Surgery experience with Dr. Buchwald

[Fluff of Love]

I'm in a posting mood ;D

I will be having surgery with Dr. Buchwald sometime in the near future (hoping!)

I know many people love him. I have a couple random questions, if you can answer them, would be great!

-Did you have to go on a liquid diet, or just a bowl prep before surgery?

-How reliable is he to get ahold of if needed a rx, blood work, etc?

-I will be traveling to him (not too far, approx 2.5 hours). If you were an out of town patient, how well did they accommodate you and your needs while you were back home?

-Hospital wise: (the U of M) how was your hospital stay?

-Are there many private rooms? Were your batch of nurses attentive and helpful?

-How long was your stay?

If I think of any more, I will add. And feel free to add anything you might want to say. I would just like to hear about your surgery day, stay, and experience with him.

[callmeEJ]

Wooo! Something I can answer!

-Did you have to go on a liquid diet, or just a bowl prep before surgery?

Just bowel prep. Dr. B only does open, those liquid diets are for lap surgeries to shrink your liver. It doesn't matter if your liver is large in an open surgery, they just shove it out of the way. The bowel prep is a b*tch, though, because Dr. B prescribes these uber-antibiotics for you to take at certain times during the bowel cleaning process. They SUCK SO MUCH. They will probably have you nauseous. I was dry heaving for a good portion of the night before my surgery.

-How reliable is he to get ahold of if needed a rx, blood work, etc?

In my experience, if you can get ahold of him through his secretary, that's mostly ok. The U of M clinic can be a huge PITA to work with. I am NOT fond of Dr. B's main nurse/PA Donna. I find her really annoying. Since you are not local, depending on your situation, you may want to find a PCP to do bloodwork with after you're feeling like you have a handle on things, and fax it to Dr B. Mostly because it may not be worth your time to keep having to come over just to have blood work done. YMMV.

-I will be traveling to him (not too far, approx 2.5 hours). If you were an out of town patient, how well did they accommodate you and your needs while you were back home?

I am local so I can't answer that. But if you would like a friendly face to stop by your room while you're in the hospital or some thing or another, let me know. I can pop over after work or something!

-Hospital wise: (the U of M) how was your hospital stay?

Overall, pretty good. I spent a lot of time doped up on pain killers, listening to music and zoning out/sleeping. And walking. I must've walked a few miles around that nurses' station, trying to get my bowels to move. They had larger size gowns, though you have to ask for them. Most of the nurses were super nice.

-Are there many private rooms? Were your batch of nurses attentive and helpful?

There are some private rooms in the floor, I did not happen to get put in one. Not a huge deal, my first roommate was ok. She left the Friday before I left. I did not get a second roommate until I was getting ready to leave.

The nurses and nurse aides I had varied. Most of them were really nice and helpful, some of them really went above and beyond. There were a couple who had to kind of "tough love" me to get me to use my spirometer and keep my oxygen on when I slept. I'm not the world's easiest patient...I did have one nurse my 3rd day there I did not like AT ALL. She was a total C U Next Tuesday. She refused to find me a gown that fit, would only help me to the bathroom when I begged for help. I managed to drag myself to the nurses station and ask to be switched to someone else, and they obliged me.

-How long was your stay?

I went in Tuesday and got out Monday. It took me while to get sprung because they won't progress you until you have a BM... and it took a little coaxing to get that to happen. they mentioned to me that the average stay was 5-6 days.

Let me know if you have more questions!

[Fluff of Love]

Thanks! Were you sent home on liquids, or soft foods?

I will let you know when I go in, would love to have visitors and meet some fellow DSers!

Another question: When you woke up from surgery, what kind of gadgets were you hooked up to, and for how long?

[bboop]

I had Dr. B several years ago. I didn't lose all of my weight. I think his surgeon didn't make my stomach small enough. He uses residents to do the surgery.

My hospital stay was great. Good nurses. I didn't have a private room.

I was there from Monday till Friday then I flew home to Texas. I've done very well as far as complications and so forth. No problems in that area at all except I didn't lose all of the weight and I had a redo on my stomach about seven months ago here in Tx.

I think I was hooked up to an IV, oxygen and maybe a drain, which they took out before I left. It was pretty standard.

They have larger hospital beds, and gowns...I got both without asking.

Any other questions, just ask me.

[pattyl1]

Generally speaking, you don't hear about Buchwald patients having deficiencies, iron infusions, etc. There are also many who never lost as much as they wanted to or had to work really hard to lose compared to other DSers. I'm one of them.

[Fluff of Love]

Thank you. I have heard about not losing all the wanted weight before. Does he know about that, or does he claim he does his DS just like any other surgeon? I weiner if he could accommodate if I request to have a slightly smaller stomach than he would normally do. But probably not..

Either way, I still choose him. As long as I can be a healthy weight to live a healthy life for my kids, that's all I want. Thanks for chiming in, I love reading all this

[clpeltz]

Jan 6, 2012 7:37:58 GMT -5 @jenb said:

Im still freaking out about the ng tube ...

Do his residents really do the surgery? And do his patients really not lose all the weight? Now im slightly freaking out...

The NG tube IS a PITA, but necessary to keep your tender tummy deflated so that it can heal.

I have been losing weight just fine. I am almost 9 months out. I am down 70 lbs (I was a lightweight with 100 lbs to lose). I am confident I will reach my goal. I have an 85 cm CC and 3.3 oz sleeve. The sleeve size is standard for him. He typically does a 75 cm CC. He made mine a tad longer cause I "started skinnier than most", lol.

Love the man!

[Dudette]

Jan 6, 2012 7:37:58 GMT -5 @jenb said:

Do his residents really do the surgery? And do his patients really not lose all the weight? Now im slightly freaking out...

I have heard that exact same claim recently from a very reliable source. I don't know if it's true or not (or maybe just part true). What I heard is that the U of M Hospital is a teaching facility and Dr. B. supervises the surgeries (he's in the OR) but it may be another surgeon that's actually doing the hands on stuff.

Please don't lynch me for bringing this up. I'm just passing along what I've heard, and the person I heard it from is a huge Dr. B. evangelist. She loves him! However, if you have any questions about how Dr. B. does his surgeries it would be best to ask him about it directly and get the scoop right from the horses mouth.

Still, if true, I do find it kind of ironic. I was mercilessly raked over the coals when I decided to have my DS in Mexico. They asked... "Why would you want to go to Mexico when you have a vetted surgeon less than 15 minutes from your house?" Well, since I was self-pay, I couldn't afford what they were charging at the U of M. It was about 40 grand more than what I was paying elsewhere. Plus, I knew exactly who was cutting into me. Perhaps that doesn't really matter when you're talking about a huge institution like the U of M, but being able to meet beforehand every single person who was going to be in the OR on the day of my surgery did give me peace of mind.

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that Dr. B. is my local "go-to" guy for follow up care. I hear he's great. I look forward to meeting him when I get my first round of labs done next month.

Edited for typos

[Fluff of Love]

Jan 6, 2012 5:06:11 GMT -5 Fluff of Love said:

Thank you. I have heard about not losing all the wanted weight before. Does he know about that, or does he claim he does his DS just like any other surgeon? I weiner if he could accommodate if I request to have a slightly smaller stomach than he would normally do. But probably not..

Either way, I still choose him. As long as I can be a healthy weight to live a healthy life for my kids, that's all I want. Thanks for chiming in, I love reading all this

Lol oops, my swype is being a pervert. I didn't proof read before I wrote that. Wiener should have said Wonder!

I trust he will do whats best for me. As long as I can get majority weight off my poor knees, I'm happy.

Post more experiences, good and bad. I need to keep my mind busy while I wait for my insurance decision. Hopefully next week.

[smokinstella]

Well I will make sure I post all of the details I can while I am in a doped up state at the hospital in march

[Fluff of Love]

Yes, that would be wonderful!

[mesa0102]

Yes, it is a teaching hospital, and residents do a lot, if not all of the cutting. However, he is literally standing right next to them while everything is happening, so I couldn't have cared less about that. I knew that going in, they're very up front about it.

Dr. B's NP Donna is evil. She will give you wildly inaccurate nutrition and vitamin info- one example, she informed me my D was "dangerously high" at 88 (or something close to it) and told me to quit taking D altogether, that I was going toxic. Yeah, notsomuchyadumbho. They are excellent surgeons at the U, and I would trust them to draw my blood and inform me of the results (their phlebotomists rock), but they are notoriously bad for aftercare. They don't understand crap about your nutritional needs or vites at all.

Let's see, what all else was there? Bowel prep is standard, waking up with an NG tube you don't lose until you have a bowel movement is standard. I had a decent experience with my in-hospital stay, just one really bad nurse but the rest were great.

[mesa0102]

Oh, and loss and CC length. I started out a lightweight with about 100-110ish to lose. I lost up to 90-95ish, then regained 10 pounds in the past 3 or 4 months due to too many crappy carbs and not exercising enough. I had the original standard 75cm CC, but my original total small bowel length was very short to begin with, around 400 cm I think, so I started out being a very efficient absorber. Also, when I had my gallbladder out this past spring, the surgeon who took it out (Winterstein, who I believe is training with Anthone to learn the DS, because he assists Dr. A with all of them) told me afterward that my CC was more like 100-125ish. So, the damn thing regrew a bit. Not common, but it can happen. Anyone who attends Tammy's MN DS Monday group meetings, ask Lauren about it- a similar thing happened to her. I have no doubts that if I get my ass in gear with exercising, and eat better, that I should be able to lose at least back down to my lowest point, if not the additional 10ish from there to my goal. As it stands now, I'm in size 12-14 pants and M-L shirts, so I feel normal, if not as small as I'd like to be. I just figure, I don't know many women who don't want to lose 10-20 pounds. THe DS wasn't an instant fix, and I did have to work for it, but it was an even playing field- it gave the ability to lose while doing all the right things, which I didn't have before.

[Dudette]

Jan 9, 2012 0:58:36 GMT -5 mesa0102 said:

...told me afterward that my CC was more like 100-125ish. So, the damn thing regrew a bit. Not common, but it can happen. Anyone who attends Tammy's MN DS Monday group meetings, ask Lauren about it- a similar thing happened to her.

Oh, Hell NO! I wish I hadn't just read that. Another thing for me to obsess about... my common channel growing out of control. ROTFL!

I'll be looking for Lauren at the monthly MN DS dinner next Monday night. Gotta have all the gory details. ;D