Has Anyone Has Their Surgery By Dr Bautista(Richmond)

I am interested in your opinion. I am also interested in finding out what he requires you to do before scheduling surgery. I have done the seminar, had my psych eval and have an appointment at his office next Friday(1/25/08). Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Well, you have to go to the classes which are 3 hrs for lapband and 4 hours for bypass. You will be on a 2 week pre-op diet to shrink your liver. Two meals will be SlimFast and one meal will be 4 ounces of lowfat lunch meat. You will also get to eat baby carrots and some green beans. Then you will have to do all the hospital pre-op stuff. If you have not met with office staff yet, your appointment Friday will be with one of the nurse practioners, probably Maya. They will talk to you about what surgery you want, explain everything to you, and begin the insurance process. Once approved by insurance for surgery they will schedule a date and set up your classes and pre-op. You get all the speciifcs about the pre-op diet at your class. Good luck. He's a great doctor and when you do finally have your apointment with you, he will spend alot of time talking to you about everything. BJ

Thank you. I know the insurance process will be fast, I have Anthem and also work for Anthem. What kind of pre-op testing do you do? How long after your first appointment with the nurse practitioner did you have to wait for your surgery date. Guess I am kind of anxious because it has taken me several years to make this decision. I have diabetes so am looking forward to the possibility of not having to take medication anymore as the side effects are rough at times. I want to have bypass.  I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to me and all the information. Nice having a response from someone that has been thru the procedure and has had the same doctor. Again thank you so much. Vicky

I have Anthem too and it does go thru fast. As soon as Anthem notifies Commonwealth Surgery that your surgery is approved, Bautista's office will send you a letter and you can call and schedule your sugery. It's gonna be about 2 months from getting approved and your surgery, but you will have a lot of stuff to do and the time will go quickly. Just getting everything squared away for surgery takes time; you have to get your protein drinks, supplements, etc. If you haven't done so, I urge you to strat coming to the support groups. I learned more at these meetings than anywhere else. The first Thursday of the month at 6:30pm is the pre-op and newly post-op (to 1 year) is a great place to get questions answered. This group is smaller than the second Thursday big "is it normal" meeting. BJ

Good morning!!   I am actually 6 days post op RNY with Dr. Bautista.  I agree with BJ--he is a great doctor.  I saw Maya for the consult on 10/15 and was approved by Anthem on 10/22--and surgery was scheduled for 1/10.  The process goes very fast with Anthem.  When they first gave me the surgery date I was a bit disappointed--but trust me--I needed all the time for the pre-op consults and tests-and the time FLEW BY!! As far as the pre-op consults.  I am sure that it will vary from patient to patient.  I had to see a cardiologist and a gastroenterologist.  Had testing ordered by both and actually didn't finish with all of the tests until 1/2/08. Best of luck to you-- all of the office staff is great and you are making a great decision for yourself!! Becky

Wow!! I hope mine goes as smoothly. It is great hearing from other people that have used Dr Bautista. I liked him alot when he did the seminar. he seemed very knowledgeable. Maybe I will get lucky and have surgery the beginning of March.................that would be the best birthday present I could give myself.  How are you doing post-op? Do you have any recommendations as far as what protein to get? I went to GNC this past weekend and checked out the Iso Pure but was told they didn't have any samples I could purchase..............that was a bummer. I kinda want to see what it tastes like before investing $50.00 on the big container. Did you have lap RNY?  

The only suggestion that i am going to give you is to really prepare a little more ahead than I did.  I am sorry to say that I did not get out there and try the protein options like I should have, and have paid the price the last few days.  I was using the carnation instant breakfast shake that they will tell you about and was having terrible gas and bloating.  I have never had a problem with lactose intolerance before and just thought that it was just how things were after surgery...WRONG!!  apparently lactose in large amounts is not a fit for me.  So I am scrambling now to find some alternatives.  They will give you some other suggestions...I plan to try the Boost glucose control today and will see how that goes-prior to surgery when I tried that one it seemed to cause a problem with stomach cramps--but I thought it was due to the soy.  I will give it a shot anyway.   Other than that....I am doing great!!  I did have LAP RNY, and actually slept in my own bed last night...on my side!!!  does life get any better??  I had been sleeping in the recliner and my back was starting to really bother me.  I weighed myself yesterday and have lost 9 lbs. since I left the hospital--which is actually a total weighloss so far of 19 lbs. since my pre-op physical on 12/27.  WOO HOO !!! I hope to increase this quite a bit since I have only been able to walk around the house and am REALLY looking forward to getting outside for a good stroll--it's a bit cold today though-so I will wait just a bit.   Keep me updated on your progress...I would love to hear from you. Becky