Surgeon interaction post surgery

Just curious what your experience was with your surgeon was. My surgeon was very interactive and friendly during initial consult. He saw me briefly pre-surgery once, was very late for the appt. as he had been for the first one tho. And after surgery neither he nor his office called to check on me after surgery. I had my one week post op appt. and he was again very late, checking his texts while with me. And I have had a couple of concerns post surgery, hear palpitations and pain under my ribs, and his coordinator said merely to speak to your primary care physician and cardiologist if you are concerned. I have one final post op appt. with his physician assistant in a week, so not even any interaction with him. This is supposedly a well regarded surgeon, and I was thinking of what I will leave as a review for him. But first wanted to see if this is typical. I personally do feel like it is not what I expected, and not what is optimal for the care of a patient.

A lot of doctors have no bedside manner at all. None. It's too bad.

Some have great programs set up for information, aftercare, etc. Some have crappy programs, or none at all.

Surgeons cut. They do surgery. And if you are lucky, they do that very well. It's pretty clear that that is all you can expect from yours. It's now up to you to advocate for yourself to get whatever care you might need, whether it's from your PCP, or elsewhere.

Unless you need surgery in the future, you no longer need a surgeon. I'm sorry to say, but he's not going to be much help.

Doyenne

I had a similar experience with my surgeon, she was very sweet and nice at the consultation. Barely spoke to me the day of surgery and I never saw her again ever! All my yearly appointments (9 years out) at my hospital weight loss center are with a PA. She totally vanished!

The worse was 10 days out I got this terrible pain and went to the ER. After a cat scan and tests it was determined that I had ischemia which I was told meant a piece of tissue had died. Very painful. They then pumped some medicine into me via IV and did it sooo fast my arm burned and felt like it was going to blow off. I had a mean nurse and said necessary as needed to get medicine quick. I don't cry easy but was for this as unbearable painfull having it administered so fast. I was there overnight and went home in morning. My surgeon was in the hospital and was told would be coming to see me and never came or called! I had a follow up with the PA at the center and in the hospital she left all to the ER doctor ! Never have seen her again but she did a great job with my surgery. As Grim says all that really matters. Stopping in when I was in ER would have been nice!

Also my hospital does not have a great after support... meetings are informational to get new patients. Once a month a seminar...speaker comes to discuss something like plastic surgery etc. not support meetings like this forum.

I remember after the ER feeling same way as you that not planning on referring! Yet she did a great job with the cutting and I had a great result. She since had moved from CT to TX.

best to you.

Megan

I didn't see my surgeon until about 10 days pre-op for the first time. He was great while I was in the hospital and visited 1-2 times daily. He was reassuring about some of my issue I was having (severe nausea/dry heaving) and talked easily with me about if/when I was ready to go home.

I saw him 2 weeks post op and 3 months post op after that. Both visits he was very friendly, but pretty hurried. I didn't have any major issues to bring up, but if I did I'm guessing he would have been hurried about answering them too.

I will now see the Bari Center every 6 months (for 2 years) and then yearly after that. They are much more relaxed with their visits and will consult with the surgeon for me if there's an issue that requires him.

Unfortunately, bariatric surgery has become big business and aftercare is not worth the cost of a surgeon's time, hence "programs"

There are some who are old school, but I don't think any of us should expect Dr Now type care!

My PCP is young and extremely well informed - much better bedside manner than I would expect from a surgeon, who generally prefer their patients anesthetised!!!

You have to remember that you owe it to yourself to be your own best advocate; noone will ever care more about your health than you!

Your surgeon seems to be a little rude. Him checking his texts & being late on your time seems to be the attitude of some Drs that their time is more precious than yours. Like the others have said, surgeons cut & the aftercare will vary from place to place.

For me, after a week post op, I saw the PA to check my incisions. I still however saw & still see my original surgeon for my follow up appointments. He does however refers me to see my GP if I felt there was something wrong outside of my surgery.

You'd be better off seeing your GP & cardiologist, some things just might not be related to your surgery. Ideally they should work together, so bring your labs & whatever you can get from your surgeon to bring with you to your GP & cardiologist.

I've seen this type of thread a number of times in the past, and it does seem fairly common - at least the part about not seeing the surgeon very often (both pre and post-op).

It isn't always this way - my surgeon is very hands on and very personable. I have met with him at every appointment I've had, both pre-op and post-op (he has a 2-week post op, then 3-month, 6-months, 12-month then he moves you to every 6 month if you are doing well).

He spends as much time as you need to answer any/all questions, and is generally on time (he was significantly late one time as he was tied up an apparently unexpectedly complicated surgery).

The one time I was in serious pain and very concerned, he was super easy to reach on a Sunday - I followed the prompts on their office phone and it rang through to his cell and he answered. No waiting, no call back.

He also takes on a much larger role than many surgeons I read about. He has a passion for nutrition and he does non-surgical and well as surgical weight loss out of his office. He functions as the nutritionist for his office as well. In addition, he tells his patients that he is their GI doctor forever. If you are having any GI issues or pain, he wants you to call him right away. He feels going to your PCP or a GI doc that doesn't specialize in bariatric surgery can results in a significant delay in care and perhaps a number of unnecessary tests and procedures.

In summary, my point is that I think your experience is pretty common, but not universal.

I'm in the same boat with my bariatric surgeon - actually came into my room while i was in the hospital but never even made it as far as the bed. Walked in - shouted something to me from the doorway - walked out. But what surgery he performed worked. Just not my kind of guy. Follow up appointments with his PA. I had a large hernia that no one noticed because no one actually looked closely at me. That was discovered during another procedure that I had two years later. Luckily the doctor involved in the subsequent procedure had a much better bedside manner and we got everything all taken care of. I have been honest with other prospective patients regarding my experience with the bariatric surgeon. I stopped going to bariatric followups. I recently had an issue that I thought might be related but switched bariatric docs in the practice - new one was wonderful - we spent more time talking about my experience than all of the time that I spent with the original doctor.

My doctor saw me at every one of my appointments, First one at 2 weeks... 6 weeks... 3 months... 6 months... 9 months... and 1 year out.

I got about 15-20 minutes of his time, plus maybe 10 minutes of the nurse asking me questions and weighing, etc before he came in.

That being said, my doctor doesn't always have the best bedside manners with patients. I've read his reviews and have a friend that's a nurse that used to interact with him at the hospital... but him and I connected so we actually get along. Might not be the case with every one of his patients, but I bet he still personally sees them.

I had no issues or phone calls to the staff directly out of surgery, so I can't comment on that part, BUT I can't imagine them sending me to my PCP just weeks after my surgery for surgery-related issues.

I'm definitely in the minority, but I'm 3 years post op and have seen my surgeon at every single appointment I've had in his practice. Routine appointments, appointments to deal with problems, I've seen him every single time. The more I read about other programs the happier I am that I picked the practice, and the surgeon, that I did.