anyone from b.c.? that had surgery in everett at northwest weight loss?

[canadagirl33 0]

BTW.... I take offence to...

//You can get it for $16K in Canada even in BC with better aftercare than what they are offering//

I would be hard pressed to find anyone in Canada that will offer better aftercare than NWWLS....they may offer *equal* care, but not better.

Patricia

[Gaffer 1]

BTW.... I take offence to...

//You can get it for $16K in Canada even in BC with better aftercare than what they are offering//

I would be hard pressed to find anyone in Canada that will offer better aftercare than NWWLS....they may offer *equal* care, but not better.

Patricia

I was not trying to offend you, so take it easy.

The reason why I claimed it to be better is that NWWLS has one year of aftercare for $18K USD, while SWLC and TLBC have lifetime aftercare included in your $16K.

Really when you look at it, one year of included aftercare is not that much when you consider the number of years that you will have this device implanted in you body.

Andrew

[Cindy_D 1]

I totally agree with you Andrew - knowing that in 5 years if something should go wonky with this band, the clinic and either my surgeon, or his associates will be there for me is incredibly important. I also have the comfort level of knowing that I am still dealing with the Canadian medical system - as opposed to the American system. It is the unknown that would sway my decision. Everyone has to make their own decisions, but from listening to the number of people who have gone through this procedure, in Canada, the US, and Mexico - I am awfully glad that I chose to stay in Canada, and am lucky enough to be within driving distance of my clinic.

I read a lot about decisions being based on length of wait time - as with any elective procedure - if you choose to self-pay, the wait time is minimal. If you are seeking to have it covered, or partially covered, by the provincial plans that currently have this option, you will wait and jump through hoops - I am thrilled that we have the option to self-pay. The bank was also thrilled!

Cindy

[canadagirl33 0]

~Has coffee in hand and is taking it easy...~

Maybe I should have added to my post that when you live near your clinic it makes all the difference in the world. TLBC offering a lifetime of care included in the $16k surgery fee is wonderful if you can get to TLBC for your care. How about us on the West Coast that would have to pay for a plane ticket every time we wanted to see our surgeon??

And yes, I am aware that they offer a CD so you can hopefully have your family Dr. do your fills....however there are a lot of Dr's that are not interested in learning to do this, or simply do not have the time. So a lifetime of free aftercare in Ontario would have done me no good at all. Case in point...there is a woman on this board that had her surgery at TLBC in February (I believe) and now has to pay a local Dr. in Vancouver $200 for a visit and a fill.

As for being self-pay shortening your waiting time...that also works in Ontario but our provincial medical system is different here. We don't have private clinics like you do. The surgeons that do banding have to do it in hospitals and have to apply for and wait for OR time. The gov't here does *not* cover banding in any way, shape or form so we are all self-pay....and my wait time would have been 2 years.

All the best,

Patricia

BTW...NWWLS aftercare is as follows....

All support meetings (minimum 2 a month, lots of guest speakers coving topics ranging from PS to eating disorders), all telephone support or telephone conferences with your surgeon are free for life.

All office visits, fill appts, visits with surgeons, flouroscopies, support meetings, etc, etc, etc are free for the first year...

After the first year you pay $125 and you have a 2 week grace period after every fill. So if you get a fill and need a de-fill within 2 weeks, it's free....or if you get a fill and don't feel it's enough and want more, you can get more at no charge within 2 weeks. Pretty fair I thought...

If, during the lifetime of your band you need to have surgery to replace or repair it, be it with the port, tubing or band itself, that is covered free of charge.

[Doddie63 6]

What Canadagirl has to say is correct. It costs me approx. $1,000 to go to Toronto and back just to be told I may or may not need a fill. There is no question they have the best support group for people in Toronto but for out of province people the support is slim. I do know, they are working to correct that problem and understand they may be unveiling their program for long distance patients in December.

Having

[Doddie63 6]

OOPs, hit the wrong button.

Having said that, I am grateful to Dr. Woodhead who is taking me under his wing even though he did not do the surgery. He charged me $400 for a consult fee and fill and now charges me $75.00 per fill or visit. On my last visit, although it was my choice, he advised me not to have a fill at this time. This is why my confidence in him has grown. He is genuinely interested.

Canadagirl is correct, you can get excellent care in Washington and they have a terrific support system. Everyone must decide what their future holds for them. Me for instance I cannot get travel insurance because of other health issues so the USA or Mexico would be out for me. There is no right or wrong but to choose what is best for you. Doddie

[Paulax 8]

Ya, Vancouver really needs a VLBC!

I hope one is in the works.

Were I smart enough, I'd go back to school and open one up myself. :glasses

[Ang1982 4]

I just kind of skimmed the comments in this thread so if I am duplicating info anywhere, I apologize and please feel free to kick my bum.

If you are located in or around the Vancouver area then I do not understand why you would want to go to NWWLS (sorry if I got the acronym wrong) as opposed to going to someone like Dr.Woodhead in Delta. I did all of my research and have chosen to go with Dr.Woodhead who is VERY nice and I have not a worry in the world about having him do my surgery in the coming year. He is $14,000.00 plus a $400 first consult fee. If you have your surgery done with him you have free fills for life. He is very high on the importance of after care.

Personally I have no issues about going to the States for the surgery as it was one of the options I contemplated - but then decided why play in someone else's back yard when yours is just as nice?

[Doddie63 6]

Right on Angie: I went to TO and had a wonderful doctor BUT I am sadly sorry about the support. TLBC is trying but e mails and telephone calls are not the same as one on one. I now go to Dr. W. and gladly pay him the consult fee. I just wish I had chosen him in the first place, but my research indicated to me he was thinking of leaving. That was not the case. It was a poor case of the newspaper getting it wrong. I don't regret using Dr Yau in the least, but I do regret the after care decision I made. Doddie

[Paulax 8]

I did all of my research and have chosen to go with Dr.Woodhead who is VERY nice and I have not a worry in the world about having him do my surgery in the coming year. He is $14,000.00 plus a $400 first consult fee. If you have your surgery done with him you have free fills for life. He is very high on the importance of after care.

I am glad to hear of someone using Dr Woodhead. I think you are the first I have seen post.

I used Leung in Surrey. Perfectly happy I did, but he will be retiring in the next few years so unless he has a successor, I will go to Woodhead for my continued monitoring. Sad, our lack of choice in the West isn't it?

[Ang1982 4]

I am glad to hear of someone using Dr Woodhead. I think you are the first I have seen post.

I used Leung in Surrey. Perfectly happy I did, but he will be retiring in the next few years so unless he has a successor, I will go to Woodhead for my continued monitoring. Sad, our lack of choice in the West isn't it?

Really? He is retiring? Sure glad I ended up choosing Dr. W. Another of our fellow bandsters Cookielover went to him and her surgery in Oct. and loves him as well so I am sure you will be in good hands, he is a great guy and makes you feel very comfortable with him. Where as I've heard Leung's bedside manner is a bit lacking (?) you may quite enjoy the change to Dr.W.

[Paulax 8]

Really? He is retiring? Sure glad I ended up choosing Dr. W. Another of our fellow bandsters Cookielover went to him and her surgery in Oct. and loves him as well so I am sure you will be in good hands, he is a great guy and makes you feel very comfortable with him. Where as I've heard Leung's bedside manner is a bit lacking (?) you may quite enjoy the change to Dr.W.

Well, don't quote me on that, but he IS in his mid/late 70s in age, he will surely be retiring some time in the next few years. Lol!

But I love me some Dr Leung, he is a fine surgeon and has always been very respectful to me... and besides....he make me skinny!

[canadagirl33 0]

Hi Ang

Congrats on your decision to get banded !!! It's a huge step in taking control of our health and lives.

I'm glad that you like Dr. Woodhead, it is most defintely a bonus if you like your surgeon....

I'll tell you my personal reasons for choosing to go to NWWLS instead of Dr. Woodhead....

I went and saw my family Dr for a referral to Dr. Woodhead the first week of August/06. @ days later my family Dr recieved by fax the request for some blood work and a questionaire I was supposed to fill in and fax back. I had the lab work done that day and quite anxiously filled out the paperwork and faxed it back the next morning.

And then I waited....and waited....and waited. Finally the first week of Sept I called his office, to be told quite abruptly and rudely by his receptionist that I would hear from them when they got to my paperwork. Don't worry, I cut her some slack, everyone has a bad day now and then

So I waited and waited and waited some more and during this wait I kept on researching. I found out during this time that Dr. Woodhead had done less than 100 band surgeries and in fact I believe the # at that time was between 20 and 30 procedures. That made me a little leary, only because I had *never* had surgery in my life and I wanted someone with a *ton* of experience !!! So anyhow...I waited until Oct. 10/06 before I fianlly hear back from his office again !!! 2 months for even a phone call to set up a consult !!! So she gave me an appt..... for Feb 2/07 !!! So from the first contact my Dr made with his office it was going to be 6 months before I could even get into his office !!!

So I booked the appt and asked her (the cranky receptionist...it was another bad day I guess) if when I saw him I would actually set up my surgery appt and if she had any idea how long it would take from that appt to surgery. She informed me that she didn't know but it could be as long as 2 years !!!!

(Have you figured out yet that I'm the impatient sort??? hehehe)

So at this point I started seriously thinking about it....

I had already thought about surgery for over a year and knew I wanted it....

I had already managed to save the $15k that I thought I was going to need....

I knew I wanted a surgeon with lots of experience, good aftercare and prompt service when I needed it....

And this is nothing against Dr. Woodhead personally because I have never met him....but I honestly didn't think, judging by how I had been dealt with so far, I was going to recieve those things so I started looking elsewhere.

I would be curious to hear how long it took you to get in for your consult appt....and if you know yet how long you will wait for surgery. I honestly don't know if the info I was given when I asked his receptionist was correct or not. Did you ask Dr. Woodhead how many surgeries he has done to date? Again, I'm just curious because at our support group in North Van things like this come up and I don't actually have correct info to tell anyone !!!

Again, please don't take this post as anything against Dr. W....I know Doddie personally and I know that she's very happy with him....and I'm really glad that he is in the lower mainland doing banding and helping people....it just wasn't the right fit for me personally is all.

Looking forward to hearing from you !!!

Patricia

11/16/06

306/206/175 (I think)

Btw.... I contacted NWWLS on Oct. 16/06, had my surgeon/psych/Jessie appts 2 weeks later on Oct. 30th and booked my surgery that day for Nov. 16th. So I was exactly 1 month from the first phone call to the operating table....with a surgeon who has done over 3000 lap surgeries (he actually teaches lap procedures) and placed 1000 bands.

[Ang1982 4]

Patricia,

Wow, I'm sorry for the experience that you had with his office and I can see why you would be turned off from that!

When I had decided to set up a consult with him it was sometime in Oct that I made that decision. I phoned their office up on a Friday afternoon and asked how I go about getting a consult - the lady informed me that I need to fill out a questionnaire and that the consult would be $400 and that I should pay $100 of it when I send my questionnaire back in and that she would get it in the mail to me right away. I had it by about Wednesday of the following week. I filled it out, got a money order for $100 and sent it back that Friday. This would have been mid-October I believe. In my questionnaire I sent back I sent a note asking if I could have my consult sometime during the week of Nov 19-23rd as I would be off work already (recovering from having my tonsils out) and that way I would not have to ask for extra time off work to go out to Delta for the consult. Within a few days - no more than a week I do not think, I received a call back from her. She actually was nice enough to try me at work when there was no answer on my home number and set up the consult for the 22nd of November which worked perfectly with my schedule.

I will say that her phone personality is a bit to be desired however she is MUCH nicer in person. I got there for my appointment got in to see Dr. W who I love and am okay with the fact that he hasn't done 100's of them as he is experienced in the lapriscopic field, has been trained by one of the best in Canada (I believe), Dr. Yau, and makes a point of being very knowledgable about the band and keeping on top of things, attending various different conferences (including ones overseas). We talked for about an hour, he told me that he thinks I would be a great candidate for the surgery and gave me a form for some blood work, told me that when I am ready to book my surgery (I have to find out some stuff about work first as to when I will be able to take the time off and I told him that) to call and set up an appt to meet with the anaesthetist (sp?) as all his patients meet with him prior to the surgery. And that we will schedule the surgery time. When I was talking with him it sounded like it would be more then a few weeks to get the surgery then and there if I wanted it and that I could probably just say "okay January" and they will set it up.

Sorry that you got such a run around as I actually had a very pleasant experience/first dealings with them. Congrats on your 1 year bandiversary and great success!

I am very excited to find out what is going on with work so that I can schedule and have a date to count down to