"Very professional. He's kinda methodical. I mean, not real personable. He's a general surgeon, not specializing in WLS. I like him, but I wouldn't say (at this point, PRE-op!) that he's real warm. He's VERY professional and very informative. That's all I can say about how he addressed the risks, etc. He was VERY informative. That should be enough said! He seems to be very concerned with after care. He insisits on follow-ups. I had to postpone my surgery date because about a week after my surgery, he was going to be out of town and he said he'd rather postpone than have someone else be there for me if there were to be a problem. I like a doctor who prefers to take care of his/her own patients rather than pawning them off to other doctors.
He told me he could try Lap if I wanted, but it's not something he regularly does. He prefers open because there are generally fewer complications. I wanted to try lap. He agreed with the stipulation that if it's not working as well as he'd like, he'll open me. I had no problem with that. He made it clear that he was not in a numbers game of how many laps he can do like many other surgeons are. He also made it clear that he's not an aggressive RNY surgeon, meaning he attaches higher than many surgeons, meaning slower weight loss, but more nutrition over all. I like that. I'm not in any hurry! I've been overweight for ages as it is!
As for his staff, his surgical coordinator is a bit "cold" but she warms up after a while. Just stick with her.
I prefer surgical competence over bedside manner and he at least has that. I don't know about bedside manner yet. "
