"I really liked the team at Dr De La Torre's office. Nancy is the nurse that everyone sees most often. I only saw Dr De La Torre briefly before the surgery, on surgery day and once afterward. The nurses and nurse practioners are the ones who take care of you and they were wonderful. They made sure that I was prepared for the surgey and knew exactly what to expect. I had a private room n the hospital and everyone on our floor had bariatric surgery so all the nursing staff etc knew how to best take care of us. The staff was very supportive and the after care was extensive.
Nancy helped a lot when I had difficulty eating and neeced to make some adjustments.
We had a full day at the Dr's ofice in a groups of people who had gone through all the preparation for the surgery. This day went over risks, the surgery process, recovery, the level of commitment that we needed to make for recovery and success. We also went over products such as Isopure and talked about the importance of the protien and which were the best ones as far as taste and nutrition.
Afterward we each had an individual exam and consultation to decide if we wanted to set up our surgery. Not everyone decided to go through with the surgery and they turned down two people I talked to because they thought they were not ready for the commitment to a life long change.
As far as the surgery went, It took aout four hours, I was up and walking that evening and I had no complications escept that my IV would not stay connected so I di dnot have any pain medication from right after midnight until sometime the next morning. I was not in pain so it was OK.
After talking to others about their surgery, complications, recovery etc. I feel blessed that I chose Dr De La Torre as his surgical skills are wonderful. His bedside manner is not so great so that is why he has a staff who has those qualities. They were accessable by phone in between appointments and were always friendly and eager to help.
The opnly thing I did not like is that after the surgery, usually your surgeon comes in to tlak to you about how the surgery went. This did not happen. After my surgery, I never saw Dr De La Torre again. His partner took out staples in the office. My husband said that Dr De La Torre came and talked to him about the surgery but my husband is not good at communicating what the Dr said. I had to talk to Nancy to find out particulars about my surgery. I just like to hear about my personal procedure from my Doctor, that is something that is important to me and that was lacking in this experience. "
