Question about primary care providers

I am planning to have surgery with Dr. Pohl in January now that all of the issues with the loss of his patient have been resolved. I have read a lot of books and articles - and many of the articles tell you that post op - longterm care is best supplied by your primary care doctor. I adore my doctor, but she has only had one other patient ever have WLS and when I indicated that I would make an appointment with her for the month following the surgery, she looked at me rather quizzically and said -- okay - what about the surgeon ??? and then said as long as he could tell her what followup she needed to do, then she could help. Well I was wondering what type of experiences others have had with their PCP? Are there any recommendations of PCP's that treat a good number of WLS patients?

Doesn't Dr. Pohl do the follow up with his patients? I have Dr. Roye and he has a schedule of when he sees you, a lot in the first year and after 2 years, every year. Most people that I have talked to on the message boards all say they do the follow up with their surgeon. They really know how to take of you the best. You should ask Dr. Pohl about follow up care and how he handles it. Dr. Roye told me on my first visit that I needed to agree to the follow up care with him in order to get the surgery with him. On your question, in the short amount of time I have been a post op I have found that almost no one knows how to care for wls patients that aren't affiliated with the surgeon. I've been to my allergist and quick care and both places were clueless. I had to call my surgeon from my allergist office to get the go ahead for an antibiotic for a sinus infection. That has made me very leery of other doctors now. If Dr. Pohl doesn't do follow up with his patients I am sure he has some PCP that he could recommend. I'd check with him. Good luck!

Usually, you'll have checkups with your surgeon for at least the first year. I had Dr. Pohl and saw him at two weeks, three months, six months and a year. I have another appt scheduled at 18 months, I believe. But I do work with my PCP too, as far as getting labs done and as far as getting off various meds that I don't need to take anymore since WLS - and other meds that I have issues with now. She has some experience with WLS patients but not a lot, really. I'm educating her though. Now that I have different health insurance (and Dr. Pohl doesn't take this insurance) I'll be depending on her even more. She's cool about ordering labs if I request them and she's got the copies of Pohl's labs so she knows what he's ordered in the past - and I've kind of filled her in on deficiencies we need to watch for.