Endoscopy 8 1/2 mos post op & learned my surgeon is no longer w/ the practice.

A few weeks ago I was in the ER w/ severe stomach pain, they diagnosed me w/ gastritis & I was so constipated that I was on the verge of being impacted. I was really bad at taking the pepcid I was prescribed following surgey & I have not missed a dose since the er visit and my stomach pains are gone. (It's amazing if you take the pills they tell you to they actually work!). I took metamucil & fixed the constipation. I was sent to a gastro dr since they saw a thickening on my stomach & they wanted to make sure the h. pylori I was diagnosed w/ years ago had not made a come back.

Today I went in for an endoscopy and my gastro Dr said that my surgeon made the exit hole on my stomach so small that if he hadn't known better he would have said it was a stricture. The opening is only 1 cm & due to this he will need to prescribe me a stronger acid reduction medication to protect my stomach. He is suggesting I have it dilated but we will need to discuss that at my follow up office visit. In my conversation with him I learned that the surgeon who did my RNY has suddenly left the practice. I have learned that in 2010 my surgeon was accused & arrested for sexual assault and from what I gather on the net the woman who accused him of assault dropped charges but sued him & the medical practice in civil court. I think there was recently a settlement & something w/ that lead to his departure.

I have no idea what happened & have no clue if he was guilty or innocent. Personally he was always very nice to me & I never felt uncomfortable with him. I am irked that the office has not contacted me to let me know he is no longer w/ them & to tell me who I am supposed to see in his absence, especially since I have an appointment coming up on 11/5.

 

 

I would call them ASAP and ask who, exactly, you are going to see. It is really unprofessional for them not to have contacted his patients and let them know that you are going to need to see someone else. 

Having the stoma opened more would be something I'd really have to think long and hard about if I were able to get food in and out and not have issues associated with it. 

If you like the doctor you might also want to research and see if he is with another practice-nothing is requiring you to remain and as you said, you were comfortable with him. I would be doing additional due diligence on the accusations and outcomes, but if I felt he was still a good professional and that he settled for reasons other than guilt, then I would consider remaining in his care.

Good luck!

I do have a few problems eating & everything I described to the gastro Dr he said could be corrected if we stretch the opening. I did tell him that since I'm 15 lbs from my goal I won't do anything until I reach my goal. At my 3 month follow up appt w/ my surgeon I told him I was having these issues & he told me he does make everything VERY small & that I could consider getting the opening stretched if I wanted. I told him at the time I wanted to wait & see what happens & would keep that in the back of my head as an option.

From what I can see he has just recently left & I can't find that he is practicing anywhere else as of yet. I am reaching out to the practice tomorrow to see what's up

My surgeon left the office I go to... took a position in another practice in another city. We all got letters to inform us of the change and if we needed a surgeon for anything we could choose from any of the other surgeons in the office.
That being said... for ALL of my routine follow up appointments I see the NP or PA, not the surgeon. When I had abdominal pain that ended up needing surgery I requested a particular surgeon and he did my hernia repair. Now I'm back to the "mid level practitioners".