"I was in recovery for 7 hours because they had to clean a room to move me into. My wife was reprimanded for sitting in a chair. The room was wonderful, like a penthouse suite. Hardly anyone checked up on me. Upon pressing the nurse call button, 20 minutes would pass before someone would come over the intercom. They invariably would say they would send someone down. Maybe an hour or 2 would pass before anyone came. No one came to get me out of bed to walk. I just did it myself because I knew I should. It was almost surreal. Thank God my wife was there in the room with me. I was discharged at 8:30am but didn't leave until 1pm waiting for my IV to be removed."
"Dr. Bass gets a 10 from me. I met with him several times during pre-op. My insurance company required 3 months and I first met Dr. Bass during a presentation that he gave about Lapbanding. It was very informative with slides and even guest speakers that had had the surgery. Dr. Bass is very friendly and down to earth. His staff is awesome too. He has a person dedicated to working with the insurance companies and another dedicated to meeting with you to get all of your appointments made (nutritionist, psych, exercise, etc.).rnrnThe only downside was that he was 2 hours away (although he has staff here locally). He also comes over here once a month and is trying to get surgical rights at a local hospital. I had my surgery done at his hospital 2 hours away.rnrnmy impression only improved over time.rnrnlike least - I actually liked that he was very casual (Hawaiian shirt, etc.), though some may not like that??rnrnemphasize aftercare - he provides an entire manual on aftercare, specific diet post and pre-op, symptoms, phone numbers, etc.rnrnstructured aftercare - support groups, follow-upsrnrnaddress risks - he was very upfront about risks, described all in detail, although, I had some problems that I didn't know about. Apparently the connection from my esophagus to my stomach is abnormally restricted?? They had a hard time deflating my stomach?? during surgery. I had some blood in my mouth upon waking, but they (anesthesiologist and Dr. Bass) explained it right away. no pain.rnrnsurgical competence - hard to rate surgical competence (I was asleep! and also, have nothing to compare it to!), although I can say I have very minimal pain at the site. Of the 5 holes in my abdomen, 2 are literally holes and the other 3 are incisions ranging from 1/2\" to 2-1/4\". They seem bigger than I expected, but I had minimal pain. He has done 100s of these and I have no criticism.rnrnThe biggest problem I had was extreme nausea for 60 hours after surgery. Pure misery. I was light and sound sensitive and couldn't/didn't want to talk, read, watch tv or anything. I had trouble lying down and had dry heaves. I called Dr. Bass and he immediately phoned in an anti-nausea medication for me. However, it didn't seem to help. Then I woke up this morning and feel 1000 times better, although I am not 100%, maybe 85-90%."
