Last Surgeon Visit...

Hihi friends!

Yesterday was my last visit with my surgeon, this guy YELLED at me because I had only lost 1 lb over the month, and a total of 3 lbs over the 3 months of visiting him, his nut and his RN.  If I had lost about 10lbs over the 3 months, my BMI would've fallen out of the proper range.

Now the yelling at was actually irritating, but then he iced the cake with telling me that if I didn't loose any weight he wouldn't operate on me and he wouldn't do the single incision lap sleeve.  I felt like this was a threat.  I'm not even to the pre-op diet....is there a reason why he's stressing me?

I don't know about all surgeons or programs, but mine and many others that I have heard of, you only have to have a certain weight/BMI at your initial consultation. After that, they want you on a program with your NUT, and to start losing weight. They basically want to make sure you can follow the strict diet this surgery requires. Even though you will eat larger portions before surgery than you will be able to post-op, you will still lose weight. However, I think they should have made this clear to you in the beginning, rather than yelling at you after the fact. My BMI barely qualified me for surgery, and I lost 28 pounds pre-op. Good luck with everything and I hope it all works out!

That is upsetting.  I would have had to cry at him!  My surgeon actually told me to lose no more than 10 lbs or the insurance may not approve my surgery!

Hmm. I don't like this. It's normal for them to expect folks to lose weight pre-surgery, in large part because even a little weight loss shrinks the liver, which makes it easier for the surgeon to get to the stomach, etc, which sit underneath it. However, they should explain whether or not that will jeopardize insurance approval. At my hospital, it would not, but maybe in other places it would.

But what is NOT normal is to yell at a patient. That is unacceptable behavior, in my opinion. What if another issue arises later? Will he react the same way and blame you?

Anyway, know that not all places require weight loss before surgery. My WLS program doesn't, and the staff says that the surgeons are good enough to perform the surgery with or without a shrunken liver. Our 6 month pre-op nutritional counseling isn't so much for weight loss as it is to help us understand how to eat better post-surgery. They take this approach because they know how hard it is for us to lose weight, and know we'll start losing with a vengeance once we are post-op.

Anyway, I hope that your surgeon doesn't keep this bad behavior up.

Thanks for the input everyone!

I had no clue that it was the first weight that the insurance company was looking at only!  If that was explained, I was NOT aware of it.  That would've made a difference--thanks for the explanation!

He was saying that none of his pre-op patients that day had lost weight, and I was the last patient of the day, so maybe it was just a bad day for him.  Generally, he's an tell-it-like-it-is type of guy, which I appreciate usually.  I could've been being sensitive and he could've been having a bad day.

Sounds like he has a God-complex. Sorry, but I'd switch surgeons and tell him why. If you could lose weight without surgery you would have already done that.

((hugs))

--gina

Our program was very clear from the beginning.  6 months of classes, then after surgery approval, 4 weeks of Optifast where you were to loose 8% of your excess weight or no surgery.  Part of it is the liver thing, part of it is compliance with a diet so they know you are capable of follow through later.

There is no medical requirement for a LW to do 4 weeks of Optifast...not even 2 weeks. They've designed a cookie-cutter, fatty-hater approach.  I can't stand these holier-than-thou programs. They just don't get it. The restriction these surgeries provide will ensure compliance. If someone is sabotaging their surgery, that's where therapy may be needed but not a NUT's or a surgeon's silly pre-op program.

--gina

I did have a weight loss goal to reach before surgery too. I think it is to see if you can follow a diet and then hopefully will be able to follow the post op diet with more success. I know I have a fatty liver and if I lost weight it would help shrink my liver and help the surgeon during surgery.
But the yelling is uncalled for. Sorry you had to go through that.
Good luck

I would talk to your insurance company. Some of them WILL deny surgery if your BMI drops under the magic line even if you did it because they told you to go on a diet. You don't want to get caught in that trap just because your surgeon is having a bad day.

As for losing weight pre-op, theoretically it helps make the surgery safer, but the surgery is already pretty safe for most of us and there is no scientific data to support the idea that losing weight pre-op leads to better outcomes post-op. In fact, a recent study found that all it does is draw out the time until the patients get surgery with no added benefit on the other end.