Dr Geller Fans!!!

Hi everyone.  Just wanted to see how many Dr Geller fans their are out there!? 

I had started all this process with Dr Shina but FINALLY after all these months finding out that Norton Suburban Hosp. failed the Center Of Excellence  eval.  its is time to move on to where I can get the surgery that I REALLY need. I have nothing bad to say about Dr Shina, I think he is great.  But I have also heard alot of good things about Dr Geller and also know he runs the program at Nortons. Now I am just hoping that since I already paid the program fee before and had my Nut. and Psych consults and acctually EVERYTHING I was told I needed to do other then pre op that MAYBE this wont take horribly long once i get in. Thanks for any replies that I may get!

Oh oh Joy i hate to be the one to tell you.  i called about dr. geller today. since he is who i first started out with.  according Nortons bariatrics TODAY they told me geller only preforms his surgeries at...you guessed it. SUBURBANS!!!!!         How disappionting.  so im having to go with one of the surgens down at Nortons ( the one downtown). The docs are allen and rodrigez (?)   But here  is    my good news....you ready.    My cousin is a patient of dr. allens. and she has nothing but excellent things to say about him and his staff. I have researched both of those docs. and have only heard great things. i know your as frustrated as i am. but maybe call nortons bariatric center tommorrow. since youve already had your eval. ext. they say they just send your info to one of those docs and they will call to set up an appiontment. Also...how did you find out suburban Failed thier center of ex. evaluation? Nortons did not tell me that but dr. shinas office was QUICK to tell me to call nortons bariatric and see if they could get me in with another surgeon. I was kinda wondering if they had recieved bad news about their center of ex. status. This is really a bummer.  i hope that all the others who are on medicare and are waiting know whats going on. i will keep you informed on what i hear! Chea

Thanks for lettin me know about Dr Geller!   I thought for sure that since he was over the whole  program at Nortons that he would probably operate there. Well darn! lol  OOPSSSSSS ERROR< HE IS OVER THE WHOLE PROGRAM AT SUBURBAN.

I will call and find out everything that I can.  I had planned a consult with Dr Rod several months ago but opted not to because I was told he did OPEN surgery only and I want laparoscopic if possible. I had researched this surgery for over 2 years before going to a first consult back in January.  Now I guess my patience are just gone.   I have heard good things about Dr Allen to.  Gosh, this whole journey is exhausting. I ended up finding out Suburban had gotten denied/failed by emailing "rightweigh" which is Dr Shina's program.  They told me to contact georgetown's program but that is just too far away when we have great surgeons right here. I will keep u posted!

Dr. Casos is in the same office w/ dr rod.... he is who I am trying to see........... I am having a problem with the office returning my calls....... I hope this doesn't indicate how the whole process will be.

If you havent attended a seminar at Norton's yet call 502-629-1234.  I called again today since I am changing surgeons and will have to attend another one and luckily was able to get into the seminar for tonight. Now I am just trying to see about getting all my paperwork that I had already turned in to Dr Shina's office sent to the downtown program so I wont have to repeat paperwork. If u need anything and I can help just holler.

Joy, I have attended the seminar, had my visit with the bariatric nurse, dietician, and the psych eval.  I have seen Dr. Casos once with instructions to get a venous doppler and sleep study.  All of those have been completed for couple of months........ when I called the office and finally got a live body to talk to me, I was told that I need an EGD (which I understand b/c they are going to be working on the stomach).   Now I can't talk to the person I need to talk to for scheduling this and when I leave a message no one returns my call.  I have been working on this part of the process for a couple of weeks.  I am a bit frustrated to say the least -  I am pretty easy to get along with otherwise :) Good luck on your journey.

Im gonna send u a message hun.  Gettin harder to keep up on this thread now. lol Talk to you soon.

hi , i had my lap band 6/27/07 and it was great , healing great, pain low, no infections. i have only had surgery twice in my life and both were at suburban. i do not know anything about a center of excell. eval but i do know if my doctor trusted dr. geller for her lap band . i trusted him also. every one was very professional and took care of me well . dr. geller is very picky and thorough and very personable. as a great surgeon i believe he would not allow anything but the best out of who ever takes care of his patients. the nurses and others over the bariactric program called me at home and also checked on me regularlly just to make sure all was well in and out of the hospital. i hate to here suburban as a whole has not lived up to some eval. standard. but the have always taken good care of me past and present. i used to work there years ago for about 7 years , and guess what i still choose to go there. i hope u find the right one for you. oh and by the way i had 2 other friends that also had surgery during the same time i did. they also was pleased with their care.

I am not complaining about Suburban or the surgeons at all.  I like it there.  My insurance requires that the hosp. we have surgery in be certified as a center of excellence.  Suburban failed their inspection on it and is in the process of an appeal.  Dr Shina and Dr Geller only do their surgeries at Suburban so I cant use them now.  I would wait acctually but I have been waitin so long as it is and it is unknown how long this appeal process will take...

HOney, let me tell you from experience that Suburban Hospital is waaaayyyyyy better than the Norton's downtown.  You do not want to go there!!!  I've had surgery at both and Suburban wins hands down.  I won't go to another hospital except maybe Audubon.   I don't know where Right Weigh got their info, but I'm going by personal experience.   Also, be very glad that you switched from Dr. Shina.  That's all I'm saying because I don't want to get in trouble for saying too much.  If you want to discuss it in private, I will give you my phone #.  Also, my first surgery 5 years ago was By Dr. Cacchione (who no longer does wls) in the same office as Dr. Rodgriguez and Dr Allen.  In my opinion, Dr. Allen's staff was arrogant and rude.  They didn't make me feel welcome at all.  I felt like they were doing me a favor or I felt like they were treating me with less respect because I was fat.  Also, it takes forever to get through on the phone and  It takes forever to get appointments and they are usually backed up on surgery dates.   I started with Dr. Geller in March and had my surgery in July.  He is very thorough, his staff is friendly and helpful and he doesn't have a backlog of surgeries.  Also, FYI, Dr. Geller used to be with Dr. Shina.  I don't know what happened but he now has his own practice.  I dont' think Dr. Geller runs the bariatric program.  All the Dr.s are in it together and you have to go through that program to get the surgery no matter what Dr you choose.   So honey, take it from someone with personal experience, Dr. Geller is excellent (I had a revision to the lap band)  his staff is too, and Suburban is the best hospital I've been to and I've been there twice this year.  Once for a hysterectomy in January and for my lap band in June.   Trust me, you DON"T want to go to Norton's downtown!!!  Good luck!! Queen Deneen