Hey LittleGoose, Welcome to the forums!
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply... I've been trying to stay away from here for a while 'cause i still haven't got a date for my surgery yet and have tried to put it all to the back of my mind before i drive myself crazy. haha
My Journey has been LONG! That's the first thing i can tell you. Be prepared to wait. I had my first appointment with the hospital back in November 2015 so it's been almost 2 years for me. But besides that its been fine. Nothing to worry about, really. Appointments are usually a few months apart. I had a couple that were quite close together because of them being for different things. I think, even when people are both at heartlands their experience can vary.
My first appointment was with the dietitian who basically just asks why you're interested in surgery, what your eating habits are, what you aim to change, how you aim to change. They also give you advice on how to manage cravings and trying to notice the difference between head hunger and ACTUAL hunger. Then after that i had an appointment with a consultant. He basically tells you if he thinks you would be a candidate for surgery or not and what might be expected from you weight loss wise before you reach that point. Then they refer you to the sleep clinic to see if you have sleep apnoea. They need to know if you have this or not for when you have your actual operation because if you have it you stop breathing in your sleep and that can be dangerous after you've been under anesthetic. Then its just more appointments with your dietitian really.. you see them around every 3 months.. it's pretty straight forward and everyone i have seen there have been really nice, helpful and friendly.
When they think you're ready to be referred for the surgery (which for me was after 13 months) they will do that and then you're invited to an information seminar where you learn more about each operation type, then you have your appointment with the surgeon and you're put on the waiting list.. which is where i'm at right now.
I hope this helps! If you have anymore questions just let me know
x
