I dont know what the deal is but ever since i returned home from vsg surgery in Tijuana, all the Drs ive dealt with so far here in Canada, dont have a flipping idea what VSG is. They keep lumping me together with Bypass. I saw my PCP for post op bloodwork and he asked how i was doing and i told him eating was a challenge and getting calories in for the day and he said " thats to be expected with bypass, we knew this would be a challenge for you" and i corrected him for the millionth time and said "sleeve gastrectomy" and he said.."well..bariatric surgery..whatever".

Because i had an incision infection I needed to go see a medical clinic GP and the DR was like " sorry..what did you have? "What is that??". When i said i had a infection in my incision, he got me to lift my shirt so he could see and said "oh..it was done laprascopically!" "I thought they sliced your stomach right across"

Seriously!!! What is the deal!!! How come I know more about the sleeve than any of the DRS that ive seen since i got back?? I mean i have seen 5 different Drs and they had no clue. I had to explain the procedure and how it works.

And another thing...i am sooo sick of people lumping me in with bypass patients. People keep asking me how my intestines are healing and im like "theyre great! They wernt even touched!"

One friend of mine looked at me and said " how much have you lost?" And i said im 2 pounds away from being 40 pounds lost in a month and one week out..and she said "i thought weight loss would be faster"...... and im thinking.. "for real?? " um...i think 40 pounds in 1 month and 1 week is pretty fast... Again...being lumped into the bypass world..people thinking im going to lose an instant amount of weight...

-end of rant

I would be much happier with a doc who said,"Let me do some research and I'll get back to you". Covering up a lack of knowledge to keep up the Marcus Welby image turns me off. It is lazy and dangerous. Someone who imagines they already know everything they need to know has no wiggle room for thinking, growth, or competence.

I would be much happier with a doc who said,"Let me do some research and I'll get back to you". Covering up a lack of knowledge to keep up the Marcus Welby image turns me off. It is lazy and dangerous. Someone who imagines they already know everything they need to know has no wiggle room for thinking, growth, or competence.

It gets even worse when you have both a by-pass and sleeve like I do....Everyone is confused including me...lol

It gets even worse when you have both a by-pass and sleeve like I do....Everyone is confused including me...lol

I would be much happier with a doc who said,"Let me do some research and I'll get back to you". Covering up a lack of knowledge to keep up the Marcus Welby image turns me off. It is lazy and dangerous. Someone who imagines they already know everything they need to know has no wiggle room for thinking, growth, or competence.

Agreed. Interestingly, when my surgeon saw something unusual on my barium swallow test, I asked him what it would mean for me. He gave me a refreshingly honest answer: "I don't know."

I would be much happier with a doc who said,"Let me do some research and I'll get back to you". Covering up a lack of knowledge to keep up the Marcus Welby image turns me off. It is lazy and dangerous. Someone who imagines they already know everything they need to know has no wiggle room for thinking, growth, or competence.

Agreed. Interestingly, when my surgeon saw something unusual on my barium swallow test, I asked him what it would mean for me. He gave me a refreshingly honest answer: "I don't know."

There's this Jamaican man that I have known for a very long time. One time about 5 years after he had moved to the USA, he asked me a question. He wanted to know why in Jamaica they talk about the USA every night on the TV news, but in the USA, Jamaica was only mentioned in news programs a couple of times a year. He just didn't think it was fair.

To everyone who has been sleeved, or who is considering being sleeved, finding out everything we can about the procedure, restrictions, pitfalls, benefits, success factors, etc is life or death important. If you didn't find out all those things you are lowering your chances of success. To those of us on this forum, relentlessly seeking out information becomes something that drives us, and for some of us even an obsession. And because of the pursuit of knowledge, we increase our chances of successfully losing more weight and preventing regain. It's rational for us to become experts on the sleeve.

There are thousands of different surgical procedures. Every year there are thousands of advances across all medical fields. Doctors are only human and they can't possibly become an expert in every area, and it's unrealistic to expect them to unless this is their area of expertise.

By acknowledging this, you can take ownership of it and get the best possible outcome. Every time you talk to your doctor other than your surgeon, don't presume that he is an expert about this. Take the time to gently educate him about it. Patiently answer any questions without putting him down that he doesn't know. And don't be disappointed if he makes some incorrect assumptions. Instead gently educate.

As VSG becomes more common, doctors will learn more about it, and this will be less of a problem in the future.

I was just about to post the same. Just as I would not expect an orthopedic Doc to know much about diabetes care, don't expect your regular doc to know the ins and outs of this surgery. As far as lumping all WLS together, I believe that is common. Until you are interested as a patient or support person, they all are the same.

I would be much happier with a doc who said,"Let me do some research and I'll get back to you". Covering up a lack of knowledge to keep up the Marcus Welby image turns me off. It is lazy and dangerous. Someone who imagines they already know everything they need to know has no wiggle room for thinking, growth, or competence.

The main issue with this, as we can all attest to, is that every surgeon seems to have their own after care protocols, so research is only as good as the info you find, and its super conflicting.

There's this Jamaican man that I have known for a very long time. One time about 5 years after he had moved to the USA, he asked me a question. He wanted to know why in Jamaica they talk about the USA every night on the TV news, but in the USA, Jamaica was only mentioned in news programs a couple of times a year. He just didn't think it was fair.

To everyone who has been sleeved, or who is considering being sleeved, finding out everything we can about the procedure, restrictions, pitfalls, benefits, success factors, etc is life or death important. If you didn't find out all those things you are lowering your chances of success. To those of us on this forum, relentlessly seeking out information becomes something that drives us, and for some of us even an obsession. And because of the pursuit of knowledge, we increase our chances of successfully losing more weight and preventing regain. It's rational for us to become experts on the sleeve.

There are thousands of different surgical procedures. Every year there are thousands of advances across all medical fields. Doctors are only human and they can't possibly become an expert in every area, and it's unrealistic to expect them to unless this is their area of expertise.

By acknowledging this, you can take ownership of it and get the best possible outcome. Every time you talk to your doctor other than your surgeon, don't presume that he is an expert about this. Take the time to gently educate him about it. Patiently answer any questions without putting him down that he doesn't know. And don't be disappointed if he makes some incorrect assumptions. Instead gently educate.

As VSG becomes more common, doctors will learn more about it, and this will be less of a problem in the future.

I was just about to post the same. Just as I would not expect an orthopedic Doc to know much about diabetes care, don't expect your regular doc to know the ins and outs of this surgery. As far as lumping all WLS together, I believe that is common. Until you are interested as a patient or support person, they all are the same.

I would be much happier with a doc who said,"Let me do some research and I'll get back to you". Covering up a lack of knowledge to keep up the Marcus Welby image turns me off. It is lazy and dangerous. Someone who imagines they already know everything they need to know has no wiggle room for thinking, growth, or competence.

The main issue with this, as we can all attest to, is that every surgeon seems to have their own after care protocols, so research is only as good as the info you find, and its super conflicting.

I dont know what the deal is but ever since i returned home from vsg surgery in Tijuana' date=' all the Drs ive dealt with so far here in Canada, dont have a flipping idea what VSG is. They keep lumping me together with Bypass. I saw my PCP for post op bloodwork and he asked how i was doing and i told him eating was a challenge and getting calories in for the day and he said " thats to be expected with bypass, we knew this would be a challenge for you" and i corrected him for the millionth time and said "sleeve gastrectomy" and he said.."well..bariatric surgery..whatever".

Because i had an incision infection I needed to go see a medical clinic GP and the DR was like " sorry..what did you have? "What is that??". When i said i had a infection in my incision, he got me to lift my shirt so he could see and said "oh..it was done laprascopically!" "I thought they sliced your stomach right across"

Seriously!!! What is the deal!!! How come I know more about the sleeve than any of the DRS that ive seen since i got back?? I mean i have seen 5 different Drs and they had no clue. I had to explain the procedure and how it works.

And another thing...i am sooo sick of people lumping me in with bypass patients. People keep asking me how my intestines are healing and im like "theyre great! They wernt even touched!"

One friend of mine looked at me and said " how much have you lost?" And i said im 2 pounds away from being 40 pounds lost in a month and one week out..and she said "i thought weight loss would be faster"...... and im thinking.. "for real?? " um...i think 40 pounds in 1 month and 1 week is pretty fast... Again...being lumped into the bypass world..people thinking im going to lose an instant amount of weight...

-end of rant[/quote']

I just had someone say something similar to me. She correctly guessed I had surgery then asked me how much I lost. I said 35 pounds at 5 weeks post op which is really 7 weeks bc of pre op diet. She said "I would think you would lose a lot more after surgery". I had to explain that the surgery doesn't remove POUNDS. just enough stomach to allow us to stay on low cal diet. And p.s I think my weight loss of 5 pounds per week on average is fast enough for me!

I'm getting a written technical copy of the surgical procedure from my surgeon to give to my doctor so he can read about it for himself. I will even sit in his office with my ipad so he can watch a youtube video if it will help. He is an ER doctor, so I wouldn't expect him to be an expert in bariatric surgical procedures. But I want to help him know what complications might look like.

We are not talking about a backyard mechanic fixing an old car, this is your body and your life. If your doc doesn't know what the heck he is talking about demand that he find out what he needs to know or look elsewhere. It is not up to us to give him an education. If so, I would charge him about $1000. an hour.

Everything Gmanbat has said, I concur.

I live in a small rural town with no doctors. My doctor is a friend who lives 20 minutes from me. He is an ER doc in another town about an hour away (the closest ER to where I live). The nearest facility with a bariatric surgeon is 3 hours away. But the nearest facility that I would trust going to if I had a major complication is 5 hours away. So helping to educate my doctor about this procedure and potential complications is going to be my first "line of defense" so I'm not wasting a whole day driving to a specialist for every little ache or pain I might have post-op. Not to mention the fact our town gets snowed in with no traffic in or out for several days every winter, so finding another doctor wouldnt do much good anyways.