"I met with Dr. Peter O'Brian on January 22, 2001. He will be dictating a letter to my insurance company this week for pre-approval.Dr. Obrian comes highly recommended by my family doctor, and almost everyone in this area who has WLS. His staff has been very nice and very helpful so far. Very down-to-earth and easy to communicate with. He drew pictures of the procedures he uses and told me about a web site with a lot of information. He told me I should be a good candidate for laparoscopic gastric bypass, except that I am very short, so it is possible that he might have to switch to the open procedure. He requires me to have several types of medical tests such as EKG, blood work including blood gases, pulmonary testing. Different testing is required for each person before surgery, depending on their medical history. From all I have heard, he is definitely a competent surgeon, and easy to talk to.
03-13-01: Surgery is done! I feel fine! Dr. O'Brien was very competent, and was very solicitous after surgery, checking on me 4 times the day of surgery and 2 or 3 the next day before sending me home, and then even calling me at home the next day to make sure everything was OK. I'm doing very well after surgery and know that I owe alot of that to him.
07-25-01: I had another follow-up visit with Dr. O'Brien today and have now lost 51 pounds, which is better than I've EVER done on any diet in 4 1/2 months. I will go back again in 3 months. The only negative I have about his clinic staff/procedures is their scheduling for post-op appointments. It is not possible for me to schedule an actual appointment 3 months in advance because "we don't have that schedule available yet", but they put me on a list and will supposedly schedule an appointment later and notify me. HOWEVER, last time I did that, I never did get notified!"
