Changing doctors!!!

Hello everyone!! I was seeing Dr. Chapman at the Brody School of Medicine and I started my process last year. I have had all of my test and have been waiting. he wanted me to loose 15 pounds which i have been working on. I have not heard anything from his office or have had a nurse call me to ask me how everything was going with my weight loss attempt. I have decided to change doctors because I heard that Dr. Chapman is not available right now. I guess maybe that is why I have not heard from anyone. I need to get this done before I change my mind. Does anyone know anything about Dr. Chapman and what is going on? I really liked him but I can't wait forever.

"I need to get this done before I change my mind" WLS is a process not a race... if you are not 110% sure and committed to this surgery maybe it isnt right for you. For the majority of us its out 'last hope' and we would wait as long as it would take to have the surgery. It took me 5 years to get to the point I decided to persue surgery... it took me another 9 months to have it once I started the process. Choosing a surgeon is an important decision - you should go with who you feel is the best surgeon and fits your needs - not the surgeon who can get you in the quickest.  I am not sure whats going on with DrChapman but I would assume his office would be able to tell you. Many times its up to you to keep in contact with the office, not vice versa... you are one person where they as an office deals with hundreds. I never waited on my surgeons office to call, I was always pro-active and did as much as I could to get the load of them.. afterall I was the one needing the surgery.

Jennifer,  That was excellent advice! I always enjoy reading your posts.

WLS journey is one that needs to be directed by you, the patient. You are the captain of your own healthcare, the office can only work as hard as you do.

I absolutley agree that you should call the office before changing doctors or considering another clinic. The office might think that you have simply given up because they haven't heard from you. Good Luck!

I really didn't mean it that way. Quite a few of his patients has had to change doctors because they do not know when he will be back. I think I am making the right choice for me. Why would I want to keep waiting when another doctor in his office is capable of doing the surgery.

Angel, I have heard Dr. Chapman is not working right now. I will PM you.  I do know Dr. Pender is seeing his patients if you are already established and have your pre-ops done.  I'm not as familiar with that office as I am with Southern Surgical, but I'm sure if you want to still go through ECU, there is someone there that can help you. Good luck in whatever you choose.

I'm a patient of Dr. Chapman's too.  He will be back, but in the meantime, you need to call Anna or Paul (the nurses on the ECU bariatric team) and touch base.  At the last support group meeting, Paul was saying how busy they have been having to reschedule patients, but Dr. Pender is doing his best to take care of all the bariatric patients while Dr. C is out.  Keep Dr. Chapman in your prayers that he will be better real soon and be back for all of us! 

Hello... If you have to switch surgeons in the Greenville area, I would highly recommend Southern Surgical.  They are located in Greenville on Emerald Drive.  My doctor was Ken MacDonald.  He was awesome.  Very straight forward and he will tell you like it is.  The office staff are awesome.  Once I got thru all my preop testing and lost 20 lbs, they scheduled my surgery.  I only have to wait 2 weeks once I had satisfied all the doctors presurgical requirements.  So if you need to switch, I would highly recommend them.  I just had my surgery on April 11 (RNY) and everything went extremely well thanks to the Southern Surgical team.  Good luck.