I am seeing my Dr. this Friday for my last Dr. visit before my surgery on March 1st. I have a few things I need to ask regarding medication I am currently taking etc. But are there things I should ask that I might overlook?

I think its funny that they call it the last visit with Dr., because I actually met this Dr. 1 time 6 months ago for about 5 minutes. He doesn't really know me and I don't really know him. I had 6 months of supervised dieting which I never saw him, so the questions I have asked have all been his office assistants.

Ask him what is his approach to pain management. Ask him what he does do to prevent gas from accumulating in your shoulder.

What our doctors do is inject CO2 into the abdominal cavity to expand it. This way it is easier to manipulate their tools and see what they are doing.

My surgeon said he would extract as much as possible. Therefore, I did not have shoulder gas. So man people suffered needlessly for days while this gas dissipates.

Ask him what to expect when you wake up -- drain, catheter, etc.? What will he do to lessen the chance of blood clots post op? What will he be looking for post-op to let him know you are recovering appropriately? Example -- my surgeon told me he would release me from the hospital a half-day early if I met all my protein and fluid goals right away.