surgeon in the middle of changing practices.

Hello everyone,

I have used the checklists and all of your posts to develop questions about my upcoming TLH on March 16th.

My surgeon begins at his new practice on March 5th. To add to the complication of the planning, I will be at a work conference the week before surgery.

Today, I called to find out if I needed blood work (based on seeing comments about that posted here). Turns out I do need it but the current office has the orders but the new office has to actually collect it. The new office is calling me back tomorrow to let me know what is up and when I can have it drawn around the work trip and all.

The new office did say that they already have the insurance per-certification to at least that is taken care of! This surgeon is highly recommended and I really like him and I want to get the surgery taken care of ASAP (after 2 years of trying hormones and ablation).... so I want to keep the current surgery date and not have something 'goofy' cause a delay.

My question to all of you.... what else should I ask about that might get lost in the shuffle of the practice change?

Thanks

You have a pre op appt, right? Then you'll find out about any bowel prep, sign consent, and get instructions. If you get post op instructions and prescription for post op meds ahead of time I recommend that, too. Get a copy of the pre-auth or the number (if there is one) for your own records. That should cover it. Best wishes it all goes smoothly.

Thanks. I will have a pre-op by phone the Friday before surgery. Most people travel from MANY miles and even having transportation to the hospital is a luxury for others so they try to do everything over the phone. They offered to mail my blood work orders because I live 45 miles from the hospital. I explained that I work across the street from their office (yep, 90 mile round trip commute every day) so I could just stop in their office once they actually got the orders.

I will ask about the authorization number... that will be a piece of mind. I have followed everyone's advise and got all kinds of new goodies:
new PJs and house shoes
New sheets
New bedspread
FIVE POUNDS of crochet yarn
and a stool for the tub