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Littleton Hospital
"Great place. It's too far from my home in Aurora, but if I had to be hospitalized in the south Metro area again, Littleton would be my first choice. Also, I was throwing up every night while I was there. I had to have the nursing staff come in every night and help me get cleaned up. Some nights it happened to me twice, but I never head a word of complaint or even a hint from them that I was being a pain in the neck."

Swedish Medical Center (COE)
"Swedish is further from my home than I would have liked, but there aren't any surgeons who do bariatric surgery in Aurora."

Susan Sherman
"Dr. Sherman is an endocrinologist, who is also a primary care doc for insurance purposes, although 75% or so of her practice consists of people with diabetes. She knows diabetes very, very well and cares about her patients a great deal. She can be hard to get to know, but once you do, she's great. I'm hoping she never retires! "

Reginald Bell
"I've just met with Dr. Bell once. He was 2 hours behind at the appointment, but took all the time I wanted to answer my questions. I had thought he did only open, but he told me he could do my surgery lap.<p>His office staff was great. Saida got all the necessary paperwork together, which took some phone calling between her and my PCP's office. Lourdes, the surgery scheduler, was able to get me a date and time which worked for me.<p> Post op review. My surgery itself went very well. I never even had a PCA and didn't need one. My incisions healed well. However, from the time I started on clear liquids, I could not keep anything down. Dr. Bell left the country for two weeks following my surgery. When I was released from the hospital I was not yet able to keep anything down and during the next two weeks, Dr. Bell's partners, who do not do bariatric surgery, were unable to help me. I would tell anyone who is going to use him to make sure he will be around for the first 2 or 3 weeks post-op so you can deal with him and not someone else. <p> When I went for my first follow-up visit with one of his partners, the partner wasn't sure what to do, but did call in another bariatric surgeon for advice. Also, the staff in his office was very, very helpful to me that day in finding a hospital bed for me so I could get in and get diagnosed and treated for my problem (turned out to be an ulcer). <p> My opinion of Dr. Bell has changed. Early on when I still couldn't keep anything down, I called him one night about 5:00 pm. He didn't return my call, so I called again about 6:00 pm. He called me back and read me the riot act. Said just because I was weak and unable to keep anything down was no reason for me to be back in the hospital and I would just have to 'tough it out'. <p>The next day I passed out and fell twice. Once he discovered that it was his mistake that was responsible for my being unable to keep anything down, he changed into Mr. Nice Guy. The only good thing I have to say is that he did volunteer that his malpractice insurance had a program to reimburse me for some of my lost wages and my out-of-pocket medical expenses, up to $30,000. They'll only give me $5,000 for lost wages. I still haven't totalled up my out-of-pocket expenses, but it will be nice to get some of that money back. "

Kelly Elliot
"I really have only one problem with Kelly. She is the only dietician that the Denver Metro area doctors use and they all require her classes (except for Dr. Snyder, I believe). She teaches 4 classes or a one-day fast track class. The cost for the 4 classes is $70. The cost for the one-day fast track class is $150, cash only. She also charges $10 each for support groups, although I believe you can buy 10 or so at a bit of a discount. Her excuse (and I use that word intentionally) is that she has to pay for speakers. The one support group I went to (you get one free if you have taken her nutrition class) had only 5 people and my understanding is that it is usually pretty small. I have my doubts about whether there are ever any speakers at that group. Also, I have been part of running a medically based support group and we never paid speakers. I did hear of another patient-run support group and she warned me away from it, said it could have a lot of misinformation. Please understand that I know she has a right to run these groups as she sees fit and it's up to me to choose whether to attend or not. It's not really a matter of the money because I could certainly afford to pay the $10. It just sticks in my craw to pay for support groups. <p> I do have one complaint about her advice. I have Type 1 diabetes and had asked about being able to treat insulin reactions, since we can't do sugar (juice is a common substance used to bring blood sugar back up). She had told me a could drink milk instead. Well, I had two different low blood sugar reactions in the hospital (2nd visit) and milk did not help. I have since found out from my endocrinologist that I will need to use glucose tablets or gel, substances that are absorbed in the mouth, not in the stomach, to treat lows."
About Me
Aurora, CO
Location
36.5
BMI
Dec 06, 2001
Member Since
Before & After
rollover to see after photo
About 2 weeks pre-op
360lbs
1 year post-op
240lbs
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