After my PS I'm gonna kick the surgeon.

GeezerSue · May 9, 2004

He's trying to convince me that the LapBand doesn't work. His buddy used to do LapBand and stopped and that's all he needs to know.

AARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!

After my PS, I'm going to deliver him some stats comparing the two surgeries. But not 'til I'm post-op, on accounta he's the guy with the knife.

AARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!

Alexandra · May 9, 2004

I can't believe a doctor would say something like that to a patient, especially for something he is NOT treating the patient for. Holy crap, what if you were getting some new cancer treatment or psychological medication, would he DARE to disparage it in front of you?!? That's unconscionable.

Kick him twice for me, would you?

donali · May 9, 2004

Some guys are SOOOOO dumb. And you're having SURGERY with this guy?!?!? Hopefully he's better educated as a PS than in general. He doesn't sound like he has a very scientific mind if he's willing to make proclamations based on one second-hand experience.

I bet he'd like that, if you pointed that out to him... lol

GeezerSue · May 9, 2004

Actually, it was really an attempt on his part to reassure me, along the lines of "it's not your fault you don't already weigh less, you should have had the bypass," kind of thing. And, it was spoken by the Surgical Fellow (an optional step, after intership and residency for someone who could be on his own but wants more PS experience) not the actual Plastic Surgeon.

Ya know, Donali, he's probably very typical of doctors. Young, bright, head of the class kind of guy, and the doctor he mentioned who stopped doing the band is one who is in a university teaching situation, so the Fellow understandably defers to him as a reliable source outside the Fellow's area of expertise. What the expert didn't mention is that the "bad" results were the result of US doctors NOT doing what the successful foreign doctors had done. The learning curve on the band is so steep (which is why you and I focus on experience) that the doctors who had "bad" results after fewer than 50-80 patients really didn't give it a chance. I feel bad for their patients. I wonder how many were talked into RnY's just because the doctors didn't know what to do or what to expect.

Oh, well.

donali · May 9, 2004

Did I sound critical or judgmental? :cool:

I realize that docs are waaaay overworked, and my brain is waaaay too tiny to hold all the information that they must know as second nature, but I would like to think that there are some really bright guys and gals out there who would read these boards before they start learning the procedure, so they could:

1) recommend that their patients join for extra support

2) understand the procedure from the patient's point of view

3) be made aware of the problems patients face from the PATIENT's point of view, and think about how they as our weightloss partner could help minimize those frustrations/problems.

Again, I can barely keep up with the few boards I read, so I realize this would be asking a lot, but really it could give them such a better overview of this procedure.

And I should have mentioned in my previous post that I'm really glad you're aware of who wields the knife in this situation... :cool: