I'm a little late sharing this, but I wanted to tell of my experience with my first appointment.

My first visit with Dr. Borland (New Iberia, LA) was on May 29th, 2013 @ 4pm. New Iberia is about 1.5 hours away from my home, and thankfully my mother was able to come to the appointment with me-- because after 1.5 hours of driving, I was a little bundle of nerves. Eek!

I checked in a few minutes before 4 pm. The receptionist was super sweet. Anyway, we waited for about an hour before getting called to the back where the nurse (Ms Marion, I believe) took my height, weight, and a small bit of medical history from me. She then talked to me about the preop diet (which I think is pretty lenient), postoperative diet, vitamins, protein (they suggests at least 60g/day), and expectations of the surgery. She also told me I would have to stay at least 2 nights in a nearby hotel so that Dr. Borland can keep an eye on me. I'm really happy to not have to stay in a hospital

Dr. Borland then came into the room and explained the procedure. Dr. Borland was really nice and had a great sense of humor. He put my mind at ease. He has been performing weight-loss surgeries since the 80's (I was born in the 80's!) He took his time and answered all our questions. My mother asked his mortality rate on this surgery ( absolutely HAD to know)- he said he lost just 1 patient... Not shabby.

After Dr. Borland spoke with us, his nurse came back in to discuss my date, preop requirements, and cost. I told her I wanted to schedule as soon as possible- which was June 11th. All of a sudden, I got light- headed and dizzy (LOL). She told me to have surgery on June 11th, I would have to get my lab work done the next day and pay the following day (I'm a self/cash pay). I got super nervous bc I knew I'd be working the next few nights, and I would have a difficult time fitting this into my schedule. It ended up all working out-- lab work, EKG, chest X-ray was all done the next day, and my dear sweet husband sent the payments (cashiers checks) on time.

The initial visit cost $200. The cashiers checks totaled $9600. And the preops were $270 ( which I thought was AWESOME).

Oh yeah, I was so excited when I left his office -- I turned down a one way street! And continued the wrong way until I nearly hit someone. OOPS!