information about dr. kim at Celebration in central Florida.

[bcoulton2011 3]

I have my first appointment with the nurse practitioner on the 24th June. I am so excited to get started. Let me know how the appointments go. I wish you the best of luck for this journey. I am hoping to get things done as soon as possible. I am ready!

[mamachef 37]

If you need pulmonary clearance then I highly recommend Pulminary Institute they got me in two days after I called. Dr Kims reccomendation couldnt see me until mid July.

[bcoulton2011 3]

Thank you for that. I have time restraints, as my husband works out of state, so having other providers is a great asset. I kind of figured that Dr. Kim's office will be busy, first of all it was exceptionally hard to get the patient advocate on the phone. We played phone tag for days, until finally we started corresponding by email. Then once we got in contact they only had one day availiable for the initial consult , ie. the 24th, then the next availiability was in mid July and my husband would be away.

[mamachef 37]

Well surgery might be a ways off my first availability was a month out and they wont fully schedule until you have all your clearances and you have lost whatever weight they asked you to lose. GL!!!

[IrishEyes 59]

Hi! What's everyone's status? @bcoulton, how did your appt go? I'm sorry I haven't been able to get back about any preop diet tips yet. I have been living at my Dads house for many months now caring for him since his cancer diagnosis. All of my surgery info is in a few folders at home. Hope everyone is doing well!

[StarryNightSky 17]

Hey everyone I am also using Dr. Kim as my surgeon. I don't have a surgery date yet but hoping I can find out Monday at my appointment. I hope we can all keep in touch during this journey.

[mamachef 37]

Insurance approved Monday! They recoeved all my clearances by Thursday just waiting on the call to schedule

[IrishEyes 59]

@mamachef, Congratulations! You are at the doorstep of a whole new life! I am so excited for you! Its all going to move quick now! I remember the whole process seemed like it was taking forever but as soon as I was approved by insurance and had all clearances it went quick. I remember the night before surgery thinking about the process and thinking I can't believe its tomorrow. That's where you are. And its exciting! Let it be exciting! I wish I had. Anxiety is normal and in low doses healthy. However too much can take away from the journey. Before my surgery I had many unknowns. I knew I was at a Center of Excellence and prayed for success. I did NOT know of anyone who had gone before me with the same surgeon, same hospital. Not on this site. I read ALL the horror stories on this site. NONE applied to my experience. I met a girl my age at the preop DAY (its all day) who was having surgery same day. We saw each other "walking the circle" (you'll know what that means later) and she was having some difficulty due to nicked liver. Its important to follow preop diet to shrink the liver. I'm not saying she didn't follow it. I do know that what she seemed to be experiencing is what they talked about with the diet and liver. She got better in a few days, was discharged and the few times we have kept in touch she has seemed to have tremendous success. I had ZERO complications. She and I spoke a few times about this forum and how these experiences are NOTHING like what we experienced. We agreed its the surgeon and Center of Excellence hospital that made is a superior experience. I NEVER vomited. First time I did was over 6 months postop from flu like illness. As far as I know Dr Kim doesn't use any drains. No need. I can't think of all the things that scared me but I now know there was no need to worry. You do your part and Dr Kim will do his part. I am soooo happy for you!

[IrishEyes 59]

Any CPAP or BIPAP users.... just want to share my experience. I was progressing along perfectly from surgery when 2 nights before my 2 wk check up I woke up a few times in the middle of the night with stabbing pain in my stomach. It happened again the next night. Luckily I had my appt with Dr Kim that day. I told him I thought it was weird that it only happened when I was asleep. Asked him if my BIPAP had anything to do with it. He said STOP using it immediately. The stabbing pain was most likely air pressure pushing on my little tummy from the inside out. He said not to use it until I could meet with pulmonolgist to adjust pressure. In my case the weight I had lost on 1wk preop diet and 2 wks after surgery had already made a difference in my sleep apnea. I needed to have pressure adjusted 2 times. My pulmonologist has me off BIPAP (went off a few months after surgery) and we are waiting for a few more pounds to be off before doing sleep study for official release. She didn't want me to do the study twice if I did it too soon. I am at 170 now (lost 72lbs so far) and I am fairly confident I don't have sleep apnea anymore. I plan on scheduling the sleep study soon.

I wanted to share this story because that pain was unbearable and it was dangerous. There isn't much talk about it. I guess there are so many other things we are thinking about, its hard to cover it all. It may not happen very often. Maybe for most people by the time they need pressure change they are further along in healing and it doesn't hurt. I don't know. But if it does happen you know to stop using your machine and call the doctor right away.

[mamachef 37]

Officially scheduled for August 2nd!!!

[StarryNightSky 17]

Congrats Mamachef! That is also the surgery date I am shooting for. I have a quick question for you. When I was at my visit today they said they would like for me to see the pulmonary Dr there in the hospital but like you found out they do not have any appointments until the end if July. Was Dr. Kim's office okay with you using the Pulmonary institute or did they give you a hard time? I was able to schedule an appointment with the pulmonary institute for next Tuesday.

[IrishEyes 59]

Soooooo exciting mamachef! You may think you have an idea about how great and wonderful this is going to be but trust me.... its even better than you could possibly imagine! Congratulations to you for making this forever life changing choice! Get ready for a new life, literally.

[mamachef 37]

Starry, They didnt care at all... :-) it was seamless with Dr Medina just makae sure you bring her a disk of your chest xray

[StarryNightSky 17]

Great to hear that Mamachef. I just had my chest X-ray today so they said they would just request the X-ray from the hospital. I still need to lose around 25lbs but they said that if they see progress in the next two weeks they can schedule the surgery. First day of the four week pre op diet starts tomorrow ( two weeks low carb two weeks liquid) wish me luck. I hope I get to join you on your August 2 date

[mamachef 37]

If you stick to the diet exactly and make sure you are getting the liquids and do the exercise... the weight will fall off