New to all of this

[college_chick 20]

Hi,

I'm a 24 year old college student and I am considering WLS and am particulary interested in the sleeve. I'm new to this site and still learning about WLS but I would like to hear from people who are around my age who are either in the same place I am (just starting out) or have been through the surgery. I have my consultation tomorrow and I am finding it difficult to come up with questions that I would like to know the answers to. I feel like I might ask something and the doctor might feel like I'm wasting his time. I have a few questions written down that I feel are pretty basic (How many sleeve procedures have you done? What are common complications? etc.) But I am interested in questions that other people have asked, especially if they pertain to how this will affect my ability to get back into school after the procedure.

I hope this makes sense and isn't just a bunch of rambling nonsense

[Gene1970 179]

Welcome to the forum... Well, I can't say I'm close to your age, except that if you flip your age around then you have mine... but no matter I think the questions are about the same for all of us. If we are not going back to school we are going back to work or back to taking care of our children and all want to know how soon we can be active again.

One thing that I think to keep in mind is there are no stupid questions and if you get the impression that the Dr feels that you are wasting HIS time then you probably need to find a new Dr. My opinion is that a good or great Dr will want to spend plenty of time with you, answer all of YOUR questions and have you leave feeling really well informed about what is going to happen. I personally always want to be a name and not a number when I go to a Dr.

• Bougie size (tailored or standard)
  
• Process of checking for leaks (Not all Dr's are the same)
  
• What is his/her complication rate
  
• What complications he would expect
  
• Ask about things like catheters, drains, etc. just so you know what to expect
  
• His personal sleeve stats compared to other potential surgeries.
  
• What the long-term follow-up plan looked like
  
• What meds you will be on Post OP
  
• How long will you be in the hospital
  

I'm sure you will get plenty of questions from all of the great people here to add to your list. Good luck with your appointment!!!

In my personal experience I had my surgery on a Thursday and could have probably went back to work in about a week.

[SeriouslyChange 319]

I asked during my seminar how many people had died on the table at this hospital. Seems kind of blunt and I got a lot of strange looks for it, but I truly wanted to know

[college_chick 20]

When I went to the seminar they stressed that the doctor has had a 0% fatality rate which is nice to hear but they didn't stress much on how long he has been doing the surgeries. (or maybe I missed it with all the information they gave us) I guess that's probably pretty important to ask. Thank you for taking the time to reply :-) it is helping immensely.

[college_chick 20]

Thank you all for your questions and advice! I feel my visit with the Dr. went very well. He took the time to answer all of my questions, which made me feel better. Sorry it took me so long to respond, I'm in the middle of packing up and changing schools and responding slipped my mind! Thank you all again!