Dr. T and the Hartford Hospital Experience

[bigsexy 0]

I go today to the 2nd seminar before my initial consultation with Dr. T. My appointment is on the 29th with him. There are some things that I am really nervous about. Specifically, chances of an open vs. laparoscopic surgery, bruising/scaring and above all DEATH. I have a 18 month now at home and he is my life. the thing i fear the most is leaving him without a dad. Iroically much the same reason I am pursuing the surgery. Anybody have any problems with the aformentioned, or ask how many patients have died in surgery with Dr. T. I'll be honest - I was in somalia and i was not nearly as nervous about being there as I am having the surgery.

How have you all coped with these feelings?

[Smartladyinct 0]

Dr. Tishler is a skilled physician. His office is disorganized, but he is wonderful. I had no bruising, the small incisions will leave slight scars and the pain was minimal.

I do not believe Dr. T. has lost any patients. It was the best thing I've ever done.

I have LOTS of abdominal and lower stomach scarring due to other surgeries and was petrified of an open procedure. If he could do the laparascopic on me, he can do it on anyone!

Good luck!

Penny

[bigsexy 0]

thanks - and i know what you mean by disorganized. I went to an informative class a few months back and there Dr. T said you have to attend 2 support group meetings prior to getting surgery. I called Alba to find out when one was and she told me to attend one last week. It was in the middle of the day so i had to take a half day off from work etc. When i got there it was a complete repeat of the class i attended a couple months prior and again it was reiterated that i still have to attend 2 support group meetings. I was pretty irritated because this was a total screw up and ultimately a waste of my time. I'm attending my first support group meeting tomorrow night - hopefully it won't be the same as my past experience.

[donamarie 0]

I also agree that Dr. T's office can be really disorganized. I got mail for another patient! But I really love him so all the aggravation is worth it. I also had alot of other surgeries and I only have a couple of little scars from the lapband. Hartford Hospital was not such a bad experience as far as hospitals go. Just make sure you speak up for yourself. I was banded in November by Dr. T and have lost about 30 pounds so it was well worth it-

Good luck-

Donamaire

[Daffodil 0]

Hello !

I was banded last week. Dr. T has had NO deaths ( I believe there have been no deaths from lap banding in the USA to date ) :bolt: . It is a very safe, minimally invasive surgery. DR. T is wonderful---caring, earnest, compassionate, skilled. His office can be somewhat disorganized, but Alba always calls you back promptly. From the blogs I've read from people all over the world, Dr. T is very conservative and cautious in his approach to surgery,i.e. he requests that his patients follow a lengthy liquid pre-op diet to help shrink the liver and facilitate safer surgery, his post-op liquid diet phase is longer than most physicians to allow the stomach to heal , he requires a good pre-op medical work up...in addition, he is very proud of his record of no blood clots following surgery and he is admirably aggressive in treating his patients so they do not ( CANNOT ! ) get a blood clot...you receive blood thinner injections in the hospital prior to and after surgery, you wear the pneumatic booties while in the hospital, the staff gets you up to walk the evening of your surgery...and considering blood clots are a potential fatal result of any surgery, these measures are critical.

About open vs laparascopic banding....Dr. T. will only do the banding laparascopically, he will not convert to open. If he gets in there and finds, for instance, the liver is too large, he will get out and tell you to lose more weight and he'll try again. He will explain why he does that when you see him.

Hartford Hospital was a mixed bag. Pre-op staff on Center 8 were marvelous, especially one of the aides, Jean, who herself had a gastric bypass by Tishler a few months ago. Post-op on Bliss 8 is sketchy. I had 2 good nurses and one ditzy one who brought me a horse pill in a medicine cup the morning after surgery and when I told her I was just banded the day before she said she "forgot" and would crush the pill ! If I took it whole I could have obstructed ! Also, a person I know who had the banding done in February told me to ask for the white plastic post-op instruction packet which contained the post-op diet instructions, as he never received it from the hospital and Nina had to send him one....I asked Miss Ditz and she swore up and down that no such packet existed and I should have received it preoperatively and then sheepishly came in 10 minutes later with the packet in hand ! My advice: Speak up for yourself with the staff. Insist on prompt care.

You will do fine ! Do it for your adorable 18 month old, do it for yourself ! :clap2:

[bigsexy 0]

I finished all my preop work for the band surgery. It is being submitted to insurance this week. I find out my surgery date on May 10th. I am nervous as hell and sometimes still wonder why i couldnt do this on my own. In fact in my last nutritionist visit i mentioned the same thing. She said that this seems to be a male issue. Most women never have a doubt and the men always second guess. why do you think that is?

[Daffodil 0]

Congratulations on getting your pre-op workup completed. It is NOT true that mostly men have doubts...I had doubts while I was in the OR, right before they put me under ! And don't beat yourself up about not being able to lose weight and keep it off---the National Institute of Health (NIH) states that for morbidly obese people who lose weight ,the success rate of keeping weight off 5 years or more is statistically ZERO percent....zero !! That doesn't mean that there aren't a lucky FEW who keep it off, but it is so small a number that the success rate is ZERO. I don't know about you, but I can't win against those odds. Someday science will be able to explain why this is, but I don't have the time to wait for a miracle pill.

Talk to Dr. Tishler..he'll explain it all.

I am 6 weeks banded now and get my first fill Thursday. I need the fill because I feel little to no restriction right now, which actually is normal for this stage. I'm glad I had the surgery.

[bigsexy 0]

Congratulations on being recently banded. How has it been adjusting to the change? any complications? what are your statistics? did you have any comorbidities?

[donamarie 0]

Congrats-Big Sexy!

You will go through all kinds of different emotions. I was banded last November and finally my fills are working. Now I'm scared because I'm losing weight and fell like I'm losing me. I've always been chubby or fat. I can't say I was wondering if I should get banded before but afterward, even now, I wonder if it was the right thing. That's emotionally but in my mind I know it was the perfect thing for me. It isn't as easy as I thought it would be but Lord knows it was worth it-so just keep on and know everyone has fears.

You're in my heart-

dona

[bigsexy 0]

Thanks donamarie - I just called Alba - to see if everything went through with insurance etc. Unfortunately got a voicemail. I am actually feeling much better about things lately. I purposefully had not told my parents or brother about it because I felt they would think of me as a failure and I didn't want my mom to worry. I happened to be on the phone with my brother the other night and he asked me if i ever thought of bariatric surgery. He is a big guy as well and had a friend who has lost over 200lbs with Gastric bypass and apparently was considering it. I said - ironically i am about to go into have the lap-band procedure. He was shocked but really interested. I sent him to this site as well as the allergan site to find out all about the procedure etc. He called me the next day and said he found out his insurance covers it and he is starting to research surgeons in his area. Unfortunately he lives across the country so we cannot do it at the same time but none the less a huge relief has been lifted off my shoulders. None the less i am prepping myself for my preop date. I have started some Meal Replacements with the liquid shakes so i can get used to them but eating solid protien at dinner. Next week i will start replacing some of my solid protien dinners with liquid to prep for surgery. I figure by the time i get my date liquid diet will be second nature.

[purplemom 0]

Hi everyone. Congratulations on your successes!

I have been thinking about getting the lap band for a while, and am now at the point where I have decided to actually do something about it! :clap2: I'm glad to hear so many good comments about Dr. T - although a little concerned about the office disorganization.

Some quick questions:

How long did it take from your initial meeting with Dr. T to get to the point where you were approved and ready for surgery?

Was the office knowledgeable with respect to insurance companies?

How was your approval experience - did you feel it was pretty straightforward, or were you "jumping through hoops"? Did you have to lose weight prior to being approved?

I'm waiting for Alba to call me back to register for informational meetings and an initial appt with Dr. T. If I am this nervous now, I don't know how I will get all the way through to surgery!

Thanks!

Becky

[bigsexy 0]

Hi everyone. Congratulations on your successes!

I have been thinking about getting the lap band for a while, and am now at the point where I have decided to actually do something about it! :clap2: I'm glad to hear so many good comments about Dr. T - although a little concerned about the office disorganization.

Some quick questions:

How long did it take from your initial meeting with Dr. T to get to the point where you were approved and ready for surgery?

Was the office knowledgeable with respect to insurance companies?

How was your approval experience - did you feel it was pretty straightforward, or were you "jumping through hoops"? Did you have to lose weight prior to being approved?

I'm waiting for Alba to call me back to register for informational meetings and an initial appt with Dr. T. If I am this nervous now, I don't know how I will get all the way through to surgery!

Thanks!

Becky

Becky - don't worry about the disorganization - it isn't that bad. I was more frustrated because I attended the same class twice and it takes me an hour+ to get to hartford.

Each person's insurance is different so length of time to complete all the required tests etc will vary. Me personally my insurance is pretty reasonable. I completed all of Dr. Ts req'd tests etc in a matter of weeks. Dr. T required me to have bloodwork, psych eval, online information course (took about 15 min), barium upper GI, ultrasound (because of an enzyme in the bloodwork), EKG and 2 nutritionist visits (only 2 because my insurance did not require, however most require a min of six months dr supervised diet). Then after the EKG checked out the cardiologist said the anestethiologist would require a stress test and echo. I got those done the following week. It would have been faster but I couldn't find time in my schedule to get to hartford from the shoreline and coordinate all the appointments on the same day. The one thing that he makes all patients do is attend a class and then 2 support group meetings. The support group meetings are only once a month. The ones I happened to attend fell within a couple weeks of each other. Although you are encouraged to attend them every month even after the surgery. All in all it took about a month for me to be submitted for insurance approval.

His office formulated my case and submitted to insurance a week ago. It is still out for approval but should be back in a day or two. So I haven't yet had to jump through any hoops. We are proceeding towards surgury and I am scheduled to have a preopp appointment this thurs.

There are many insurance companies out there so be prepared. I got a letter from mine prior to my meeting with Dr. T outlining the requirements. He also will not see you unless you fill out all the paperwork in the patient package available online or in the class.

Dr. T does not require you to lose weight before surgery however you do have to do a 10 day liquid diet prior. Its purpose is to shrink the liver to make it easier to manuver in your belly. As he said - if you don't follow the liquid diet - he will know!!!! The diet has the aforementioned intentions but results also include initial weight loss. To try to get used to drinking protien shakes I have started incorporating them into my daily meals. I have one for Breakfast and one for lunch with a yogurt or cottage cheese as a snack in between. Then I eat a sensible dinner with protien veggies and carbs. I have been doing this now for about a week and have already lost 9 lbs. I figure - it will make it easier to move to the all liquid phase if i get used to it now.

Nina, Alba and Dr. T are all really nice people. Nina and Dr.T have a good bedside manner and in my opinion are genuinely concerned for your health. Word of warning however. If you smoke he will not opperate on you. In his words - smoking is the number 1 preventable cause of death. Obesity is number 2.

I suggest choosing charlote meucci as the nutritionist - she is a wonderful lady that cares about healthy weight loss and is one of the people that works closely with dr t's office. but dr. t's office gives you a list of all the people you will have to see and you can choose from there.

I still am nervous but NOT as bad as I was before. I also have days where I think- "im such a wuss - i should be able to do this on my own." What helps me the most is surrounding myself with people who know what it is like to be overweight and care about your health. I have actually had to cut ties with a couple of friends who were not supportive of surgery. turns out it was jealousy that caused them to act out. I haven't told a lot of people but the ones i have think its great that I am doing it. I have also spent tons of time here lurking in all the threads. Particularly following those who have had tremendous success in the before and after photos area.

It came down to this. In my entire adult life i have been able to lose weight just never keep it off. I always gained back more than I lost and gradually just kept packing it on. I was an athlete in highschool and weighed 185 lbs. My highest weight was 326 and maintained that weight for about a year now (now i am 317). That is an avg of 10 lbs a year for 14 years. I tried all the diets, pills etc but always failed or created an excuse to fail. I decide that the lap band was the best alternative way to permanent weight loss but quickly came to the realization that it is only a TOOL and it isn't around our brains. I had a come to Jesus moment if you will, that told me the band is only there to assist me in losing weight and help me keep it off. it doesnt cause me to lose weight by itself. But i was going to have to overcome a serious food addiction and recognize that Portion Control and food selection play a key role. Like I said i am still waiting to be banded so i cannot speak from experience, but I know ultimately this is the right thing for me.

Unfortunately, I have met people along the way to me making this decision (in real life and on other forums) who were looking for ways to cheat the band even before having the surgery. Those people will never lose weight and should not be included in your support circle. For me - I am not going to risk my life in surgery (although the risk is quite low for LB) to cheat the tool. If you are like me - in that this is the your last ditch effort to lose weight and you know that the benefits you will receive far out weigh the sacrifices you will have to make then it is the right thing to do. Not only will the tool assist you in losing weight, if you have other comorbidities - diabetes, sleep apnea etc these things too go away. It has been proven that these other disease cure themselves when dramatic weight loss occurs. Hope that helps. please feel free to ask anymore questions.

[bigsexy 0]

oh one more thing - the next support group meeting is Tuesday. May 15th

6-8pm Educational Resource Center (ERC) Building- Hublein Hall

Corner of Hudson and Jefferson Streets

Hartford Hospital campus

FREE Parking at lot adjacent to building

Led by Nina Arnold, MPH, RN, Certified Support Group Leader & Success Habits Instructor

Guest speaker is

Linda Mendonca, Personal Touch

Manager for Nordstrom

Discussion: The New You and the New Fashions

[purplemom 0]

Bigsexy - Thank you so much for taking time to reply with such great detail! I can tell you are ready for your band and that you are soon going to be one of those great before and after photos on this site! I appreciate your honesty and hearing you talk about Dr. T and his team makes me more eager to get started!

I spoke to Alba yesterday and made an appointment. Unfortunately he cannot see me until October! I'm feeling a little dissappointed about that, but I know that I will be ready when the time comes... In the meantime, I plan to attend some of the monthly info meetings and support groups and continue lurking around this site.

Can't wait to hear what happens with you next! It must be nervewracking and so exciting to be so close!

Becky

[bigsexy 0]

<p>Becky the time will pass quickly. I remember when i originally called for my appointment was back in october and I wasnt able to be seen till march. The time flew and now here I am. </p> <p>I did have a bit of a dissappointment today. I called my insurance today to find out why it is taking so long for them to approve the surgery and they claimed that they had yet to receive anything about it. I called the woman who is in charge of submitting for approval and she was really rude and dismissive and said that she had. I tried to get her to listen to me about where to send it to (based on my conversation with the insurance rep) and she was less than enthused to hear about it. Needless to say I'm pretty sure she didn't take down any of the info I gave her. </p> <p> </p> <p>I then called alba and said - that I was hurt by how inconsiderate this woman was and that although I am anxious to get on with this - my intention was to help find out where the breakdown of communication was and expedite fixing the issue. And that at no time did i deserve to be treated so poorly. I also expressed my displeasure with the fact that such a person was a representative of the practice and that it was making me rethink who I was going to have perform the surgery. Of course that was said out of anger and frustration and I want Dr t to do the surgery because he is a very skilled and caring dr. That still doesn't justify being treated very poorly by this woman. </p> <p>I will say this though. She is definitely not a reflection of the core values that Dr. T, Nina and Alba have. I truely believe they have the patients best interest at hand. I have always been treated with respect by them and have the utmost confidence in their abilities. Will keep you posted on the updates.</p>