Surgery At One Hospital, Post-Op Care In Another?

[Missy281 2]

Hi there!

Okay, so this is my 3rd post on the forums so far today (it's my first day on the forums too), but I think that is it after this one, so please bare with me! I've gotten so much great advice and support today! I just have one question -- does anyone know whether or not it's okay to have your surgery in one hospital and then the majority of your post-op care in another with a different doctor? I go to college two hours away from where I live, and though I plan on getting my surgery done here (where my home is) before the end of the summer, I won't be able to drive the 2 hours back and forth all the time between home and school in order to get to all of those post-op appointments. There's a well-known hospital with a great weight loss surgery center in the same town as my school...do you think they'll see me and do those post-op appointments with me even if I haven't done the actual surgery with them?

Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

You guys, simply put, ROCK.

[2muchfun 8,927]

What kind of post op care are you talking about? Shouldn't be any as long as you follow the rules and you have no complications. Fills are usually done in a Dr's office and take about 5 minutes. Most of us have never stepped back in a hospital for any post op care unless there's some kind of complication and that's not often either.

If your insurance will pay for your fills with a different Dr no problem. If you are self pay, still no problem.

[honk 780]

I would speak with the doctor's office near your school. Many doctors WILL NOT do fills for a band done by another doctor. They don't want to deal with problems from another doctor if they arise. If they won't do the fills you may want to have surgery done by a doctor closer to school; esp if you are a freshman and will be there for another 4 years.

[Sojourner 2,446]

Hi there!

Okay, so this is my 3rd post on the forums so far today (it's my first day on the forums too), but I think that is it after this one, so please bare with me! I've gotten so much great advice and support today! I just have one question -- does anyone know whether or not it's okay to have your surgery in one hospital and then the majority of your post-op care in another with a different doctor? I go to college two hours away from where I live, and though I plan on getting my surgery done here (where my home is) before the end of the summer, I won't be able to drive the 2 hours back and forth all the time between home and school in order to get to all of those post-op appointments. There's a well-known hospital with a great weight loss surgery center in the same town as my school...do you think they'll see me and do those post-op appointments with me even if I haven't done the actual surgery with them?

Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

You guys, simply put, ROCK.

Is there a reason you prefer to have the surgery done so far from where you spend the majority of your time? Perhaps you should consider having the procedure done close to where you attend school.

I would definitely find out before your surgery if the doctor close to your school would be willing to take you on as a patient. Not every doctor is willing to take over the continuing care of other doctor's patients.

[Missy281 2]

Hi everyone and thanks for the responses!

@ 2muchfun -- sorry for the confusion, I meant to say doctor's office (where I go to get the prefills after surgery).

@ everyone -- I've definitely considered doing the surgery near my school, but the thing is that I was planning on getting it done this summer, before school starts in September. I don't really have the option to get it done anywhere but home, because I won't have the time to recover from the surgery once I'm at school (I would imagine) and also because I won't have anyone to support me while I'm there (I've heard that having good support is important when doing something like this). My other worry is the "what happens after college?" I'm not planning on living where I go to school once I graduate, so I suppose this is a trick issue. I'm really glad you all brought to my attention the fact that most doctors won't do fills for other doctors' patients, because that's a major factor in deciding whether or not to do the surgery at all. It's a lot to figure out, so I'll have to keep working on it. Thank you all so much for your input! You've been very helpful!

[Kathie52 31]

Missy~ I cant tell you which one I read it on but I did see a post on here where a person had the op in one hospital 3 hrs from her home and did get the fills from a doctor close to home. If I can find it, I will let you know but I do know you can do this.

[NWgirl 574]

I personally would elect to have the surgery at the hospital closer to school. You could drive up for the surgery and then drive back home. This way, you are always near your surgeon and don't have to worry about any mishaps. It seems that you can find other Dr's to care for you after, but sometimes they want you to get some tests done to verify that your band is in good condition/placement before they will take you on. It is also a plus to get your surgery at a center of excellence, as they must meet rigid standards to be branded as such.

[NWgirl 574]

I personally would elect to have the surgery at the hospital closer to school. You could drive up for the surgery and then drive back home. This way, you are always near your surgeon and don't have to worry about any mishaps. It seems that you can find other Dr's to care for you after, but sometimes they want you to get some tests done to verify that your band is in good condition/placement before they will take you on. It is also a plus to get your surgery at a center of excellence, as they must meet rigid standards to be branded as such.

[Missy281 2]

Hi everyone--

Thanks for the advice! It seems like most of you think that I should get it done close to my school. They do have a great weight loss surgery center there, but I am still a little concerned about getting the surgery done this summer. Could anyone tell me how many appointments you have to go to in the month or so after having the surgery? I'm planning on getting the surgery done in July or August, and I won't have a place to stay during the time after surgery before school starts up in September. I live in a city that has several excellent weight loss surgery centers/doctors/surgeons, but I suppose those places/doctors are about the same (if not better) than the ones near my school...I mostly just can't figure out how I can get it all done this summer while I'm away from school but then go back to school after I've recovered from surgery and have been to the majority of my pre-op appointments...but I'll work on it. Thanks for your help everyone! You've been great!!!!

[NWgirl 574]

I had a one month post-op followup, some have a one month and a 2 week follow up.

some people are also able to get their pre-op appointments scheduled in one or two day increments to save on time.

[Missy281 2]

@stephyanders -- Thanks! That's good to know. But do you know if that includes the "screening" appointments? When you come in and meet with a dietician/nutritionist (and get your diet for the next 2 weeks all settled and everything), psychologist, and surgeon (I know you meet with him before your surgery, but I think it's also important to meet with him earlier than that too) -- don't those appointments kind of get spread out over the course of a month before your surgery is even scheduled? Again, thanks so much for your help!

[2muchfun 8,927]

You'll have to ask each Dr what their protocol is. Each Doc can be different.

I had one Dr visit 1 month before surgery, 1 nutrition consult 3 months before surgery, 1 hospital prescreen 4 days before surgery, 1 Dr appt 35 days after surgery. But my Doc is fairly lenient about appts, fills, pre-op diet.

tmf