Grr....just grr

[nykegyrl]

I love my surgeon, don't get me wrong, but he acts like I am too fat to get the surgery. WTF? He now wants me to loose 50 lbs before it is "safe". I have NO comorbidities whatsoever, so when I asked his rationale, he could give me none. He now wants me to do 2 weeks of high protein and 2 weeks of clear liquids every month until December. I don't know if I can maintain that long with the fluctuating weight. Loose weight on liquids, gain when eat food (I am assuming). I guess I am just having a small pity party. By the way, I am 30 yrs old, 345 lbs at last weighin (down 8 lbs!), and only have anemia and GERD.

[Deleted]

Srikanth, if that's who this is, is pissing me off.

Perhaps you need a different surgeon.

[sweetnessandgrace]

Some of the old-school WLS surgeons used to feel that this would give the patient a taste of what life would be like after WLS, and also a test of the patient's willingness to "sacrifice" for the new way of living, but others on this forum have shown in research they have done that this idea is crap. I don't know if you need a different surgeon (especially after you established a relationship with him/her and apparently feel confident in his/her skills), but an honest conversation would definitely be in order.

[smokinstella]

Ugh the having to lose before is just wrong in my mind. If it was so easy we could do it with out the help of our surgeries. I know for lap it may make it a bit easier but I am no surgeon. I had mine open and I was 476lbs on day of surgery. I was on the table for 6 hours and had no issues at all. I tried desperately to lose before surgery, even tho my surgeon did not require I lose a pound, and I got down to 453 and bounced back to 476 by the day of my surgery.

[luckylibrarian]

I was 367 day of surgery. If I were you I'd find a new surgeon. Sorry... ((hugs))

[bboop]

Find a new surgeon..do it now. There's no need to do that to yourself and no need for him to ask you to do it...I weighed 320 on the day of my first surgery...find sombody else. Even if you have to travel...do it. I traveled from Tx to MN for my first surgery and came home to TX within a week, didn't have to have a motel. Please rethink your surgeon.

[larra]

There is absolutely NOTHING in the medical literature to support this requirement. There is no proof that having patients "prove themselves" before wls leads to more post-op success. All this does is create a barrier to necessary medical care.
Also, except in rare cases of very sick people, forcing patients to lose large amounts of weight pre-op does NOT lower complication rates. Again, just a barrier to necessary medical care.

If you can't persuade him to relent, I would recommend voting with your feet, as the expression goes, and finding another surgeon. And I hope ALL his patients do the same thing.

Larra

[nykegyrl]

I am starting to look into it. I can only use surgeons in Washington state, so we shall see.

[nykegyrl]

So he is the only surgeon I can find in WA state that does DS

[Deleted]

Y'know, if the surgeons would say, as Dr. Peters said to me, "Just go do your very darndest for a while, say 4-8 weeks, to lose SOMETHING, because I need to know that you understand your stuff and that you are a compliant type of patient," it would be one thing. (Doc was vastly more tactful in how he phrased that last part, but that's what he meant *g*.) But dammit, when they put arbitrary numbers out there that might or might not be attainable, all in the name of so called "safety," it makes me see red.

[kyal]

My surgeon has a liquid diet requirement for 3 or 4 weeks pre op as standard. I told him I couldn't do it and would be cheating of I said I did. We spoke about it and agreed I would replace two meals a day with any meal replacement that worked for me instead of the crap he recommends and have healthy dinner of protein and veg. I did full liquid replacement for 3 days pre op just to make sure there were no cheese burgers left inside an since my surgeon does no bowel prep. I lost 8kg in those 3 weeks and it was a nice kick start to the journey.

Maybe you can just level with him like I did or just damn cheat. It's not terribly hard to replace 2 meals a day, eat protein and vegetables for dinner and sneak in some high protein snacks like cheese, nuts etc during the day. You would loose weight.

[Deleted]

Sept 5, 2012 4:15:02 GMT -5 kyal said:

My surgeon has a liquid diet requirement for 3 or 4 weeks pre op as standard. I told him I couldn't do it and would be cheating of I said I did. We spoke about it and agreed I would replace two meals a day with any meal replacement that worked for me instead of the crap he recommends and have healthy dinner of protein and veg. I did full liquid replacement for 3 days pre op just to make sure there were no cheese burgers left inside an since my surgeon does no bowel prep. I lost 8kg in those 3 weeks and it was a nice kick start to the journey.

Maybe you can just level with him like I did or just damn cheat. It's not terribly hard to replace 2 meals a day, eat protein and vegetables for dinner and sneak in some high protein snacks like cheese, nuts etc during the day. You would loose weight.

The thing is, he's naming "50 pounds" as what will make it "safe" for surgery. That's not the same thing.

[kyal]

Your right, thats bullshit.

Few lb's lost before surgery never hurt anyone, your having the surgery to loose weight so why not get a head start. But 50lb is a joke.

Sept 5, 2012 7:22:29 GMT -5 @en said:

The thing is, he's naming "50 pounds" as what will make it "safe" for surgery. That's not the same thing.

[elisa]

I weighed 360 lbs the day of my surgery. My surgery was in January, so I "last mealed" my way through the holidays - I may have actually weighed more. I did South Beach for about 2 weeks prior, then liquids for 3 or 4 days prior to surgery.

Kinda lame that he is making you jump through hoops like this.