What can I expect when I meet the surgeon?

I have completed all pre-op testing/psych evaluations/etc and it's finally time to meet the surgeon next week and hopefully get a surgery date!!

Can anyone tell me what I can expect in this appointment? :) Any info would be great! Thanks

Hello,

   Well every surgeon is going to be different but there are a few things that I'm sure he/she will cover. Asking what are your expectations after the surgery. Tell you the risks involved. About how long the surgery will take. How long to expext the recovery to take. I would start writing questions you might have now because it is easy to forget once you get in the surgeons office.

If you don't have a surgery date you might get it with this appointment. Might be helpful to have a spouse with you or a good friend. Best of luck...peace

This is a great thread..I received my surgery date before i meet my surgeon. My date is 3/26 which is a monday and i meet the surgeon for the first time on 3/22 which is the thursday before  

I wonder what happens at this appointment as well.

I guess every practice is different because my first meeting after the seminar was with the surgeon.  He asked me which surgery I wanted,  concerns and questions. He explained the RNY again.  He talked about all the testing process,  the 3-month insurance required diet and the pre-surgery liquid diet. He performed my endoscopy.  Then I met with him a week before surgery and he reviewed with me what would happen during my surgery and hospital stay, made sure someone would be home with me the first week (his requirement), rules for the first week post-op after I was released from the hospital.

Use every opportunity with the surgeon to ask all your questions and voice any concerns.

Do you have a good idea which procedure you want.  That is what was front and center with me.  I was a lightweight  and was afraid the band would be recommended for me because one surgeon I consulted with said, in not too many words, the bpass was not needed in my case.  I did not want the band.  I had a hernia and horrible reflux.  Thankfully my actual surgeon told me in the pre op consult the band would be the worst possible choice for me.  I was so relieved.

I would also ask about pouch size and the length of the bypass.  I read a post by someone on this forum whose surgery failed.  She said what she did not know pre surgery is different surgeons make the pouch different sizes and the bypass more extreme. Wheter or not that was the real reason she failed, I do not know.  But she did provide me with valuable information.   

I found that info a couple weeks prior to having my surgery.  On my last pre-op visit I asked my surgeon about his approach.  That poster was correct.  Most concientious surgeons do not do a "one size fits all."  My surgeon, anyway, tailors the procedure according to patient needs and said most surgeons do as well.

That really, really concerned me because I did not have a extreme BMI.  He told me if I followed the rules and did my part, I would have success.  He told my my pouch would be a little larger and bypass not as extreme. 

The day of surgery as we were in OR I reminded him I wanted a "little" pouch.  He was great and so understanding, but...had I not read that info on the board, I would have never known about the various approaches.  My surgeon told me he does not do the surgeries quite the same for one who has a 55 BMI versus a 35 BMI.  I would ask my surgeon that question.