Want2bFatFree

Hello, I haven't posted in a while, but am back to looking for a Lap Band surgeon. I'm leaning toward AZ because I have family there still. I live in NM now and there are no LB surgeons out here. I haven't heard of Dr. Schlesinger (but that's only because I'm still new to this) so I was glad to hear mrsebg and fletcher97701 are both happy with him and his staff. Do either of you know how many LB surgeries he had performed? Or at least how I can go about finding this information myself? I have new insurance now and I know LB is covered, but have no idea what to do next. I want to find a good doctor but also want to know he has lots of experience with LB. Any help or information you may have would be greatly appreciated. :scared2:

From what I can tell, there are NO Doctors in NM that do lapband surgery. I'm in the process now of trying to learn more about AZ Doctors. Good luck on your friends quest.

Hi Everyone, I live in Rio Rancho and I was wondering how you got the ball rolling on the process of being banded since there are no Lap-Band surgeons in NM? Tracy

Hi there, I have been considering the lap-band/realize systems for months now and I have lots and lots of questions. I found that this is an excellent forum and hope to become an important member of this community and hope to have many of my own questions answered at the same time. A little about myself: well, I'm 44 years old and over 100lbs over weight for my height (5'9") and age, and have been for most of my adult life. I am married with two boys, the youngest of which about to graduate high school in a couple of weeks, and I have 1 cat with 2 more coming in mid-May (yeah). My mom had the bypass surgery when I was in high school, and after seeing all she has gone through, and is still going though, I would never recommend the bypass surgery to anybody. I'm sure there are circumstances where it would be better over the band, but that's for the doctors to decide. I just know that my mom is still very overweight, is now a Type 2 diabetic, has severe malabsorbtion issues, acid reflux so bad she wakes up spitting up into a cup 3 to 4 times a night, and many other medical issues related to the surgery. Granted, some of her medical issues she probably would have ended up with anyway, but many of them are a direct result of the surgery. Needless-to-say, I have very strong opinions on bypass vs banding, but I am not so opinionated as to not listen to other points of view. I have researched bypass as well as banding in the last several months and am still very convinced that banding is the way to go for me. Now, since I haven't seen the doctor yet, he may say otherwise, but I'm hopeful. I welcome any questions, comments, or general chit chat, so feel free to chat me any time. Thank you and I look forward to being a part of this wonderful forum.

Hi Stephanie1972, Thanks for replying to my post. Well, along with lots of wls questions, I'm also not sure what to do in a forum. For example, should I reply to this post with my question(s), send you a private message, send you an email, or should I just find a section that makes sense for my question? (I warned you I had lots of questions...that's just me :smile: ) So, here's the first question then we'll see where it goes from there: I already know there are no surgeons in NM that do this type of surgery, so I've been looking at a few surgeons in AZ. How do I find out how many surgeries for Lap-Band (or Realize) they have performed?

Hello everybody. I'm just starting out on this LapBand venture and am hoping for some help in where to get started. I'm also not familiar with forums, so please tell me if I should post something to the wrong area. Since this looks to be the introductions area, I'll start posting my questions next time I'm on...as soon as I figure out where to post them. In the meantime, hello. I've been reading through some posts and everybody just seems so nice and helpful, I just had to sign up and be a part of it. A brief bit about myself: I have at least 80 - 90 lbs to lose (I haven't weighed myself lately...the scale and I just don't see eye-to-eye sometimes). I am a computer support analyst (I know, right? I can fix a computer, but I can't forum? Weird, huh?). I'm married and have two boys...the baby is a Senior in high school (finally!) this year and stands at 6'1". I live on the West side (far North Rio Rancho). My husband likes to say we live just South of Santa Fe. We have two cats: Emma and TJ (funny, but their both overweight too. Emma at 11 lbs and TJ at a furry 13.5 lbs). Not too much else to tell and still keep it "brief", so I'll save it for another time/place. I hope we get a chance to chat some time.