I have had a time this past few months with doctors and their “recommendations” which frankly translates to “I know more than you do so do what I say and don’t ask me any questions.”
I was thinking about getting bariatric surgery but was not really sold on it because it scares me. I talked with the bariatric doctor, a man, (who mostly talked at me) about why bariatric surgery would be the best thing for me since I can’t tolerate weight loss medications. I also am older so have trouble losing weight with just diet and exercise, although I could do better with those. So, I got convinced to do a gastric sleeve surgery and was going through all the medical tests that have to be done. After an upper GI, it was discovered that I had a large Type III hiatal hernia. That actually made sense to me since I have a lot of gas after eating (no matter what it is), can get full fast, and have trouble swallowing food. I also have been diagnosed with anemia which can be caused by bleeding ulcers in a hernia. So, even though I hate the idea of surgery, I decided I just wanted to get the hernia fixed. So, I asked about that with this bariatric doctor. He gave me an ultimatum: he would only fix the hernia if I lost weight first on my own. He wants me to lose 5% body weight before he will do the surgery. Or, he will do the surgery if I agreed to a full gastric bypass, which I do not want.
Basically, this tells me that he can do the hernia repair and gastric sleeve at the same time, but he won’t because he wants to do a gastric bypass, not a gastric sleeve. His thinking is my hernia may return if he does not do the gastric bypass. He does not know this for sure, but that’s his reasoning.
So, if every patient went by his reasoning, no one would get treatment because the disease “may come back.” Stupid reasoning. Don’t get treated for cancer because it might come back! Don’t have hip replacement because you still may be in pain from your hip. Don’t take medication for diabetes because it might get worse. WTF is this reasoning? He just is a bully. A gastric bypass is less complicated (according to a NP) than a gastric sleeve so he may not wish to fool with a gastric sleeve, regardless of what I want.
So, I put the brakes on the bariatric surgery. Now have a referral to general surgery and of course, now they have even more tests I have to do before I can get my hernia repair. Fine. Just let me get this one thing fixed and see how I feel. Why does medicine make everything so hard? Do they want us to die first so they don’t have to mess with us? I used to think when patients said that, they were being melodramatic but now I get it. I definitely get it.
Percolations 