Valley Care Center - Pleasanton, CA

Hi everyone and thanks for taking the time to read my post.

I'm just starting my journey and am sourcing different places that do the surgery.  My GP referred me to Valley Care in Pleasanton and I was wondering if anyone has gone there for the surgery, and if so, what your experience has been.

Any information or insight would be wonderful...or even information on any other SF/Bay Area places that do the surgery.

Thanks in advance,

Laurie

Hi Laurie!

Congratulations on your decision to change your life!  If you are open to driving to Sacramento then I would highly recommend Dr. Donald Waldrep and his staff.  They are the most caring, compassionate, and organized group and I feel very fortunate that he did my RNY surgery.  I went three weeks from initial consult to my surgery date and none of it was hurried or rushed.  My aftercare has been amazing, too.  That group is worth the drive!

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!

Best wishes!

Coleen

Hi Laurie-
Dr Lee at Valley Care did my surgery last Sept..   They are a Center of Excellence and thats where I had to go for my insurance to cover.  I was about 6 weeks from Orientation class til surgery.  They have a five hour appt on Mondays that let you see a nurse, nutritionist, psych, and doctor all on the same day.  They have the process down pretty pat.  At the time I went you had to do 12 presurgery classes, I believe that has been dropped to 10 now and I think you can take them online now too.   I jumped my hoops fairly quickly and it seemed most people in the classes at the time were too.  They leave a lot of it up to you, how fast or slow you want to go.

Dr Lee was quiet and I didnt require a lot of hand holding so we got along fine.  I was very happy with the hospital.  Nurses there were very nice. Its a small hospital and I liked that.  My only complaint was the drain and Dr Lee let them take that out early cause I kept telling the nurses next time I was going to ask for the surgeon that doesnt do a drain. :) (One of them in the program doesnt but I forget which).  I had very little pain after and was up and walking a couple hours after getting to my room.

They do have an ongoing support group for after but I have only been once and there is a mandatory class 6 weeks after with the nutritionist.  You do gain a lot of knowledge in all their classes.  So I felt I was pretty well prepared for everything.

So far everything has been great.  I recovered quickly, took very little time off work, and I have been losing weight.  For the first few weeks I felt soo good that my daughter kept telling me, "they really didn't do anything, it's all just a mind game they play with you".  There were times I thought she was right, I really did feel great.  I was out walking the mall my second day home from the hospital.  But now I have lost about 90lbs and I know I owe it to Dr Lee and my RNY.

If you have any questions feel free to pm me.  Good luck!

Leslie