So, I had my first appointment with Dr. Donovan Teel II in Dayton, OH...

Today I had my first appointment. It went well, except he basically tried to talk me out of DS... and not for any reasons that were personal (I have no co morbidities... but my BMI is 55.4)  It was all "Well THEY (DS'ers as opposed to the sleeve patients, which is what he was a bit biased toward) have more complications, THEY have smelly poos and farts (so its not going to be all sunshine and rainbows?!) THEY have lots of vitamins they have to take, and THEY have to be more vigilant with their labs... etc. Then said we could do it in stages (a sleeve, then later a DS IF I wanted) um no... I want a DS. At the end, he said "well I see your mind is made up, I wrote it down as a D/S"

However, because I have not asked and the search feature (for me on this topic) leaves a bit to be desired... Have any of ya'll had your surgery with him? If so, what was your experience? 

In advance, I appreciate all information you can give :)

I'm not a Teel patient but I've been around and seen his patients online. No one has said anything negative about his work as far as I remember. Many surgeons will test your resolve like he did, no worries, it sounds like you past the test. I don't know about his follow up or vitamin recommendations. Most surgeons are pretty clueless regarding over-the-counter vitamins and how much we need. We need a lot more than they recommend. My surgeon starts all his DS patients on 12 Vita4Life capsules and then adds calcium and Vitalady's vitamins D3 and A. The dietitian is finding that those of us taking Vitalady's total plan have a lot better labs though. Food for thought...

Congrats on passing the test. : )

--gina

He made it sound so easy - in reality, your insurer is very unlikely to pay for a second operation if you have the sleeve and, for whatever reason, it isn't sufficient for you for doesn't work at all. You will be blamed for your "failure". Or, you could "succeed" to the point where you are still well above a normal bmi but no longer qualified for bariatric surgery, and you are left stuck there.

You are the one who will live with the results of this operation, both positive and negative. It's your decision. If you are confident that DS is right for you, as it sounds like you are, go for it.

Larra

I don't know anything about the Doctor but you certainly showed yourself to be a great DS patient. 
Fighting for yourself is the best thing you can have to start with.

Dr. Teel assisted with my surgery back in 2005 and is very nice.  He's had several non-compliant patients so it sounds like he wants to vet his own DS patients before he does it on them.  He will play up the down sides and if you're easily scared, then you're not the right kind of DS patient.  He's scared off many from the DS this way.  Insist on what you want and demonstrate that you know how to keep healthy and you will do just fine with him.

One thing that does impress me about his office though,is that they 'get' that we need LOTS of vitamin D, so much that you can buy the Biotech megadoses of D frm the office for the same price as online.