Self Pay in Michigan - Just starting out....

[Parshuter 0]

Hi,

I am just starting out, and I already know my ins. doesn't cover the Lap Band surgery. I have looked into a few doctors and am considering Dr. Weiner, out of Harper hospital. Has anybody gone with this doctor? Any information would be very helpful.

Also, I am wondering how many people that have gone with the Lap Bnd have had complications and wouldn't do it again. I am nervous that, because I am self pay, if there are any complications, my cost will go up much higher, trying to fix the problems.

Thanks

[nwlife4 0]

Hello , I also am a self pay patient who also did my surgery at Harper Hospital. I had doctor Webber but also met the other Doctors- all must I say VERY nice. I remember the day of my surgery when they took me back to prep me Dr. Webber came back and the question he needed to ask was my weight (my husband standing by me side) Instead of blurting out , whats your weight! He simply whispered in my ear , "could you whisper in my ear what your current weight is?" I thought how thoughtful and caring! You will be in good hands and very happy. Now as far as would I do it again the answer is YeS YES YES and I'd pay it all over again!!!! I have not had any complications but If it were to occur I'd Pay ( and I'm not wealthy at all) but this has totally changed my life!! Not in the perspective of men or attention because I already had that from my husband but I'm talking about myself mentally. I've not always been heavy lost, gain, lost gain since having 2 kids. When I went into surgery I was 264 lbs at 5'5" the heaviest I've ever been and totally a hermit when not working , I was ashamed to go out in public and miserable with myself. Anyway I can rattle on and on but one thing I want to tell you if I can let you know anything since you are a self pay you will be a orphan Bandster I called and payed and got my surgery in the matter of 2 weeks I had no clue but what I had searched on the net. Do get your fills in the beginning every 6 weeks , at your appt. make the next appt. The longer you take to get to your sweet spot the longer it will take to loose weight. That was my problem so it took longer . My current weight is 189 which may not seem small but I truly am a different person. Fills are so important and eventually the foods that were so hard to stay away from become foods you don't even want. Another thing is don't become discourage when you read others post about how much weight they have lost and how fast their losing if your not losing as fast ( and maybe you will be a fast loser) but if your not losing as fast remember it will come off eventually and you still will be healthier ever day and a new you. Also this was my first surgery ever! It was a breeze! I had a lot of gas in my shoulder, get the meds filled and use them they work ( I waited days b4 I got them filled cause I don't like to take meds if I don't have to.) I was the only one with the gas pains though, the other 2 ladies I became close to never had any gas pains . I hope you do what is best for you, good luck!

[Parshuter 0]

Thanks for the very kind words. They are helpful. I called and setup my consultation, which will be August 5th. I am really looking forward to meeting with the doctor to discuss everything. It sounds like you are doing fantastic! Thats awesome, great job.

I am still very nervous, but excited at the same time. How long was your recovery? Did you have to miss any work? I hear a lot of different things, some say it isn't that bad, and others say up to a week. I guess everybody is different. I am going to ask the doctor about the fills. They say that 3 months or fills are included. Does this mean 3 fills or 3 months? I'm not sure about this.

:smile2::thumbup:Thanks Again.

[Noor 0]

hello everyone,

I'm so glad I came across this thread. I too live in MI and am considering having the surgery performed at Harper Hospital with Dr. Webber. When I first started researching the procedure a few weeks ago I came across the link for Dr. Webber and his associates. I'm leaning more towards Dr. Webber because he seems to have a bit more experience from what I can tell.

What's really great is the 2 hour informational session that they offer at Harper Hos, which I will be attending today. It is being conducted however by Dr. Weiner, who comes highly recommended by a one of the bloggers on this site. I'm just really curious to see what he has to say more than anything.

I've been trying to do as much research as I can, however there just seems to be tons of blog sites out there and it's difficult to find everything you want to know without having to read tons of blogs - lol.

Was wondering if you attended the informational session and if so, what did you think? I'm really curious about pre-surgery - seems from some of the bloggers that they had to lose weight prior to surgery. Wondering if that is the case for everyone and if so, how do they want you to lose the weight? Do they put you on a liquid diet so that you can get a feel for what it's going to be like a few weeks after the procedure? The whole transition from liquids, to soft to regular foods is a concern, esp given the possibility of the band slipping from too much vomiting. So suffice to say I have lots of questions and hope that they will be answered for the most part at the informational session.

Would really like to know how things turn out with you and what you can tell me from your consultation meeting with Dr. Webber. Any info you can share would be really appreciated.

And Nwlife4 I would really like to hear more about your experience both pre and post op. Also, how did you hear about Dr. Webber and why did you decide to go with him?

Looking forward to hearing from both of you. Thanks

[Parshuter 0]

Noor,

I was unable to attend the 2 hour seminar. I was planning on going today, but was unable to due to a change in my work schedule this week.

I wouls really like to know what you thought. How did you like the doctors. It sounds like you can't go wrong with either Dr. Webber and Dr. Weiner. Did they talk about the fills? How often do you get them, or does the doctor do them or is it the people in the office. Are you a self-pay also?

When I go in on August 5th, I will be posting what I thought, and my decisions. This is an awesome site to find the info you need, however, I have found that the opinions differ from person to person.

:thumbup:Thanks

[Libbyjane1976 1]

I had my surgery done at Harper Hospital with Dr. Gazayerli. Harper Hospital is a wonderful place to have your surgery. The staff is very caring and very nice!! They will take great care of you.

[Parshuter 0]

Thanks LibbyJane, it sounds like you are doing really well.

I have heard a lot of good things about Harper Hospital.

Where is Dr. Gazayerli out of?

Have you had any problems with your fills? At your office who does the fills? Is it the Dr.?

One of my real worries is having a complication with a fill, like a puncture to the tube of band itself.

Thanks :juggle:

[abbypoo 0]

Hey everyone,

I'm having my surgery at Harper on August 12th by Dr. Webber. So far I have no complaints, but I'll let everyone know how the surgery goes in a couple weeks.

[Parshuter 0]

Abby,

Congrats on your decision to get the surgery. Dr. Webber is one of the doctors I am looking at too. My cosultation is August 5th, at Great Lakes. I look forward to meeting the doctors.

Are you self pay? I see that you are coming from Wisconsin. Good luck!

:crying:

[abbypoo 0]

Yeah, I'm self-pay and me and my boyfriend will be driving six hours to Detroit for my surgery. I am using Care Credit for my financing. It's actually pretty reasonable, I'll be paying less than $250 a month for 60 months for my surgery.

[Noor 0]

Hello all, (warning long posting - lol)

Parshuter I did attend the seminar at Harper Hospital - it's a good way to start researching the surgery and hospital but by no means was there enough time to answer everyone's question nor is it meant to be your one stop shop to lapband surgery.

Dr. Weiner was scheduled to speak however Dr. David Edelman was there instead - may have been a scheduling problem. He's the newest to join the team - not sure if he's still a residence or just finished his residencey - I showed up a few minutes late - didn't realize it would take so long to find the hospital so make sure to give yourself plenty of time. Dr. Edelman works with Dr. Webber. Dr. Webber schedules consultations only on Tuesday and the rest of the week he's in surgery - he also does general surgery so it's not just weightloss procedures.

Dr. Edelman went through a slide presentation (quickly I might add) on lapband, gastric bypass and briefly covered the sleeve procedure so it was interesting to compare the procedures side by side. The sleeve is a relative new procedure and very little of them have been done by the drs at harper. The seminar is scheduled in a way that you get a basic understanding of the procedures and they do give you some information to take with you in order to learn more about the doctors, hospital and surgery. I'm slowly going througth the packets and writing down my ?s as I go along to discuss with Dr. Weber, who I scheduled a consultation with in late august. I called end of July and the earliest appt I cld get was end of month August. My suggestion is to call the office ASAP and schedule a consultation with him - you're probably looking at first or second tuesday of sept as it stands. On thing to keep in mind, is that they schedule patients to see Dr. Weber every 15 minutes which is ridiculous!!!! We all know that consultations for any procudure usually take 45min to an hour. So try to be the first appt that day if you can.

What I found interesting is that there is a BMI range that the doctors look at to see if you are a candidate for this procedure. Dr. Edelman stated that if you have a BMI over this range (I think he said 45) then they will not perform lapband - more likely bypass so that's something to keep in mind. The seminar seemed to be more geered to bypass surgery, which surprised me given that they advertise it as a lapband seminar. The Dr. also kept saying that bypass "was the golden standard" procedure for weight loss so he seemed to be promoting the surgery - probably because it's a lot more expensive than lapband so they get more from ins for bypass. So for anyone not sure which procudure they should have, this seems to be the seminar for you. Given that I wld never have bypass surgery I wish it focused more on lapband.

They brought in a nutritionist for the last 45 minutes or so - believe her name is Marty - very funny lady whoever she seemed to be all over the place and very over the top personality - which it was more structured and not so theatrical. Honestly, this was the most disappointing part of the seminar because I am still very confused on what I can and can't eat after the surgery and why that is given they are not cutting away the stomache - her presentation also focused a lot on life after bypass surgery. I'm going to call back and try to talk to a different nutritionist.

In regards to the fills, he said that they will do the 1st fill 6 weeks after the surgery in order to allow stomach to heal. And then every 6-8wks depending on your weight loss. He did say that the avg weight loss is 1-2 lbs again, but then again I firmly believe that if you incorporate exercise than you can easily lose 3-4 lbs. I'm really eager to talk to more ppl who have had lapband done at harper and see what their experience has been like.

I have more to talk about but I know that this post is entirely waaaaaaaaaaaay too long..sorry I just want to be as detailed and precise as I can, after all we are talking about a life changing procedure.

I'm really eager to see what you think about the seminar. Talk to you soon.

[Noor 0]

Congratulations Abby on your decision to have the surgery. It's only a week or so away..u must be so excited..and I would think a bit nervous. I really hope the surgery goes well and you have no complications.

It would be great if you can share your story..what made you decide on lapband, why Dr. Weber? how long have you researched the procedure/doctor...who did you talk to about nutrition? Anything you can tell us is greatly appreciated.

Hope to hear from you soon.

[abbypoo 0]

Noor,

I have been thinking about having Lap Band for the last two years or so, but I didn't start researching it until earlier this year. I started researching it in April or May, and made the definite decision in June. I chose Dr. Webber as my surgeon for several reasons. The first was cost. As you know, Great Lakes Weight Loss is one of the more inexpensive places to get gastric band surgery in the country. However, I did a lot of research on the Great Lakes surgeons and came to the conclusion that Webber was the best. I have heard great things about him and am very comfortable with my decision. I also chose them because they are relatively (I use the term loosely) close to me at a six hour drive or less than an hour flight away. I think this is important in case there are complications.

As far as how I learned about the nutritional aspect, once you schedule a surgery date a coordinator with GLWL will give you a very large packet of information that covers your diet in great detail. Also, it is my understand that after my surgery I will meet with the Nutritionist at the hospital to go over my diet. And to answer your question, the reason they require a pre-op diet is to shrink the liver to make the surgery easier. If you YouTube a gastric band surgery you will see why it is so important to make the liver as small as possible. The reason for the post-op diet is to allow your stomach to heal. They put in sutures that basically tie your stomach around the band, if you stretch out your stomach while they are still healing you could run into complications.

I did not know that they would not perform the surgery if your BMI was over 45, I am assuming that this is either a new rule or that they make exceptions, because my packet has specific instructions for people with BMI's greater than 50.

The best advice I can give you is to snoop around this website. There is a question and answer section that I found really informative. Thank you, I am very excited about the surgery and I will make sure I let you know how it goes.

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

Parshuter, your port will not even be close to your band ... no chance of puncturing it. The port itself is not soft so they can feel it every clearly (even though you may not be able to). And, the port is self-sealing. They use a special needle, called a Huber needle, that has a bend near the tip. They go into the self-sealing access part of the port at a bit of an angle because of that. I've never read where anybody had a problem with puncturing something by mistake when getting a fill.

[Parshuter 0]

Hi,

I went for my consultation today and was pleasantly surprised. Dr. Scott Laker (Great Lakes Weight Loss Clinic) was very friendly, and really took the time to answer all of my questions.

He mentioned that he believes everybody should go to the seminar and get as much information as possible. I will try to attend the seminar next Tuesday, which is also the day I start my pre-op diet. I will be banded on August 25th, by Dr. Laker at 1 PM.

I am very comfortable with the process now. The people at Great Lakes, really took the time to go through everything with me. Where I was very nervous before, I am really excited now. They helped put me at ease.

They answered all of my questions from, what I need to do before surgery, to the surgery itself, and then what to expect after being banded. Dr. Laker also answerd all of my complication questions. I couldn't be happier.

I saw some information on the lap band about 17 months ago, and thought to myself, that this is the tool I need to finally be free of the pain and suffering from being MO. I didn't really think about it seriously again until about 3 months ago. Thats when my wife told me about an add she saw online for Great Lakes and their $10,700, special they were doing for self pays!

I actually planned on seeing Dr. Weiner, but didn't specify when I called a couple weeks ago, and they set me up with Dr. Laker.

I look forward to being on this site, with my "bandmates". If you have any questions please ask, I hope to keep this thread going!

Thanks,

Pars

:ohmy: