Primary Care Doctors in KC North that Support Bariatric Surgery

Hello All, I am new to this board.   I went to the St. Luke's Hospital/Dr. John Price's seminar last Tuesday evening (1-15-08) and listened carefully.  I have several comorbidity's and I believe my Aetna PPO Open Access will pay for the surgery.  My biggest concern is my primary care physician.  She is in her late 30s and just had child number 3 or 4 last year.  She told me how she gained 35 lbs., followed part of the South Beach Diet and just exercised like crazy and dropped a whopping 85% of her weight after giving birth. (During my office visit, I was whining to her about feeling horrible, this ache and that and my weight.)   I am now 53 and just can't go for it like I did 30 years ago.  I truly believe I need to find a PCP that will be supportive of the surgery.   However, I would like to go to PCP in Kansas City North or the Liberty, MO area.  Can someone help me out?      I will be most open to any of your suggestions. Thank you for your time. Yours sincerely, Hot-Flash

Welcome to the board! As I replied in my post, I use Dr. Caren Beasly at Parkville Family Practices. at i-29 and 64th st. # 816-587-0440 option 2 for appointments. Dr Beasly is great! I thought I was going to hear the old diet and exercise speech but was pleasantly surprised. She listened to what I had to saytand asked questions to find out about my co -morbidities, ran test and found I am not quite diabetic but well on my way to becoming one.  she also asked me to keep a food log for 2 weeks and bring it in on my 2nd visit. She is super nice and knows how yo-yo dieting affects people. I highly recommend her. she is very supportive of surgery as a tool. I like her so much I still go and see her every 2 weeks just to keep me honest on my diet.,,, yes she will ask you to watch you calories she will do a resting metabolic rate test to tell her approximately how many calories you burn while at rest. and tells you to try to stay under that. and she says if you can you should at least walk as exercise to prepare for surgery. SHE DOES NOT JUDGE YOU! that to me is the best part. Let me know if you need anymore help or if you have more questions. Good luck with your journey for WLS.

I am a nurse that is working in a Saint Lukes facility. Since Lukes has the bariatric surgery program, they are very big on referring their patients for surgery. I would suggest that you get on the saint lukes website at www. saint-lukes.org and search for a primary care doc in your area. I think a doc that is affiliated with lukes would be more likely to reccomend the surgery. My almost friend who is 300 # has a primary doc that wouldn't support her decision for WLS either, so don't feel bad. Just find a new doc!

Thank you for your quick reply.  I just ran off a list of family practice docs and internists from Luke's and compared it to the Aetna website for providers.  I work in the business too, but on the peds/administrative side downtown.   Have you heard any gossip about any particular physician on the St. Luke's side that would be supportive of the surgery and that would provide a referral? Thank you again for your input. Hot-Flash