Changing Bariactric Surgeons After Surgery

[speedydvr 25]

As anyone every thought following surgery that maybe the provider they selected to do the surgery wasn't the best one to fit their needs? That's where I am right now. I live in New Bern, NC and my provider is in Cary, NC about 150 miles away based on my insurance carrier recommendations. Well, I had my initial meeting with my Dr, but I had done all my pre op local and only saw him once more before surgery. Now I'm 5 days post op and having problems and the office staff has the gall to tell me that I shouldn't have traveled and should have made arrangements to stay in the area for the first 4 weeks!..... WTF!!!!!

While my Dr was personable, his staff sucks so I am seriously considering dropping him and being picked up with the practice that is closer to home since the staff there on the few times I've been to seem to be 100% better.

So my question is two fold, has anyone changed Dr.s after surgery and should I wait until my first follow up which will most likely be 5 minutes of seeing the doctor and 6 hours of driving?

the local practice here already has me in the system and would only be a matter of having my records faxed over.

[~Christi~ 54]

I'm sorry no I haven't switched doctors, but have you called the Dr. That is closest to you to see if they would even take you right now? They may want you to go to your first follow up appt. and then switch over, but bottom line is of you are not happy with your doctor you should switch. You pay too much money for this surgery to not be happy.

[Christopher 12]

Sorry to hear that you're having problems. I'm about three weeks postoperative from RNY. My surgery went pretty smooth, I never felt the twisting sensation that you described in your prior post. I definitely would make a few phone calls before making the trip.

[PattyKaiser 5]

I know that my doc office stated at that first meeting that if you lived farther than 90 miles you should plan to stay in a hotel a few days post-op, but not a month! I would call the closer office and make sure your insurance company will cover at the second office. I had to pay for my surgery because my insurance would not pay for mine, and I had to come up with $15000.00 + $2200.

[BBdoodle 483]

Yikes... that sucks. With my insurance you can pick anyone you want as long as they participate with BlueCross/Horizon which most doctors do in NY& NJ. I would speak to your doctor that performed the surgery at your first post-op and tell him you are going to switch. I would check with the doctor that you want to go to to see if its OK to switch and get all your records sent to your new docotor.

[speedydvr 25]

Well after numerous calls and dealing with whom I thought was my doctors nurse turns out all I needed was a simple anti spasmodic ( hyobiscane) but the problem revealed a greater problem I got a very bad taste in my mouth. Seems that you can go and get a six week education as a medical assistant and pass yourself off to the patients as thier nurse. Well when the patient himself is in emergency medicine for almost 20 years and is an instructor at the undergraduate level, the warm fuzzies are gone.

My decision has been made. My doctor was great but at most 45 minutes total contact with him means his staff is what needs to be stellar.

Generally what happens at the 2week f/u appt if there are no sutures to remove?

[Mrs.D 39]

At my 2 week follow up they looked at my incisions(which were closed w Dermabond), weighed me, asked about Water an d Protein. Asked about any problems ( which I had none) and said see you in a month.

Sorry to hear about the shitty staff.

The staff really make a world of difference. Hope it works out for you.

[HamDan 61]

Its better to change surgeons sooner rather than later! Im changing surgeon after 3 months. I got pregnant so soon and was his first patient ever to not wait until 12 months. When he recommended dilating my pouch back to stomach size I RAN!

Sent from my iPhone using RNYTalk

[speedydvr 25]

At my 2 week follow up they looked at my incisions(which were closed w Dermabond)' date=' weighed me, asked about Water an d Protein. Asked about any problems ( which I had none) and said see you in a month.

Sorry to hear about the shitty staff.

The staff really make a world of difference. Hope it works out for you.[/quote']

That's what I'm afraid of. A complete waste of time and driving hours on end to basically do nothing for me. I don't mean tosound negative about having the surgery, just my experience so far with the staff ha really put me in an foul mood.

On the plus side from day of surgery @319 to this morning @299..... DOS+5 I've dropped 20 lbs and for e first time in over a year am in the 200's!!!!!!!!!