FOUND A FILL DOCTOR!-HAVE QUESTIONS..

I FINALLY found a doctor that will do fills on patents that he didn't perform the surgery on.....I actually found TWO! Here's my situation...... The first one charges $3000 (floro extra) for unlimited fills for life.  This is a one time cost and it is the ONLY way he will see you......he has been doing banding for a few years now and is quite well known in the area....it ALL he does. The other is fairly new to banding and runs a plastic surgery clinic that does other stuff as well, charges a one time $250 fee, then $100/fill.  The receptionist didn't even know what floro was...so I'm assuming this isn't an option. My plan was to go to the cheaper doctor and see if he seems to know what he is doing and if he doesn't work out, then go to the expensive one. I think the $3000 is a HUGE rip off unless I have 30 fills.... has ANYONE here had 30 fills?...even in a lifetime, that seems like a LOT! What I want is an experienced doctor that does floro and doesn't RIP PEOPLE OFF!!! Thoughts? ALSO...how long after surgery can you have your first fill?

The standard is first fill at six weeks post-op IF you need it (some but not many people have restriction from the band itself).  $3000 is a huge upfront commitment and one I personally wouldn't make.  If the other doc has a good rep I would try him out.  Fluoro is not required for most fills (I have never had one) and giving fills is a pretty simple procedure (my last one was done by my PA not my surgeon and she did great!). Best of luck!

I agree with Caeli B.  $3000 is outrageous.  I am going back to Mexico for my first fill next week.  Just want my surgeon to make sure everything is as it should be.  Then I have someone to do my fills for $200 each time.  I think that is very reasonable.  Give the cheaper doctor a chance. Cassandra

that's a lot of $ ! Do you mean $3000 CND - that's about $2500 US and not quite so bad...) Exactly what do you get for that? Only fills? Or will he see you regularly for nutrition counselling, emotional support, exercise guidance, etc - Followup from our docs must involve a LOT more than simply fills! That's only a small part of it. One of the docs near here also charges $3000 for following another docs' clients, but this involves an initial fluoro and complete exam, regualr nutrition classes for life, exercsie classes, being seen every 6 weeks, fill and unfills as needed, support groups, etc. THAT would be worth it, imo. "Life" is a long time! In addition to the maybe 10-12 fills/unfills you might need over the next - say - 3 yrs, it may be that we will need a yearly fill top-off for life , along with the yearly exam and fluoro we know we need already. This just isn't known yet, but some research is showing it may be true. This would matter, in this case.  The less-experienced fill doc also causes me some concern. It takes a very long time doing fills to become very excellent. I wonder where he got his fill training, since Inamed trains only band surgeons. Is he just doing a few fills on the side to make extra $$ ? If so, and he has not done many, does not do them very regularly, does not have specific fill training, does not know how to read fluoros well, etc - you could easily need 10 fills/unfills in the next 12-18 mo. Plus all ther screwing around could easily lead to a tubing puncture. I'd ask this guy how many fills he has done so far, and how many a week and month now.

No easy answers for you in this situation! What were you planning to do when you chose Dr. Joya? Go back there for fills? or ? Sandy R

$3000cdn=$2700usd My initial idea was to have my GP do the fills.... I have a disk designed by a well known Lap-Band doctor specifically designed to teach family doctors to do fills on rural patents that live too far away from their surgeon to go for fills.   However now that I have had the surgery, and the more I read this forum, I'm not keen on the idea of having my family doctor (who is my age-30) poking around down there (potentially doing damage) having never done it before.  I at least want my FIRST few fills to be by someone with experience.   I'm glad I went to Mexico to have surgery, but I did it because of necessity, not because I wanted to and now am starting to regret it a bit, not because anything's wrong with Mexico, but because there's something wrong with Canada's doctors refusing patents as a form of punishment for their decision. 

I think a lot of us who had our surgery in Mexico are in the same boat Ryhan.  I had resigned myself to going back for each fill til I found the doc who agreed to take me.  She was banded in Mexico herself so knows what we are up against.  I also suggest you try the Canadian forum and don't give up.  There are a lot of Canadians who went to Mexico and they are surely using someone for fills. Cassandra

You're in the same difficult position many MX clients are - many of us are also held hostage by the US docs who will not fill MX clients.  I agree with your idea to have at least the first few fills done by someone very experienced, if at all possible. You might call Dr Joffe in toronto and ask for his excellent coordinator, Kathy. Ask her if she knows of any local fill docs who might help you.  SAndy R

should I really wait 6 weeks for my first fill?  I had my appointment booked for 4 weeks... should I extend that out?

Yes and are you sure you actually need one? When did you surgeon tell you to go back onto solids? Make sure you're eating solids with no problems for a couple of weeks before adding saline... Nancy

hi ryan, i paid out of pocket so i am probably not a good one to ask.. my set fee for fills, dr.visits, nutrition counselling was 5,000. They all overcharge.. i work in ins. and the amount submitted to us for a fill is 73.00 we pay 53.00 if this tells you anything??? you deffinately want someone with exprience. i never get fluro with fills and a nurse practioner does the fill but she is a bandster herself so she is full of knowledge! one major selling point for you should be how much they will fill you at a visit. for instance my dr. will only allow 1/2 cc at a time and then they get even more stingey with the saline and will only give 0.2 at a time. this = alot of fills, time, missing work etc... if you go with out fluro have them flush your port so you get the satisfaction of knowing it is in the band!!! find out if your 3,000 dr. is unlimited dr. visits as well then it would be not so bad. I wanted a fluro to check band placement and was told it would be at least another $1,500.00. I hope this helps, I would like to know which one you go with and see how you are doing. shari