest so hang on in there!

If I can offer any advice I will certainly try to answer as honestly as possible!

Hi to all, I’m under Luton & Dunstable and was beginning to think I was the only person who was so I’m well pleased I’ve found some others who are too!

I was under a consultant called A-L Tann
(well something like that anyway) lol he is sooooo super nice as was the anaesthetist I had unlike a couple in the actual clinic!

I’m currently 4 weeks post op and the only advice I would give you all is please don’t do this lightly?
It’s not a quick fix and changes your whole way of life.

After day 3 being on the milk diet doesn’t seem that bad it’s the starting of it that’s the hardest so hang on in there!

If I can offer any advice I will certainly try to answer as honestly as possible!

hi im on the waiting list my consultant is al_taan how long did you wait hoping to hear soon how are you and what op did you have

 

[BikerBabe65]

Hi Sandra,

I started my journey in approx February 2015, I went to my Dr’s and got put onto a weight management programme, which was a right arse as the clinic I attended was over an hour away each visit but I stuck it out and eventually got passed by them (which took over 18months) to the L&D.

I then attended the clinic at L&D and was put forward for surgery, they don’t do the bands anymore as they found out they wasn’t that effective & people could cheat easily with them, as far as I can remember they do two procedures now which are a gastric sleeve or bypass.

I had the gastric bypass it’s called the RNY I think! and my surgery was done on the 28th December 2017, so I’m just a few weeks post op now.

The op itself went ok and I had no pain due to being kept topped up with pain relief, my problems have arisen by a previous medical problem & my Gp not giving me the meds I needed in liquid form, so I’ve been having all kinds of grief but it’s down to sudden withdrawal from some of the meds I use to be on, but nothing at all to with my op.

Hope this answers some questions for you.