Info on my Constult with Dr Blake today

I had my consult today with Dr Roger Blake. He is a black male and looks to be about 35. Extremely nice and informative. First upon my arrival I had to go watch a little movie probably lasting about 10 minutes. It was about the different types of surgeries, percentage of patients who keep the weight off etc. Then I went in and they did my vitals and placed me in a room. Dr Blake and his nurse came in and he went over my paperwork I had filled out while I was supposed to be watching the movie (LOL). It was just basic information. Then his nurse gave me a gown and they left out. After a few minutes they came back in and Dr Blake hit me in the back where kidneys are, and I did not jump or yell so he said I was not too tender(but it hurt like crazy over the right side. I am sure that is due to the liver surgery I had one month ago)He looked in my throat, ears, listened to my lungs and heart, and mashed around on my belly and legs. He then asked me to get dressed and he would be back. In a few minutes he came back and told me about the pr op testing I would have to have done and asked if I had any questions. I asked him: How many surgeries have you done. He said 150 How many fatalities have you had? He said 4. One was due to a leak, 2 were due to blood clots(pulmonary embolism) and he could not remember why the other died. Well needless to say I was not impressed with that at all, after being in the medical profession I can assure you that I did not believe that for one second. It truely affects dr when their patients die so I did not believe that he did not remember why that patient did not make it, but was unwilling to tell me and his nurse looked like dear in the headlights when I asked that. What type would he do on me? He said distal What size pouch did he do? He said 30cc which is just a tad over 2 teaspoons. What days are sugery done on? He said Mondays only Could I have lap? He said no due to me having a liver surgery. B/c it was a major surgery in my upper abdomen I could not even think about lap due to scar tissue. Usual time surgery last? He said 1 hour and 15 minutes, but mine would be longer due to previous liver surgery which left scar tissue. How long is usual open rny stay? 4 days When are support meetings that we are required to attend at least one of? 3rd Tuesday of every month I was given an appointment for my bloodwork(abg arterial puncture and a couple others I did not hear). It is next week. I will be mailed an appointment for my psych eval and my pulmonary test. I am still wondering about the 4 deaths.... that is 2.7% which is more than double the national average.It is almost TRIPLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Thank You for posting. I saw Dr. Blake last October and went through all of the preops and have recently been sent an appointment on July 20 to schedule surgery. You gave me a lot to think about in your post. Looking back, I don't think I asked him any questions because it all seemed so out of reach at that time. Let us know if you decide to carry on with the surgery, and I will do the same.

I have prayed about it and I am NOT going back to Dr Blakes office. I will choose another surgeon for my surgery. I understand completely if the rest of you choose to use him, and wish you well, but his record is not near good enough for me.

Donna, I had my consult with Dr. Blake on May 27th and he told me the same thing except he told me only 3 had died...and that he had done 50 surgeries in Texas before he moved here and had done about 150 surgeries since he has been here....that sounded pretty good to me, but i did not know anything about the national average...and to me he seemed very upfront and informative....and his nurse was wonderful to me and did not seem at all like that when i asked any of my questions (i had 2 pages worth... ) I just now got my appointment for my abg and blood work at the obesity clinic on July 15th and i left Dr. Blakes office with an appointment for the pulmonary...the only thing i havent heard anything on is the pshych eval....I will also have to have the open surgery because of my bmi being over 55 (its 69.5 ) and said that it would be to hard to do the lypro because the instruments may not be long enough (hey its ok with me cause I want him to be able to SEE what he is doing...lol it looked to me like they were playing a virtual reality game on that video when they showed the lypro ) But about the death he says he cant remember you just have to keep in mind that he is a very busy man and has millions of things on his mind everyday and the main thing you need to keep in the back of your mind is he is only HUMAN also.. It's just like when someone asks you a question that you KNOW you know the answer to but you can't think of it for the WORLD... don't that just bug the tar out you to no end...lol well hun I just thought I would share with you a little of my experience with Dr. Blake Thanks, Angela Blount

If he was mistaken and it is only 3 that is still 2 percent and that is twice the national average.

Donna, OMGosh, he sounds like the worst doctor in the state! My doctor works at UMMC and she recommended him to me. I will have to talk to her about this. We can't put our lives into the hands of someone who doesn't know why one of his four patients died. WOW, I am just shocked. I have not met him yet. I have my consultation on July 27. Thank you for shareing this because we don't know if we don't ask. I will let you know if I get any encouragement from my PCP. Hope you continue to get better. Smiles, Jan

Ouch!!! Well, Dr. Blake told me on April 13, that he had done about 150 surgeries and had 3 deaths. One was a leak and two were blood clots. Maybe the man isn't counting?? I don't know, but Adam (from CMMC) told me that he was as good as Dr. Cleveland, and if he had to have surgery and could get Dr. Cleveland, he would not hesitate to use Dr. Blake. I think I will call Kristy (his nurse) tomorrow and see what is going on. I guess he has lost one patient since April. I don't have alot of choice since he WILL take my insurance and most places won't, but I don't have a date yet, so anything could happen between now and then. I have also thought about switching to Dr. Salameh, since Kristi really likes him and he isn't booked to the gills yet...I just don't know...I'll let you know what I hear tomorrow...I don't know if I want to say thanks for the info or not!!! lol....But better to be informed. Smoochies, Arlies

Yea I would feel better if it was just 3. That is still twice the national average, but I would hope those were in his first days of doing the surgeries. Be sure to come here and post what Kristi says.

ok please dont take this to heart because it is hear say but i feel like i owe to all of you just in case it is true. but when i read about the 4th patient dying around april I feel like i should say what i had heard. Now just remember this is just a Rumor i heard. sometime about april a friend of mines daughter had a woman that she worked with had wls supposively by dr blake and she died because of a leak a few days later and they had a private autpsy done and said the work was very poor so i figure a lawsuit is coming maybe thats why he is reserved about talking about it. so please check on this because it may not be true. Now in my opinion about leaks i think they do the blue die test right? Dr king and byars in oxford do the barium test the very next morning after surgery drink the stuff and they watch it go down the hatch he will know without a doubt if your leaking and to me that was a comfort. I hope i havent scared anyone because that wasnt my intentions because i cant say one thing bad from my experiece from surgery and i want everyone here to have the same success. Matt

I have prayed about it and I am NOT going back to Dr Blakes office. I will choose another surgeon for my surgery. I understand completely if the rest of you choose to use him, and wish you well, but his record is not near good enough for me.