St. Francis, Dr Oh and Dr. Hirai Group

[4myLIFE 0]

I wanted this to be easier to find. I had to look around to find threads about this Center of Excellence. I have been schedualed for my first visit on Oct. 10 with Dr. Hirai. Share with us comments, complants and insights and smiles to what lurks behind those doors.

[MonikaMMH 0]

I am with Dr. Srikanth myself. He seems great to me, but I haven't been banded yet. I am scheduled for Nov. 5th. So far i am on the clear liquid pre-op diet well guess its also the post-op diet too.

I found the facility to be exactly that execellent. He is very friendly and his staff is very nice and i think most have been patients. So far, i would recommend him.

[shome 0]

Dr. Oh did my surgery on June 17th. Everything went fine. He & Dr. Hirai are friendly. The office staff has always been very nice too. Only warning I would give you is to make sure you give plenty of time for your fill appointments. I have had 3 of them & 2 of those I waited for an hour or more before getting the fill. They are very busy & book out about a month for fills.

Follow your pre & post op diet to the T. I didn't have any problems pre-op, but I heard a few patients got their surgery post phoned because they didn't follow the pre-op diet & lose enough weight.

I am sure you will do wonderful!

When is your surgery???

[chuckandvicki 0]

Hi, I'm having my surgery done on Dec. 9th by Dr. Oh. I was having trouble having them get back to me on the exact date once my ins. gave the ok, so I left a msg with the office Mgr. Next thing I knew I had a msg saying my surgery has been scheduled for the Dec 9th date.

I haven't been contacted with any info yet in regards to any diet I should be on prior to surgery. It's over a month away though, so I've left another msg and hoping that I receive something in the mail (?) I know how busy they are, and have NO concerns about the quality of care, but hmm. I haven't heard anything about pre-op diet. When did you find out?

Thanks guys.

[MonikaMMH 0]

on nov. 5th. i lost 15 pounds before liquid diet, but only lost 10 on liquid, not sure why. do they they calculate all pounds or just the liquid diet weight loss?

[MonikaMMH 0]

should have gotten info when you went to the nutrition class, (pink pages). doctor will give you thoose and the booklet again if you lost it. i had to ask for it again myself.

[chuckandvicki 0]

I haven't gotten anything yet. Just the phone call saying I'm booked for Dec 9th. I haven't even heard about a nutrition class yet.... :rolleyes2:

[AnneV 0]

RECONSIDER!!!! Myself and two other girls that I met during my lap band procedure and three others, which I have lost tract of were all banded by Dr. Oh on May 22, 2008 at St. Francis. ALL THREE OF US have had nothing but problems and no help at all from the Dr or his office. You go in for a fill at $150 a pop and they tell you that you have a leak - then they say you don't - then you have 5cc's in your band and after the next fill you only have 1.5cc and they explain that "it happens sometimes & they don't know why". Now this isn't just happening to me -- three of us -- banded on the same day by the same Dr. have had an identical experience and we only met at the hospital. I was at 6cc last month & now I only have 1.5cc - this is the 3rd time this has happened to me, but I have to continue to pay the $150 each time for their errors. Every month I do well on the scale - the Fluid seems to magically disappear from my band!! It's FRAUD!! My family Dr. is shocked & is looking into possibly filing charges against his office & I've also been contacted by 15-20 other people I've met on this site that have had a similar experience.

I think the lap band when working properly can be really great - I've lost 9lbs in one month before -- however, really really do your homework -- I thought I had, but this has been a nightmare!! And - plan on waiting 2 hrs to get in for fills and they absolutely will not return your phone calls under ANY circumstances!! My Dr. even called their office directly & they wouldn't return his call!

Best of luck to you & feel free to ask me any other questions as I'd hate to see anyone else have a similar experience that many of us have had in the recent past.

[MonikaMMH 0]

annev who is you doctor?

[MonikaMMH 0]

i had my surgery. that CO2 is a real pain in the neck literally! but its finally absorbing in my system. I wish i had packed along my Migraine medicine. i might have a lower tolerance of pain than most people due to the migraine factor, i've heard that. i didn't really use the morphine much, and i hardly slept. it was very noisey and they do wake you every two hours or so. i was the last one to leave from the day before from surgery, the nurses after surgery were wonderful hanna and carol, but they rest were kinda stupid but the once before i left i think her name was vicky was good too. dr. srikanth was great, i was really impressed with his bedside manners.:thumbs_up:

[AnneV 0]

Dr. Oh did my surgery - which went very well - and both Dr's Oh & Hirai have provided my aftercare.

[MonikaMMH 0]

hmm maybe you should swich doctors? it shouldnt matter who your doctor is for fills.

[AnneV 0]

Yep - I go see my Dr. tomorrow & will give them one last chance to correct what's been happening and provide me with a resonable explanation. I've already spoken with four other Dr's that do fills in the area - one of which won't take me because of who my surgeon is - but two of them sound equally promising. I've pretty much decided to try Dr. Fox, but I'm going to - at the least - give my current Dr. the reason why I'm leaving & see what he has to say about it.

It's so upsetting and frusterating to see my hard work go down the drain like this when I have a 9lb loss month followed by a 9lb gain month - talk about emotionally taxing - it's too much!! Hopefully things will get better with a new Dr. - I'm really crossing my fingers on this one. Wish me luck :-)

[chuckandvicki 0]

AnneV, Who are you seeing there? I'm having my surgery Dec 30th with Dr. Oh. All I've heard is good things about this office to date :rolleyes2: Worries me a little.

[MonikaMMH 0]

i hope it works out annev. my sis-in-law told me dr.oh cheated on his wife with his nurse when he was married but that is all the negative stuff i have heard.