newbie under dr rao at north staffs

[kjm86]

Hello everyone, I'm looking find other people in my area of stoke on Trent who are having surgery at north staffs. I'm currently waiting for bypass surgery, I've had my referral appointment and I've had my endocrinologist appointment so just waiting for the next appointment with whoever that will be?? It would be nice to find a surgery buddy on here so we can compare notes and support each other too. Xx

 

[Loving the Loop]

Hi, I am not in your area sorry, but welcome to the site anyway from a fellow bypasser. Good luck when you get your date.

 

[los in it]

Hello

 

[potter]

Hi there. I live in Stoke and Mr Rao did my bypass operation on 11th September this year. You're in very good hands, he was lovely especially after the operation when he was very caring and checked up on me several times during the 2 days that I was in hospital. What's more he seems to have done a great job with the surgery, I've had no problems at all it was much quicker and painless than I expected and I've lost nearly 4 stone in the 9 weeks since I started my liver shrink diet.

Stoke seem to do things slightly differently to other places and in the early days the referral goes to the endocrinologist who co-ordinates all the other appointments and referrals to other departments. I was referred in December last year and after seeing the endocrinologist I saw the psychologist (one appointment only), the bariatric dietitians (every 6 weeks), the bariatric nurse (one appointment), and the respiratory department. I saw Mr Rao himself twice before surgery, once quite early on when he went through the options and set me a weight loss target and then again about a month before surgery. All in all the route to surgery took me about 10 months but I think this was a bit longer than normal as the respiratory department found I have sleep apnoea and it took about an extra 2-3 months while I was waiting for the CPAP machine that I now have to use every night.

Good luck with working your way through the route to surgery, sometimes I got quite impatient as it felt like there were so many hoops to jump through but with hindsight I should have just been more patient. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Mr Rao to anyone as he was excellent so I'm sure you'll have no problems on that count. It's still early days for me but I have no regrets at all! Keep in touch and please ask if there's any questions about the process that I might be able to help with.

Potter x