GP didn't like the idea???

[Coookies 13]

Am I the only person whose GP didn't like the idea of doing this surgery?????

My surgeon emailed me telling me that to get the national insurance to cover part of my surgery, that I need a referral letter from my GP.. So I ran over to my GP to get more meds for my cold and to get him to write me the letter.. So after finishing my check up, I pulled out the piece of paper I had written the name of the type of referral letter on (in Korean) and gave it to him... He was like "Why?"... So I explained about wanting to do the surgery, which he said he is unfamiliar with (Korean people for the most part are quite petite so while there are a few obese people running around, they are few and far between)... Immediately he started shaking his head no... So I told him that if I don't do the surgery I'm going to die anyway... Then I reminded him that he's the one who told me that... and that my weight is making my asthma, which is already severe, harder to manage. He asked me my current weight and height (they don't check that here) and he pulled out a BMI counter and said my BMI is 45. I guess because of that he reluctantly agreed.

So he sent me off with the nurse to get an injection while he wrote the letter. At this point I felt like pond scum, cuz I could see what he was thinking... But when I got into the injection room, my favorite nurse was there (i have to get an inhaler script pretty much every week at the doctor) and another one popped in and they both asked me about my surgery..... what kind of surgery and where... When I told them the name of the hospital they approved of it (i guess it's kind of famous in Korea...don' t really know) and then my favorite nurse smiled and patted my arm and the young one smiled and said that I was making a great decision and told me "fighting".... which in Korea means good luck.... I was so happy, cuz at that point I was ready to start crying. They really made me feel much better.

Ok, sorry for ranting.. I just needed to get that out!!

[swizzly 901]

To be honest, I really expected a very similar reaction from my GP. There are not that many fat people here and I didn't even know if the surgery was very well-known. Well, I barely got the sentence about surgery out of my mouth and my GP was already beaming and saying YES, and he wrote the letter the same day, referring me to the bariatric clinic. Surprisingly, my GP has five or six other WLS patients and he is a big fan of the outcomes. I was really shocked. I'm sorry to hear that your GP had that reaction, but stick with it -- he will be happy with how it impacts your health positively.

[Caitlyn_Cat 7]

Just like everyone else, doctors are on a learning curve with wls. Glad yours got on board. Hopefully your good outcome will make him more accepting of future patients.

[Day Dreamer 23]

Am I the only person whose GP didn't like the idea of doing this surgery?????

He was like "Why?"...

Wow do we have the same Dr? My Dr is through the VA (for prior military) and he was like "not just no, but hell no - try these pills". He put me on Wellbutrin. So, I went to a bariatric group to do my surgery only to find out they still need the GP referral. So I typed up this nice letter explaining to him that I have done tons of research, how my weight effects my quality of life (lack there of), and how this would be a tool that I think would help change my life. I fax the letter to his nurse and to my delight, he signed it the very next day granting his approval!!! YAY I really think the letter helped my case.

Good luck.