Did You Love Your Surgeon? Did You Like Them?

[Creekimp13 5,838]

My surgeon is not the kinda guy I'd get into on a personal level...I couldn't see us being friends. (My primary care doc and I feel like friends)

BUT! When asking a million nurses and surgical staff about my doctor the comments were: "Meticulous" "Type A" "Perfectionist" "The best in the region" "Kind of an asshat, but an excellent surgeon"

I don't have to feel warm and fuzzy about the guy...if I know he does really excellent work and has a track record of being obsessively and urgently involved if anything goes wrong...even if it's his ego driving his concern.... more than his concern for people.

Wouldn't want to live with a perfectionist. But yes...it's a GREAT quality in a surgeon!

Seems like a nice enough guy. Maybe misunderstood?

I'm just glad my surgery went fantastically, and I feel terrific. Excellent support from his office, too. 24/7/365 hotline for JUST HIS OFFICE. That makes me think very well of him.

[shedo82773 1,236]

I just want to add this...I hate going to the DR.'s tremendously!! Do you know why or guess why? Those dang scales!! I would even cancel my appointments (before my WLS) because it didn't matter why I was seeing them...if you lost weight you wouldn't have STREP THROAT!!! I kid you not. LOL Still even tho my weight has been stable for a long time, I just figured out that I don't need to be weighed if I don't want too. LOL The only reason they need to make you weigh is if they need to do your meds by your weight, which I really don't think this is a good reason because we are NOT kids anymore. LOL Sorry, just my little rant.

[Rainbow_Warrior 996]

5 hours ago, shedo82773 said:

Sorry, just my little rant.

Poor doctors! Damned if they do; damned if they don't.

I understand your mental discomfort at being weighed. Goodness knows, I have spent more than half my adult life as morbidly obese.

My thoughts are that AT LEAST a doctor is weighing you in the privacy of their office/surgery. Better that than some of the more public humiliation obese people cop elsewhere!

I'm not excited by being weighed by the doctor but she/he is entrusted to monitor my health. Tracking my weight and other facets of my body are essential to records and working knowledge.

The people out in public who fat-shame or verbally abuse the obese do not have our physical or emotional welfare at the heart of what they're doing.

In fact, it might have been nicer for me if one or two of the doctors I had in my thirties and forties had weighed me more often and told me a few home truths about the growing health risks I'd confront.

[shedo82773 1,236]

Rainbow_Warrior,

I do realize it is just part of my OL"FAT SELF." I do agree that those "Poor Dr.'s" are most of the time doing this for your health but...years of being FAT SHAMED still rings true to myself. I am not the same on the outside and my mind still needs help changing this. I also know that it does my blood pressure no good to feel this way. My new DR. (mine retired I miss his frankness he really did care and he did compliment me when he needed too. Ok, my new Dr has had me take a UA 5 times out of six months due to I have to use FENTYNL Patches. I also saw that someone? put on my chart that abused drugs and was addicted to them. I have never abused any drugs in all of my in all of my 61 years. When I brought to her attention she told me that wasn't what was on my charts, then she found it and deleted it right in front of me. I was a little-pissed off that stuff can follow you for the rest of my life!! She said she didn't put it there, so who else has a been in my chart notes. I would change DR's but we all know how much time that takes. Still, I will watch them closely. They have a Patient Portal. Those kinds of things ruin our trust of them. Thank you for your input.

[1234567890 328]

On 9/11/2017 at 1:59 PM, FluffyChix said:

Do you think it's necessary to "really" connect with your surgeon? Did you LOVEEEEE yours? Did you even like them? I have to see mine every 6 weeks and will have follow up appointments after surgery out to 5 years.

When is your surgery date?

As far as the question, I am happy with ny Doctor.. at the end of day doctors are doctors... they go by the time 😜.. just make sure his/her reviews are ok

[FluffyChix 17,409]

@Back2fit It was supposed to be Dec. 5th. But the "loosely written" specs for insurance were "3-6 months discretionary." Turns out in Texas, not so much. In Tx it's a firm 6 months. So I have to do the total 180days supervised diet. My last (7th) RD will be first week of February. After that, it's anybody's guess. LOL. Will they let me have surgery? Or will they deny me. Then we have to do the appeal...

If all goes well, I will be approved 10 days after submission, which would put me into the 3rd week of Feb. Then there is the 14 days on liquid diet for pre-op. So I guesstimate that my new operation date will be in the first week of March. But it's hard to even speculate after all that's happened along the way. I'm learning patience, which was never my strong suit.

[pughma 51]

I went to my sister's surgeon and the day I got approval from insurance his office called to tell me he had quit the practice. I was a little panicked, but they gave me choice of three other surgeons and they scheduled me for a meet and greet right before my surgery. In the end I choose Nick Nicholson, and he did a great job, no issues. However, all my follow ups have been with his NP and PAs, so make sure you like the practice, not just the surgeon.

Sent from my SM-N920T using BariatricPal mobile app

[Jeannie49 101]

11 minutes ago, pughma said:

I went to my sister's surgeon and the day I got approval from insurance his office called to tell me he had quit the practice. I was a little panicked, but they gave me choice of three other surgeons and they scheduled me for a meet and greet right before my surgery. In the end I choose Nick Nicholson, and he did a great job, no issues. However, all my follow ups have been with his NP and PAs, so make sure you like the practice, not just the surgeon.

Sent from my SM-N920T using BariatricPal mobile app

oh yikes- nice that you didn't panic!

I really love my surgeon and my NUT - they are both awesome. I have only had one follow up and saw both of them...and my surgeon comes to the support group every month and even stays and answers questions afterward..he's just a lovely caring guy. I wasn't thrilled with the insurance/surgery scheduler but hopefully I won't need to deal with her again lol...let's hope.

[Jeannie49 101]

4 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

@Back2fit It was supposed to be Dec. 5th. But the "loosely written" specs for insurance were "3-6 months discretionary." Turns out in Texas, not so much. In Tx it's a firm 6 months. So I have to do the total 180days supervised diet. My last (7th) RD will be first week of February. After that, it's anybody's guess. LOL. Will they let me have surgery? Or will they deny me. Then we have to do the appeal...

If all goes well, I will be approved 10 days after submission, which would put me into the 3rd week of Feb. Then there is the 14 days on liquid diet for pre-op. So I guesstimate that my new operation date will be in the first week of March. But it's hard to even speculate after all that's happened along the way. I'm learning patience, which was never my strong suit.

oh that stinks that your surgery has been pushed back so much but hopefully it will fly by for you. I can sympathize as I'm a bit Type-A and not much for patience either lol!

[1234567890 328]

7 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

@Back2fit It was supposed to be Dec. 5th. But the "loosely written" specs for insurance were "3-6 months discretionary." Turns out in Texas, not so much. In Tx it's a firm 6 months. So I have to do the total 180days supervised diet. My last (7th) RD will be first week of February. After that, it's anybody's guess. LOL. Will they let me have surgery? Or will they deny me. Then we have to do the appeal...

If all goes well, I will be approved 10 days after submission, which would put me into the 3rd week of Feb. Then there is the 14 days on liquid diet for pre-op. So I guesstimate that my new operation date will be in the first week of March. But it's hard to even speculate after all that's happened along the way. I'm learning patience, which was never my strong suit.

Well stay positive... I hope everything works out for you...

[xoxococojay 842]

Do you think it's necessary to "really" connect with your surgeon? Did you LOVEEEEE yours? Did you even like them? I have to see mine every 6 weeks and will have follow up appointments after surgery out to 5 years.

No. In my mind i was like "who gives a ****, take out my stomach, make me skinny, have a nice day lol" i don't need to be besties with the man. I literally only need to know that he knows how to do his job. Fortunately i haven't had any complications.

Obviously if your surgeon makes your overly nervous or uncomfortable, pick another one. I interviewed 4 surgeons in my area. I was fine with two of them, but one had unnecessary extra fees, and another was close to my house so i went with that one.

[Rainbow_Warrior 996]

1 hour ago, xoxococojay said:

I literally only need to know that he knows how to do his job

Precisely.

Surgeon, mechanic, plumber, carpet-layer, etc. ... I want the competent one with a fair fee structure. I do NOT have to have a new friend NOR a person who dresses well in a suit/uniform.

The only thing different to your answer is that I will also consider female experts.

Edited January 6, 2018 by Rainbow_Warrior