Surgery in San Francisco

[Oregon Rose 2]

Has anyone had surgery from Laparoscopic Associates of San Francisco?

(Dr. Josart and Dr. Cirangle)

Please tell me about you experience, how many days you spent in the hospital, did you go to the hospital hotel, cost, etc.

Thanks

[Malaika 50]

Has anyone had surgery from Laparoscopic Associates of San Francisco?

(Dr. Josart and Dr. Cirangle)

Please tell me about you experience, how many days you spent in the hospital, did you go to the hospital hotel, cost, etc.

Thanks

MacMadame had surgery by Dr. Cirangle.

[*susan* 1,709]

I sent MacMadame a link to this thread, so I am sure she will respond to you soon.

[Malaika 50]

Why is your name Oregon Rose but your signature Oregon Daisy? Just curious

[MacMadame 81]

Yes, I used LapSF. I love them! Dr. Cirangle was my surgeon. I love him too! :thumbup:

I was local so my experience will be a bit different from someone coming in from out-of-town.

My surgery time was at 8 am and they wanted me to check in at 6 am so we drove up the day before and stayed in a hotel. (Going over the Bay Bridge at rush hour is just too iffy... could take 45 min, could take 4 hours.)

We stayed at the Cathedral Hotel, which is affiliated with the hospital in some way. We got a special rate that was very good for a downtown SF hotel. The hotel is clean, but old. It was okay. I've stayed in much worse in SF for a similar price, but if you aren't used to the prices in SF, you may be disappointed.

They told us it was 6 blocks from the hospital but it was more like 18 if you walked. (There were two small streets without lights for every big street a car would notice.) We walked and were sorry.

For the sleeve, the hospital stay is overnight. It generally works out to about 36 hours for most people.

Then I went home. If you are from out-of-town, you go back to a hotel instead and have a follow-up before they let you go home.

I had my follow-up visit at 3 weeks and I go to most of the support meetings in San Jose and all my follow-up appointments. I had one follow-up appointment over the phone and that was fine. I've definitely seen Dr. C more than the schedule says too. Plus once I had to call the emergency line and it was answered right away by Dr. C. (I think Dr. C and Dr. J take turns with it.) I've used the nutritionist once and the counselor zero times.

Dr. C is my surgeon. I picked him because he had done more sleeves than Dr. Jossart. Also, I went to the seminar where he was the surgeon and instantly hit it off with him. I liked his attitude and approach to bariatric surgery. He's definitely a no-nonsense kind of guy and can be blunt. Some people don't like that. They prefer Dr. J who they describe as more of a Teddy Bear. I prefer blunt though. Dr. C pushes me to do more than I think I can and I like that.

I picked LapSF because of their excellent reputation. As a self-pay, I wanted to minimize my chance of complications and their stats are top-notch. I also wanted someone local, if at all possible. Also, their prices are completely reasonable for self-pay for this area. Finally, they get results. Their sleeve patients lose as much as their bypass patients and regain is less with the sleeve than with the bypass. Their overall results (with all surgery types) is better than national averages as well.

If you have insurance, though, they do charge a program fee. This includes two years of after-care including unlimited access to their counselor and nutritionist. Most insurance companies won't pay for that, hence the fee. But not everyone is okay with paying an extra $5000-8000 on top of co-pays when they have insurance!