Hard time trying to find a new doctor

[j_war06 0]

So Ive been looking for a new doctor for after I have my baby. I want to get this weight off, and I want a doctor that is more supportive than the one I have right now...I want a better bedside manner, and one that isnt so rude about big girls. I have a friend that had the surgery a few months ago and has really gotten the weight off, and her doctor lets her choose her fills and stuff, and doesnt really limit her (I think he should since shes new at it)...but Ive had mine for over 2 years and its never really worked for me no matter what, so I was hoping to use a new doctor for fills and check-ups. So I decided I would try to go see my friend's doctor after the baby is born....but another one of our friends went and had the surgery and shes been in the hospital for over a week because the surgeon accidently nicked her intestines....I dont get how that happens because there really arent any sharp objects involved, and now Im thinking that he might be a really negligent doctor...and now I dont want to use him, but hes the only other doctor in my area....so I guess Im stuck with the (pardon my language) asshole Ive got for a dr. I really dont need this new guy trying to work on me (i have an oddly placed port because of my body shape and stuff) when he cant even do his run of the mill surgery right. I could understand if it had more to do with the band itself, but he really screwed this lady up...

[JaxBandster 11]

I would suggest going to two other forums. The one for doctors and the support group for regions. That way you can talk to people in your area and find someone you are comfortable with who is close to you.

Hope you find what you are looking for!!!!!

[j_war06 0]

Thats just it....there is one doctor one way and one doctor the other...thats it....I drive an hour and 45 mins just to see my doctor i see now, the other guy is closer in another town...but like I said anyone that can mess up like that I dont want poking me with anything.

[gkeyt 0]

I don't understand what you mean by there not being any sharp objects to nick one's intestine while doing lap band surgery?!? How do you think the surgery is done? Incisions are made, that requires scalpels or electrocautery. The instruments that enter your abdominal cavity during the laprascopic portion grab, staple and cut the tissue at the same time. They make cuts to remove tissue around the stomach so they can place the band around the stomach. There are lots of opportunities to nick one's intestines during this surgery. It's easy to judge someone else's work as incompetent but you need to understand that this is a risk anytime you have surgery!!!

A lot of people seem to see this as "noninvasive" surgery, but there is no such thing. It's surgery, someone is going to cut you, and there is a risk that they will cut something they didn't mean to cut. Any surgeon can do that, no matter how good they are. You might want to first, find out if the other surgeon will accept you as a patient, because a lot of surgeons won't take other surgeons' patients, and second, meet with them and see if you like & trust them aside from this surgical complication. Then make a decision. Odds are, like most surgeons, this one won't accept you as a patient anyway because he didn't do your surgery, so the whole question might be moot.

Or you can keep looking for the surgeon who has never made a mistake. Good luck with that.

[j_war06 0]

I actually have been accepted by two other surgeons...his office and one in San Antonio (When I lived in Corpus Christi)...And this isnt the first complication Ive seen with him...when he did my friends surgery her incisions looked terrible directly afterward, where as mine were very clean and small....hers were large and swollen...and her portsite looked like some kind of strange growth/infection. I understand that certain tools MUST be involved, that doesnt take a genius....but he's success rate isnt lookin to great. However I just had an epiphany, my blonde-headed self just realized I could cross state line to find a surgeon because I live so close to the border of Louisiana. I REALLY loved my surgeon in the beginning, he was awesome and down-to-earth....but as he has taken on more patients and gotten more popular and lets face it, richer....he has become a total asshole...I paid him big bux CASH for the surgery and every single fill...atleast the guys in San Antonio (who had WAY more of a client list) treated me like a human being and not a cash cow. Now that I think about it though, I think Im going to see if anyone does it in Louisiana.

[j_war06 0]

and my stomach was not cut or stapled...i dont have a staple in my body :thumbup:

[JaxBandster 11]

and my stomach was not cut or stapled...i dont have a staple in my body

Checking in LA makes sense. Don't know why you couldn't go across state lines :eek:

I don't have staples either. Sutures underneath, steri strips on top. :thumbup:

[gkeyt 0]

I didn't say your stomach was cut or stapled. But some of the instruments used staple the sides of the tissue that is cut AWAY from the stomach. Not all of them. But usually/often the tissue around the stomach that is near where the band is going to go has to be cut away. If that tissue is exceptionally vascular, they could use the cutting tool that staples the edges so it doesn't bleed. You may or may not have tiny tiny staples in that way--I don't think they usually do that, but my understanding is that using that tool can happen in any laproscopic belly surgery, IF it is needed. But they don't cut our stomachs or staple them, that's the point of lap band surgery.

Does that make more sense?

[j_war06 0]

not really because stomachs are organs and organs are made of tissue...and therefore if they cut the tissue on the stomach...then theoretically they are cutting and/or stapling the stomach. As far as I was told they didnt take anything out of my body...I didnt even have a pre-op diet or anything special before the surgery...I was back as school the following the Monday, I went shopping at Hobby Lobby the next day...I didnt have a hard recovery at all, and this doctor's patients seem to have very long recovery periods. But Im definately gonna check out Louisiana and see how close I can get