Dr Averbach - LAP BAND

I am just looking to chat with people who have had the Lap Band procedure done by Dr Averbach.  Did you like him?  His staff?  Follow-up care?  Did you lose the weight? 

I am in the process of getting all my documentation together.  Have 3 months from a dietician/physician supervised diet and am starting my 2nd 3 months at Weigh****chers tonight.

Wanting advice and tips and whatever you have to offer up!

Thanks,

Anna

i've got no info for you about Dr A or lap band but i wanted to welcome you!

Thanks!   Seems there is A LOT to do to get this thing underway.  I am happy to be working on it though -- doing something instead of just getting fatter!!  lol

I will continue to report my status as I go

Welcome to MD board.  I had Dr. A but had RNY not Lap Band.  Dr. A is WONDERFUL, and so is his staff.  They are always there for you, and help in anyway you need.  He is a wonderful surgeon too.  I had my surgery with him the end of Sept and I am down 83 lbs.  Him and his staff are very accessible, I've emailed him questions on weekends when I didn't know what to do, and he ALWAYS answers me within a couple hours.  I can't say enough good things about him.

Good luck in your journey!

I had my GBS with Dr A 11/30/06. He is wonderful and IMHO goes above and beyod for his patients and so does his staff.

I am having a hard time with his staff -- I am pre op and no one will return my calls or let me know what I need to do -- I am horribly frustrated.   I dropped off my medical records the other day and the receptionist asked if my name was on them??  Very peculiar question since every page of a medical record is tagged with your name , ss# and birthdate. 
I am starting to wonder if I should just go somewhere else as I feel the staff is incomptent to help me get through this??  It would be NICE if I had someone's email -- The scheduling person NEVER answers her phone and has only returned 2 out of about 10 calls I have made to her. 

Advice?  I am open to suggestions.   All I need to do to be ready for insurance and surgery is my psych eval and nutritionist appt --

what do you mean "what you need to do:"  what kind of questions are you asking when you leave messages?

for us we went for our first appointment and were given a LIST of things to do.  and we are working our way through them.


our tasks are doctor imposed not insurance mandated so I'm not sure if it's different and while we are in the same office we are working with DVR's staff.

I am going through the list -- just not sure the office is recieving my records of the things that I am doing - -medical records strung out all over the place have been sent to Averbach. I am just curious if they have recieved them because if they have then I am ready for insurance pre- detrimination -- I have jumped through the hoops just having a hard time getting a response back from the office to see if they are submitting to insurance.   

Maybe my experience is just a fluke.   From now on, I will have everything released to me so I can keep copies to delivery personally to the Doctor. 

Just frustrated and would like some hand holding....not a big deal.

I will put on my big girl pants, suck it up and figure it out!  I am so ready for this procedure so I think I have just become impatient.

we were told that test results would be gone over with us at our montly appointments and not to call and check on it.  I guess since we are nowhere near setting a surgery date i'm ok with that.

My situation sounds  a little different since I should already have everything needed to be approved.  I dont know anything about monthly appointments -- is that your supervised diet?  I did that somewhere else.  I think my best bet is to make an appt with Dr Averbach soon to see if anything still needs to be done.

Good luck to you...