Questions for Surgeon

Tomorrow I have my "final review" with my nurse coordinator and my surgeon. This is when we'll send off all the paperwork to insurance and really get things rolling! Trying not to hyperventilate with excitement--I'm feeling really positive about this coming change.

This will only be the second meeting I've had with the surgeon himself (not counting the 3 seconds of lucidity before I was sedated and he performed my Endoscopy). I'm not too bothered about it--I've had a lot of meetings with other staff on the program and I feel well-supported and confident in his abilities.

However, this will likely be the last time I get to talk with him before I'm actually having the surgery, and I want to make sure I make the most of the time. I've done a TON of research over the past 8 months, but I was wondering if there were any specific questions you'd recommend asking your surgeon, or any questions you wished you'd asked at the time. I've already got the basics from them on things like the pre & post-op diet plan, vitamin schedules, macro goals etc. But I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing that maybe isn't super intuitive...Any recommendations would be most appreciated!

Hi gracegetsgastric,

Congratulations on the beginning of your journey I just posted a couple of links about what questions to ask your surgeon and programs. It's floating at the bottom of the page but here are the links.

Let us know if you need any further help

Questions to ask your surgeon

Questions to ask about your bariatric program

Thanks for the links! I've seen similar lists before and never found them that helpful, but that first list has a lot of great questions to ask! :D

You are Welcome

In addition to the list:

How many times have you done the VSG/RNY/DS? How many do you do per year?

How many years have you done this procedure?

Do you do revisions of this procedure? Why or why not?

Can you draw me a picture of what my anatomy will look like after the procedure?

Why did you chose to specialize in weight loss surgery? What's drawn you to the field?

Do you still do other types of general surgery? What else is your specialty?

Where did you go to medical school?

Where was your residency?

Did you do a medical fellowship?

What do you think is the #1 factor for success post-op in your patients/what do your most successful patients do to achieve their results besides diet and exercise?

Additionally, most states have a licensure lookup for professionals. Before I see any health professional I look up their license to see if they have been disciplined by the licensure board.