Hello new here.. anyone out there???

Hi I am jan and new to all this.
Just had my appt. with Dr Engstrand who is recommending the gastric sleeve.
Wondering if there are ANY folks to talk to locally? (WI)

Hope you are all doing well,

Jan

I had  rny gastic bypass 10 days ago.  I live in Sheboygan. 
Hi
Jenny

HI Jenny

Thx for responding. How are YOU doing now?
Be honest ok?

Another question if you dont mind.
Do you think you need help at home post surgery?
I live alone..just wondering if I would by. I do have
my sister next door as we live in a side by side.
And my dtr is home during the daytime, not too far.

So you have a bypass then? I was thinking of the lap
band but the surgeon thinks I would not do as well.
I am now thinking of the Gastric "sleeve"

Hope you are improving~

Jan

 Hi Jan, nice to meet you!

Dr. Engstrand performed my DS 19 months ago and it was the best thing I've ever done for myself.

Any questions, feel free to ask!

Jules

HI there Jules

Its great you and I have the same doc. Any tips for me?

I did not get the nitty gritty ques answered by him first meeting.
I am also required by my insurance to do 6 months multi discipline work first.
Did you?

I apologize for not answering sooner, I never got your response sent to my e-mail. OH is so screwy sometimes!

Tips? I would say do some more research into all of the surgery types and make sure you are getting the right one for you, your lifestyle and your lifelong goals.

The one thing that bothered me at first with Dr. Engstrand was that when I was in the room talking to him accompanied by my hubby, Dr. E would talk to my hubby instead of me! Sometimes I wanted to say, "Hey, I'm the one having surgery, look at me!". It did get better as I got to know him, though. 

Write down all of your questions and make sure he answers all of them for you. He seems to think everyone understands surgeon-language, and in my opinion he needs to explain things in ways a non-medical person can understand.

Yes, I was required to do a 6 month doctor's supervised diet. I wasn't required to lose any weight, but I did manage to lose about 10 pounds.

Any other questions, let me know!

Good luck!
Jules

 I had a gastric sleeve with Dr Engstrand this past December. Are you going ot support group meetings? I am going to try to make it tomorrow night. I would call the office and ask for some names of people who had the sleeve done. I would also check into home many sleeves Dr Engstrand is doing now and what complications have come up. 

Best of luck to you!

The office will not be able to give names of anyone who had the sleeve done as it would violate HIPPA and they would/could get into serious trouble for doing that.

But going to support group and asking questions there is an excellent idea.

 Actually, it is not against HIPPA regulations if they have a list of patients who have agreed to be contacted, as BIW has done. 

It is a great resource to speak to people in person who have had the surgery, as the VSG is very different and less common than the lapband or RNY. I have gone to many support groups (with hundreds in attendance) and have yet to meet another VSGer. So it is a different situation than the more common surgeries, and it is very nice to speak to someone in your same shoes. 

I was not aware of any such list as no Dr. I have been to has anything like this for fear of having a HIPPA violation issue come up.

But thank you for letting me know that they do in fact exist. I can see where it would be a great help to those in similar situations.

I am not familiar with OP surgeon as I am in a different part of the state and have a different Dr. It is nice to learn some of the differences with other surgeons.