Anyone have BPD-DS and/or Revision surgery with Dr. Enochs?

Hello. I just recently met with Dr. Enochs to discuss a need for a revision of my 2000 RNY by a different surgeon. 
Can anyone here tell me about your experiences with Dr. Enochs and a revision from RNY to BPD-DS?   I found him to be very nice in my appointment and am not just looking for personal experiences with the surgery.   At this stage I'm getting tests done to find out exactly what is going on inside and then I'll have another appointment with him after all of the results are back to see what my options are for sure.
Thank-you in advance!

Dr. Enochs performed by RNY on 7/10/08.  I had a leak that required a 2nd surgery on 7/11/08.  I had some unexpected abdominal scarring that may have caused the problem.  My experience with Dr. Enochs and his staff has been very positive.  He is very hands-on and professional.  I also received very good treatment from the nurses and staff at Rex.

I hope this helps.  Good luck to you!

I can tell you of my experience with Dr. Enochs.  He was my first choice for RNY. However, he told me ..."North Carolina will not certify any surgeon to handle any surgeries for patients over 400lbs. No hospital has the equipment certified to even handle anyone over that weight. The only place you *MIGHT* get help is at VCU in Virginia".

Bottom line? He lied to me. I found out through some investigation that he statement was in fact not true and that he does this to all "high risk" patients.  When I called his office back to ask them about this, I was told "Dr. Enochs said there was nothing we could do, what else coud you need? and where do you want your files forwarded too? But you will need to pay a $10 Hippa fee before we can send your files anywhere".

Personally, I don't appreciate being lied to for the sake of preserving your risk #'s.  Be honest with me. Just tell me honestly, you don't handle high risk patients.  But don't lie to me like I'm stupid.

Also, from  a patient stand point, I'd investigate why he has moved around so much.  He doesn't seem to stay at one hostpital long. I could be wrong, but when I was going to him, he was "training" all the staff at Louisberg to handle the surgery and in less than 3 years, he left there to go to another hospital and I hear he's back at Rex now. That just seems odd for a surgeon, to me

Unfortunately, I had to delete this post due to privacy concerns.

Cagair, I'm sorry you had a bad experience.  I actually weigh over 400 and since I've already had surgery I assume I would be high risk for that reason also and he didn't say anything like that to me.  I wonder why the difference? I actually had my first surgery at mcv.  As far as moving I don't know but it's a good idea to look into it, thank-you. At the seminar he did mention something about rex re-opening their bariatric part so maybe that's why but I really don't know.

I sincerely hope all 3 of you are doing well and I appreciate your replies.  I also liked Dr. Enochs calm mannerism.  My other surgeon was very curt with me.
Thank-you again!

I'm a LapBand patient with Dr. Enochs.  He really is kind, compassionate, and gentle. 

But I have stopped seeing Enochs himself and have considered seeing someone else.  Because some surgeons won't accept patients who had their surgeries done elsewhere or require a sizable deposit if they didn't do the initial surgery, I've chosen instead just to be a more insistent and knowledgeable patient and manage my care very assertively.

His office has some serious management and oversight issues -- and they've admitted to me that they hear the same complaints frequently.  At least three times, I've checked in for an appointment and the receptionist told me 1-2 hours later that Enochs wasn't even in the office at that time!   In May, I went back to the office three times for the very same adjustment appointment, because each time I went, they left me sitting in the waiting room for more than an hour, and only after I was a nag about it, they searched for Enochs and realized he wasn't there.

Enochs doesn't review my chart before my appointments, not even labwork that comes in.  This is particularly worrisome for me, as I have chronic leukemia and it's absolutely imperative that someone reviews the blood tests to check for abnormalities.  I find myself having to be an assertive manager about every appointment.  Most docs look over someone's chart and come to the appointment prepared, but I have often finding myself having to point out things from my medical record -- things like "Remember?  I'm the patient whose esophagus had to be repaired during the surgery," or "I think if you check the chart, you'll find that you chose not to prime the Band because of the complications, so there's actually no fluid in there.  Can you find your notes from the surgery date?  It was January 25, if that helps."

His office is chronically behind in submitting insurance paperwork; my insurance company switched over to a new structure July 1, but his office still hasn't cleared up claims from back in April, so my insurance company is telling me they can't pay.

I've talked with his office manager about this, and with Lisa Long as well.  Our compromise was that I just see Lisa and skip Dr. Enochs altogether whenever possible.  I just make my adjustment appointments with Lisa , and she does a great job.  Jana (the nurse who works with me most often) is super-duper awesome also.  As long as I can get by seeing Lisa and not Dr. Enochs, I'm fine.  But if I needed to see a physician/surgeon, I would look elsewhere.

None of this is about Dr. Enochs' surgical skills; it's about his patient-management skills, the surge in the number of new surgical patients since more insurance companies are approving WLS, and the gap between what he intends for patients to experience and what patients often actually experience in followup care. 

As I've said to his office administrative staff, his patient caseload has probably reached the point where he should delegate postsurgical patients to another physician for followup.  It's just not possible to perform the number of new surgeries he's doing and continue followup care with all of them.

Unfortunately, I had to delete this post due to privacy concerns.

When I went to see Dr. Enochs, I weighed 427 lbs. He told me he would not be able to help me unless I weighed below 390lb.  When I asked why, that is when he lied to me and gave me a letter of recomendation to VCU. I actually still have his letter in a file along with all the work I had done with Dr. Enochs BEFORE he told me he wouldn't help me (Yeah, I wasted Lots of $$ and time prior to finding out he wouldn't help me).  Then his staff told me I had to drive all the way back down to Louisberg (where they were at the time) to pay $10 because they wouldn't take a mailed check or take a CC over the phone - to pay for the fee to get all my paperwork to be able to take with me to VCU.

Dr. Enochs was everything everyone said he was - Nice as nice could be, until he droped the lie bomb on me AFTER I had all the pre-surgery testing done.

Like I said. It wasn't that he didn't want to take High risk patients that bothered me. I can appreciate that. It was that he bold faced lied to me about it they "why'.

In my opinion -and this is just ME, any surgeon who is willing to lie to you over something that small instead of being honest and up front with you, what else are they willing to lie about to protect themselves. 

Also, again, I ahve a problem with any surgeon who can't seem to stay in one hospital or facility for more than 2 or 3 years at a time. 

 

Duke at the time also didn't take high risk patients. But at least they were straight up honest about it at their seminar. When I asked someone afterwards, they were very open and honest that they didn't treat high risk patients, but that they would be happy to help by enrolling them in one of their weight management classes to get before 400, then discuss surgery options.

 

I had completely given up all hope of anyone helping me. I tried to loose the weight for Dr. Enochs to do the surgery. I really liked him (till I found out he lied),  by the time it was all said and done and two years of trying, I was 460+ instead of the original 427 I weighed when I saw Dr. Enochs.  That's no one's fault by my own. The harder I tried, it felt like the worse things got. 

You had asked for experiences, so I shared mine with you.  I went through all the hoops for him before he droped his bomb on me. If I were you, I would discuss this NOW before you go any further with him.

And for the record, NC does not certifiy by weight specifications. That is a surgeon's choice. There is nothing regulating that other than the surgeon him/herself.  Dr. Mitchell and several other bariatric surgeons in NC have been doing surgery on patients over 400lbs for several years, even before Dr. Enochs told me the story that NC doesn't certify surgeons to do the surgery on patients that big.

I wish I had known that before hand. I still had to loose some with my surgeon, but it was not to get under a specific weight, he just wanted me to loose a little so that he would have room to maneuver during surgery. He even personally helped me and gave me a seperate diet other than his normal one. Called me two weeks in to "check on me" and see how things were doing. Then had his PA call me two weeks after that.

I have heard that a couple of the Dr in Greenville also handle patients over 400. One of the gentlmen in my office just had his RNY there in April.

Kadykim - I would think that "follow up" patient care is JUST as imporant as surgical skills.  Considering anyone have this surgery or revisions are essientially making a life long commitment to that Dr.  They have to be someone you can depend on and count on to keep things good for you. 

My surgeon gave me his personal cell phone number after surgery. I hate to say I've needed it, but I did recently.  Turns out I needed my gallbladder out. I almost fainted when he actually answered it. I didn't get a voice mail, I didn't get a call service, I got the surgeon. I told him about my problem and the pain and he met me at 3am at the emergency room.

For me that was FAR beyond the care I would expect. But it makes me super happy I found the Dr. I did.  It's like my friends tell me, everything happens for a reason.  I too have other health issues that I need a Dr to keep up with.  Listening to your story, it lets me know even more that Dr. Enochs would not have been the right choice for me.

He may be absolutely wonderful for most, especially if they don't need the added attention.

But seriously? Waiting for over an hour - more than once and the Dr. not even there????  I can't belive you are calm about that as you are!