Yes, he is with Texas Vascular Associates and you can set up your appointment through them. If you get your insurance information to them, they will let you know if it is accepted. I never talked to him personally prior to surgery, but I didn't ask to, either, so I'm not sure how that works. I did talk to him several times after surgery, so I bet it could be arranged.

I went back to work on light duty after 5 weeks off, but the first few weeks were kind of messy - sporadic flare ups caused me to miss (or leave early on) several days. However, prior to surgery, my pain had gotten to the point where I was missing work anyway! To me, both work and nursing school sounds like a pretty heavy burden to take on four weeks after surgery, but every person is different.