Surgeon Questions

Hello, I was approved for Surgery on Monday but I have to meet with the surgeon's office before I get a date, I have questions I want to write down to ask but what are some good ones you can think of?  I've been going to local support groups for a few months so a lot of my questions have been answered already but I want to make sure I'm asking the surgeon the right ones.  I'm having RNY done...

Thanks! 

Hi Justine. I went for that appt. about a week ago. Like you, many of my questions had already been answered thru my research here and other websites, and friends who have had WLS. But I did write down some questions I wanted to be clear on. Maybe some of these are ones you might still need an answer for? Whoops- my list is in my car which my daughter has just borrowed to drive to Walmart! I'll try to remember some of the questions.

Will my RNY be distal or proximal, and why?

Do you have a standard size for the anastomosis(sp) that you use for most patients, or is everyone different?

What's the one RNY complication that you deal with most in your practice?

How often do you see problems with internal hernias after patients have lost lots of weight?

What do you see as the biggest risk/cause  for failure to reach goal weight or near goal?

What is the most important thing I can do now to ensure the best outcome for my surgery?

Since you'll be removing my gall bladder as well (I have stones) what amount of time will that add to the surgery and will it make recovery more complicated?

Hope this helps! That last one probably won't apply to you, but I listed it just in case. Good luck and I hope you get a date soon. Mine is 2/5 and the days are flying by. I'm very excited and also a little nervous, pretty much the same as everyone else at this point! Good luck and maybe some others will check in soon and give you some more ideas.

Rhonda : )

 

Hi Justine, good to hear that your appointment is coming up.  rhonda covered most of the things I was going to.  Discuss time needed off from work, lifting restrictions.  MD should have a written plan for follow up appointments and diet instructions.  Writing the list helps.  I get very short memory when it comes to remembering what questions I planned to ask.  I take a list to my pcp appointments for the same reason.  Congrats on making the decision to improve your health.  Hugs, Kathy

my doc removes the gall bladder as standard procedure because he found that many patients had problems after the surgery.  ask him about that.  good luck to you. vick

I am bringing a list, I have 2 pages of great questions to ask now.  I have my gallbladder ultrasound Friday at 6:30 am...  If there is nothing wrong they wont take it out because insurance won't pay that part since it was unnecessary.... but if they find one little smudge of something wrong they have a reason and will remove it with surgery.  I work with a girl who had it in March and she was told up to 6 weeks off, I do get FMLA and can take 6 weeks paid and intend to!  Thanks for the great questions!  It's helped tremendously!