Questions I should ask the surgeon?

Can anyone tell me some good questions I should ask the surgeon, nurse or dietician? I want to make sure I get all I need to know.

I think one of the most important things to ask is what kind of aftercare they provide. Many of the surgeons do the surgery, check you a couple times during the first year, & then you are on your own. My surgeon is always getting calls from patients of other surgeons who want him to do the followup because they are not getting it from the original surgeon. It is very important to continue to see the doctor regularly. Mine says we will be coming to see him for the restof our lives. Of course, you'll probably want to ask about his complication rate & whether he does Lap or just opens. If it's important to get an open & he doesn't do them, find someone else. Ones who don't have the training to do laps will quite often say they are not as safe. Not so. Ask about presurgical testing & what ones you will need. If he doesn't require any, run for the nearest exit. Ask about your diet after surgery. Each surgone is different there. Do you smoke? If so, ask if you have to stop. Some will only do the surgery if you have not smoked for a set amount of time. You don't want to find this out later & have to wait for the surgery just because you didn't stop soon enough. Dixie

Alicia, Dixie's response was right on target! Keep researching and get questions off of this site and others as well. I went in armed with a list of 5 pages of questions. I also taped the meeting because my husband could not be there. It was great. Ditto ditto ditto on the follow up programs. I have talked to many people who don't have the care necessary - or the support. It is essential to our success@!! Hope this helps, God bless, Andrea