What do you wish you knew or should have asked before your surgery?

[Anks 5]

Hi pals,

I have my first pre-op consultation set up with my doctor tomorrow. Even though I have not finalized him yet, I am very close to doing so. I would like to know what kind of questions should I be asking him during that consultation? What are the things I should know to ask specially for gastric sleeve surgery from the doctor? It will be great to hear from someone who has been through the experience already and can look back and share their thoughts on what they think they should have known or asked their doctors?

Thank you!

[orionburn 1,023]

Things that he should give you info on as it's pretty standard, but if not:

What sort of pre-surgery diet will you need to do? liquids? Low carb? For how long?

What is the post surgery diet plan look like?

What kind of follow up schedule will you have after surgery? (I'd be leery if they said none was needed)

How long is the hospital stay?

How much time do they recommend to take off after surgery?

What to expect during the first month, three months, six months, etc.

Wouldn't hurt to ask about what all testing needs to be done as well. A lot of times this varies between doctors and/or insurance requirements. Many require a psych eval (which is no big deal). Some require 6 months of supervised diet monitoring, some none at all.

[Creekimp13 5,838]

Ask if the hospital you are going to is a center of excellence.

Ask the doctor how many sleeves he does each year, and how many he's done in his career.

Ask him what his complication rate is.

Ask how you'll be able to get help after surgery. Does his office have a dedicated emergency line?

Ask what percentage of excess weight his patients typically lose in 18 months.

Ask what sort of support you'll get post surgically.

[Danny Paul 761]

Prior to my going to the hospital where I had my surgery, I went to a consult with a surgeon who belongs to a group that advertises heavily in the NY area. They have multiple offices throughout NY. I asked the surgeon where the operation would be conducted his reply was " In this area we use the hospital down the street, nearby." He made it seem that his group rents in the hospital when they need to conduct surgery. Just by saying the hospital down the street and not naming the hospital was a red flag that I couldn't ignore. In the end I made the right choice.

All of the question from the above posters are good questions to ask.

[Anks 5]

Thank you very much everyone. So this is thelist of questions I have compiled so far, that I believe are important for me to know one way or the other before I take this huge leap of faith.

1. Based on my age and my profile, what kind of surgery would you recommend? (Even though I have almost decided to go with gastric sleeve, I would still like to hear his opinion)

2. How long have you been doing these surgeries and how many patients have you operated on so far?

3. What kind of complications based on my medical profile I should be aware of for this surgery?

4. What are the chances of any complications, what has been your success ratio?

5. How should I prep for the surgery? Diet? Lifestyle?

6. What hospital will I be getting this surgery at? Is that a center of excellence?

7. What does typical day or 2 days before surgery look like for a patient? What kind of pre-op diet should I have?

8. What happens on the day of surgery? How long is the surgery? What happens if I develop any complications? How long is the surgery? How long will I be under?

9. How will I feel immediately post-surgery?

10. How long after will the anesthesia wane off? How long after will I start feeling ‘OK’ again?

11. How long after the surgery will I be discharged from the hospital?

12. What would be my post-op diet plan? How will my diet and lifestyle change in weeks and months after surgery?

13. How long after my surgery will I need to be seen again?

14. What will be my follow up appointments plan/schedule?

15. How much time should I take off from work based on my work profile?

16. How long would you expect an out of state patient to stay local (for post-op follow ups) after the surgery?

17. What percentage of my excess body weight will/ can I loose in first 1st month/3months/6months/1year and 18months?

What do you guys think about these questions? What would you recommend I add or edit?

Some of these questions may sound stupid and redundant, some others have easy answers which many have shared in their posts, but my intentions behind asking all of these from my doctor would be to hear from him first hand and clarify any doubts.

[Losebig 508]

Looks good. I think getting the surgeons recommendation is a good idea. I did it and it helped a lot with my comfort. Getting your centers stats is great, the one I went to hasn't had a leak in over 2 years (close to 1k surgeries), which was comforting. I asked to go with the surgeon who was more senior and asked his staff what they felt his "best day" was when scheduling.

[abefroman329 704]

I wish I’d asked how much better my penis would work after the surgery, because the answer would have been “MUCH better.”

[Anks 5]

12 minutes ago, abefroman329 said:

I wish I’d asked how much better my penis would work after the surgery, because the answer would have been “MUCH better.”

hahaha, love your answer. Now I am all EXCITED to get this done as soon as I can.

[abefroman329 704]

I probably shouldn't post after I take an Ambien, sorry, all.

[Losebig 508]

2 hours ago, abefroman329 said:

I probably shouldn't post after I take an Ambien, sorry, all.

Haha, but a good and true comment. They should put that on the brochure. As my dr said weight loss seems to improve everything

Edited February 23, 2018 by Losebig

[kakatlady612 1,053]

Life isn't fair we girls get a Dunlap (cause it done laps over) whereas you guys get more length. Tain't fair I tell you it just tain't fair!

Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

[Littel_Urchin 24]

Other posters have given you good answers but my two cents: listen to your gut (now that you still have one...teehee). See if you get good vibes from the docs and everyone. In my case it was when the surgeon said (in my first meeting with him after pestering him with thousands of questions) "Don't worry, you'll get the whole team to support your weight loss here, not just the surgery". I really loved that, thought the whole exchange was uplifting.