Some of you may know that in the 11th hour, finally listening to my gut about my original surgeon and his anesthesia team, that I made a switch in doctors. After having gone so far down this road to where I was scheduled for surgery this coming Monday (7/1) with a doctor that had good reviews and a recommendation from someone I respect, I no longer trust myself as much as I did.

Dr. Chad Carlton has great reviews as well and they go back for a much longer period of time which is 1 thing I like. However, I am so....well, to be honest I feel quite shaken up about the whole thing even though I feel I did the right thing. Does that even make sense??

While I found that I was relieved initially and my whole family is glad that I changed....my emotions are all over the board since last night. Maybe it's the change of 'I was going to have surgery on 7/1 and now the date is back up in the air..but I'm into week 2 of the liver shrink diet and I was to start bridging to Lovenox (blood thinner) today'...and I know Dr. Carlton was a bit taken aback at the amount I was prescribed.

Oh, and switching from sleeve to bypass. Original Dr felt I was too high a risk to do bypass due to clotting history & said we'd do a bypass instead 1-2 yrs down the road (however with Cigna, you only get 1 type of operation for entire LIFE)...original dr said to 'save my pennies'. Dr. Carlton said while yes, my clotting history is a risk (I have a permanent filter) but I come with no other co-morbidities like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, etc. that also introduce 'risk'. He said he has done over 6,000 procedures and does mostly revisions to bypass or straight up bypass (he also is 1 of the few in area that has a lot of experience with gastric bypass with duodenal switch?). I have 150-175 lbs to lose and he said that he did have some sleeve patients that were super diligent and were able to lose that kind of weight with just a sleeve...but I know that for many with this much to lose, a bypass is..what...still the "gold std"??

If anyone has any experience with this doctor, could you please let me know. While his reviews are really good, so were the reviews on my other doctor. I don't want to leave ANYTHING to chance. I'm at that point where it's "trust, but verify".

Not sure where you are now on your journey, but I just had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Carlton and I must say that I do not regret it a single bit! I had an RNY in '11 and have had a lot of issues since then. I drove to meet with him, based on a recommendation, and within a few hours, he had me in an OR fixing a stricture I had (he fought to get a place to allow him to do a procedure immediately). This man is down to earth, honest and definitely cares about his patients and their welfare. While he could have touted a revision for me as an immediate option, he wanted to get me some immediate relief and monitor my bypass. It definitely is normal to have reservations and if you had none, I would be concerned. While he helped fix my issue, he gave me something other doctors havent in the past 8 years - a solution that is working. Few days gone, every meal I could drink liquid 30 mins after. Haven't been able to do that since 2010. Highly recommend Dr. Carlton to anyone willing to go down the road on this lifelong journey.