Anyone in San Antonio with a good PCP??

I had a horrible experience with my PCP today. Long story short, she doesn't understand my surgery and is not even willing to do so. I want to find a PCP that will at least try. I know my surgery is not common (I had a revision to a DS), but at the very least I want someone that is willing to hear me out and try to understand. Does anyone have a fabulous PCP you are using you might recommend?  Thanks!!

Hi Julie! Thanks for responding. I think I had read about Dr. Ramirez before while I was looking for a PCP and found the one I went to. Basically, I am looking for a doctor who will be willing to learn a little bit about the DS. Not a lot, just maybe read over the sheet I give him/her with general information on how my anatomy works and realize that I am a bit different than a RNY patient and that I malabsorb a lot more and will probably need more labs than the average RNY'er. And most importantly that won't fight me every step of the way!

For example my PCP could not understand that I don't absorb oil based vitamins and tried to prescribe them to me every time even though I repeatedly said I can't take them and the reason why. Every time I kept trying to explain to her that I only absorb about 20% of fat and that since  the prescription A, E, D & K are oil based I wouldn't absorb them she looked at me like I had 3 heads. She then went ballistic when she saw I am taking 100k IU of Dry D3 a day. Mind you my levels are a 10 right now! She said that the average RNY patient only needs 1 prescription 50k Vitamin D pill a week. I told her that I don't have RNY that with my surgery I malabsorb much more, and I am taking D3, not D2 which is the prescribed one that oil based and I can't absorb anyway, that D3 is safe for me to take. Finally she said, "fine... if your surgeon agrees then okay" while giving me a glare.

Then we had another argument trying to get her to do my labs because I "wanted too many things that no one ever asked to have" or I had just gotten them done 3 months ago and my levels were "good enough" (even though some were low or very low normal). I told her "I have upped my vitamins substancially and I want to make sure it is working and I am not overdoing it."  She told me she didn't feel comfortable ordering the labs and I should ask my surgeon to do it, at that point I almost walked out. I said, "fine I will get him to do all my labs from now on" and that is when she agreed to most of them (which she had ordered before btw). All she added to the list of what she had ordered before was B1 (which I have had low before) and PTH (which has been abnormal before). How hard was that? Even my RNY surgeon ordered the B1 and PTH before I had my revision!

She also always keeps repeating that I should be counting calories, not protein, carbs, or any of that stuff. I told her my anatomy doesn't work that way anymore, I only absorb certain percentages so I need more protein because I only absorb 50% of it. She would just stare at me and say that calories were the important thing, that I should be counting them regardless what surgery I had done.

I really felt like I had to fight with her every step of the way, by the time I left her office I was drained and was on the verge of tears. I seriously don't think a doctor visit should be that way, they are supposed to be your ally not your enemy. If they don't know something, maybe they can look it up, or ask someone else like your surgeon or something. Just a thought...

But anyway, that was my experience and the reason I am looking for another doctor.

Dr. Ramirez will read over it, likely not retain a bunch of it, but he also won't compare you to other surgeries because he will admit he doesn't know a lot about any of them. He will never fight you on labs being drawn or changing a script to something that works better for you.

On occassions, I've had to remind him that certain scripts were a no-no for me whether it was due to RNY (no NSAIDs) or my allergies (I'm allergic to more meds than I care to list). No attitude, he just shredded the original script and gave me a script for something I could take.
 
If you're looking for a doctor that is going to know every nuance of DS vs. other surgeries, he's not your guy. If you're looking for a doctor that will listen to you and be a partner and advocate for your health with an open dialog, then he's great.

I moved away from San Antonio last October, but the entire time I lived there - both pre- and post-RNY - my PCP was Dr. Stephen Ramirez with Stone Oak Family Practice. His office number is 210-490-5100.

He doesn't understand all of the nuances of surgery, but he's open to patient feedback and always drew all of the labs I told him I needed. He was also in contact with my RNY surgeon and provided her copies of everything since she was 90 miles away and not convenient for me to get to regularly. He's a great doctor. Spends time with his patients, listens to them and really goes the extra mile.

Other than labs, I'm not sure what type of support/understanding you're looking for from your PCP. Can you go into more detail? (FYI, I'm very familiar with DS - my mom had it 12 years ago.)