Surgeon Has no Time?

My husband had RNY on July 2 with Dr. Gupta and we are becoming discouraged that she doesn't seem to have much time to spend with her patients. He saw her once at the first informational meeting, and once for a few minutes the day after surgery. Today he was scheduled for his first check up, even though he was only discharged two days ago. We drive two hours to Indy, the nutritionist saw us 20 minutes late. We get the the surgeon's office, wait about 15 minutes before we're called back. We see a nurse, we see a nurse practitioner, then we wait. Finally the nurse practitioner comes back in and says Gupta went into surgery and won't see us today. She also left five other patients in the waiting room. It didn't sound like it was an emergency she was called to, but I suppose it could have been. But sheesh, you'd think she'd be a little more available throughout this whole process. I had RNY 2 1/2 years ago at a different hospital and I feel like if we hadn't been through this before my husband wouldn't be really lost. It feels like a factory spitting out surgery and then you're on your own. My experience was so different as we had classes every week for a month before surgery, and then every week for 12 weeks after. Was everybody just kind of on their own after surgery, or is it just our bad luck? Thanks for letting me vent a little but it's been a long day.

I"m really sorry to hear you and your husband had this experience. | had surgery 5/12/08 by Dr Gupta and she has been NOTHING but exceptionally nice.  I even had to call her on a weekend and she was super nice.  If I were guessing, I bet it was an emergency because this doesn't sound like her to me.  Hope he's doing well.  Give her another chance....

Hi maybe Gupta was doing an endoscpoy. She did 2 on me and it wasn't an emergency but it was! I had Dr.Jones as my surgeon and on the only day she follow up on her patients you have to wait for hours sometimes. I guess in that one day she see about75 people. I will be seeing the nurse practitioner this next visit and I think if you pay a big amount for the surgery the staff should go out of their to way help you and that includes the surgeon,    

Well, I hope things get better. He is doing well, but I think that has a lot to do with the knowledge we already had about RNY. He has lost 12 lbs since surgery July 2! But when we went in for our first follow-up, the nurse was asking if we knew what his weight was the day of surgery. She didn't have it in his chart. He wasn't quite sure of his weight that day, so we are going by his weigh-in during his walks at the hospital. We had asked the PA some questions and she would give an opinion, but then say we should ask that question of Dr. Gupta. Well, we never got to see her so we don't have our questions answered. We don't even know when he can go back to work.

I'm almost 4 yr post-op with Dr. Gupta and she has been wonderful for me. Other than weight loss surgeries, gall bladder removal, hernia repairs, and endoscopies (which she normally does on Tuesday & Thursdays..but has come in on a SUNDAY to do one on me), she & Dr. Cacucci also does life-saving intestinal surgeries. Last October, I wound up in a coma due to my intestines. I would had died if it weren't for those two ladies. Trust me, if ever Dr. Gupta isn't able to make it to an appointment of mine, I will be remembering that time period and will be praying that the patient she IS there for survives.                          What I would recommend if your husband has any questions is for him to email Katie at [email protected]. I have found that I get a much quicker reply that way. Katie is Dr. Gupta's nurse. I haven't had much experience dealing with her PA yet..just one visit (she accompanied Dr. Gupta) and one call. That one call. she was a little too quick to try to get off the phone..'It was negative, let us know if you need anything else'. I was quicker! I said 'hey, wait a minute. Just because the test was negative, it doesn't mean I don't have the symptoms. I STILL have a problem here.'. She did try to help then.                                  I have NEVER regretted having Dr. Gupta..and I HAVE had several bumps along the way (read my profile). I'm still battling some from the deal last fall (it's been 9 months now). Since they are out of Dr. Gupta's scope of knowledge, she did the best thing she could for me...she consulted & then sent me to a specialist that does deal with this stuff. I can't ask for anything more than that out of her.                  Please tell your husband 'congrats' for us.                                        Sherri