I think that my Doctor is making me do unnecessary procedures...HELP!!!!

I am almost 2 months out from surgery and my surgeon had me do a scope to check for any damage from acid reflux and for ulcers. Because of the scope I learned that I have Barretts esophagus ( pre cancerous cells due to acid reflux - I had no symptoms of acid reflux at all).

Because I was a smoker for 27 + years my surgeon required that I had to be cleared for surgery by a pulmonologist and because I have atrial fibrillation I had to also be cleared by my Cardiologist for surgery.

I am sure all surgeon's have their own requirements for surgery. I truly believe that my surgeon did what was best for me.

My guess is there has been some miscommunication. As others have pointed out, he probably wants an EGD which is a scope of the esophagus (food pipe), stomach and often the first part of the intestines. That is not an unusual procedure prior to WLS, but is not required by every doctor. It is done under conscious sedation. Irritation and ulceration of the GI tract can happen from smoking. Bronchoscopy (lung scope) and lung biopsy would be extremely unusual in a "let's just check this out" way. They are usually done when a lesion has been identified or if there is obvious infection.

Do call. He must have meant stomach ulcers. My doctor did a scope for that. No sedation, just some numbing spray, though maybe others sedate for it. There is no such thing as lung ulcers. If he really meant your lungs, the only thing I can think of that he could have meant is a lung biopsy, and that is done only if they see an area to biopsy on an X-ray or something. Smoking does increase your chance of stomach ulcers. I think it must be that.

Yes my surgeon requires all his patients to have a scope.

I've never smoked, but I do have asthma, and I needed clearance from an asthma specialist, which set my surgery back by a year because my asthma specialist left town and I had to wait for a visiting specialist who didn't know me. Then he decided that I had been misdiagnosed and probably didn't have asthma (based on looking at me for two seconds and deciding my breathing problems must be because of my morbid obesity). So I had to go through a bunch of tests to prove I had asthma, even though I've had it since I was a baby and have seen loads of doctors and asthma specialists throughout my life.

I remember being so annoyed by all of the hoops I had to jump through to get this surgery. I even had to do orientation twice, and get the major blood work done all over again because the asthma specialist took so long to clear me. They had to poke me over 12 times to get all of the blood because they couldn't find my veins and when they did, the blood always stopped flowing so they'd have to look again. I almost quit then, but I'm glad I didn't as surgery is the best thing I've done for myself.

I'd call the surgeon, like the others have suggested, and clarify what tests he wants, and ask why he feels they're necessary. Just tell him you feel anxious about them and would feel better if you learn more.

Good luck!

this is the second time that I have been through the process too. Last time I finished all of my visits prior to insurance denial.