Voravit Wongsa Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

I have not met Dr. Jayakumar yet, however I have a doctor's appointment with my PCP to get a referral to see Dr. Jayakumar. I will update after my consultation.

March 14, 2001

I received a referral from my PCP and called Dr. Jayakumar's office for an appt. I was referred to Kathy at NeWeigh. Apparently, NeWeigh handles all Dr. Jayakumar's insurance claims/approvals. Kathy was very helpful and advised that she would call my insurance company to see if they cover this surgery, then she would call me back to schedule an appointment if they do cover the surgery.

March 20, 2001

Carla with NeWeigh called to schedule my first intake appointment. I am so excited. I am diligently working on my history and getting medical records. Kathy and Carla have both been wonderful. I have an appointment to see Dr. Jayakumar in April and hope all goes well with the insurance coverage and then on to a healthier me!

April 4, 2001

After talking with several people through this site, I decided to go with Dr. Wongsa because I felt he had been doing the Lap RNY longer with a perfect record of not having to "open" any of his patients up during the Lap procedure. I had a consultation with Dr. Wongsa yesterday and he was great. He answered all my questions and all my husband's questions and I did not feel rushed by him at all. I feel really confident that he is a good surgeon and a good choice for me to do my surgery. He does not have an aftercare program, but gave me alot of information for success during the meeting. He was very nice, but stern about certain things, i.e. compliance with the eating habits. He stressed how important and hard it is going to be do modify my behavior, but was sure I could do it. His nurse Ruth was very helpful and she is arranging all the tests that I will need. Only upper GI, which is pretty bad, but no psych evaluation or sonogram. I came extremely prepared for this first visit, i.e. medical history, previous physician records, diet history, etc. Ruth advised that since I already gave that stuff to her she would send it with the Dr. letter and they may approve me faster. I still need to get surgical clearance from my PCP, but that is no problem. Once I have my upper GI and get approval, Ruth advised that it should only be 1-2 weeks to get the surgery. I would strongly recommend Dr. Wongsa and his staff.

April 6, 2001
Dr. Wongsa's office is great! It has only been 2 days since my consultation and they are already faxing my paperwork to Aetna. Ruth is very nice and patient.

April 19, 2001

I talked to Ruth and advised that I was approved. She gave me a choice of surgery dates, and due to some other commitments, I opted for May 24, 2001! Yeah! I can hardly wait. In 4 1/2 weeks I will be on my way to being healthier and happier. Dr. Wongsa's office was very helpful and Ruth has already scheduled my tests and pre-op interview.

I had my consult with Dr. Wongsa on 2/26/01. I called the Friday befor and was told I could be seen that Monday. What a shock! I drove all the way to Houston from Austin and it was well worth it. He is awesome. He explained everything to me in great detail and in my opinion made sure that I was mentally as well as physically ready for the surgery. As far as a support group. I am not going to go to Houston for that. He said that he is not in any way against them. But he wants his patients to know that he is their primary support. He was adament that he wants to help us with any questions we have. What an awesome man. Oh yeah and his office returns calls in a timely manner. WOW!
Really I do not have anything negative to say. I guess maybe the only thing which freaked me out was that I drove all that way and got there 1/2 hour early and the office was closed (lunch time) I thought maybe I came on the wrong day. (Because most doctors cannot get you in for WEEKS) But no I called and got his answering service and found out that the staff was at lunch.


4/15/01
I wanted to add that I have called and bugged my surgeons office many times since 2/26/01. I never ever was treated badly and all my calls were either taken right there or returned the same day. Ruth is just awesome. She has filled out paperwork for time off for my husband, mom, and I. Never any complaints. I cannot say enought about my surgeon or his staff. I have never encountered a more caring Doctors office.

I have talked to almost every surgeon's office in Houston. I finally chose Dr Wongsa based on the fact that he does lap rny and he does not have as long of a wait as some others. I have also read very good things about him here on this site. I have my first appointment on the 29th. I have already filled out my forms and faxed them to his office. I hope the approval time is not long from Aetna.

1/29/01 - Had a consultation with Dr. Wongsa today. He was very friendly and answered any of my questions. I had already researched this and was pretty well informed. He basically recapped what I knew and did an examanation. He says I am a good candidate for Lap RNY. He is sending in my paperwork to Aetna. Now we wait.

4-13-01 - I did not see Dr Wongsa before my surgery date. He arrived at the Hospital all sincere and caring. He wanted to know if I needed anything before surgery. I saw him 2 - 3 times a day after surgery. I think he is a caring surgeoon and he knows what he is doing. I would suggest him to anyone.

I thought Dr. Wongsa was WONDERFUL. He was very personable and put me at ease. I was very impressed with him. He took alot of time with me, and did not make me feel like I was "bothering" him with my list of questions! I felt he was very open and honest with me.

His office staff has been very nice to deal with too. Ruth has always been very easy to talk to and is always ready to help in any way I need.

I met with Dr. Wongsa back in Early February. I had to wait about 30 minutes while he finished up with a couple of other patients. So, while we were waiting, I got the opportunity to talk to 2 other recent patients of his, 1 on a 1 week followup, the other about 4 months post. The patient that was 1 week post was bouncing off the walls, full of energy and not feeling the affects at all. Very impressive and she told us before she left that she'd lost 8 lbs that first week. Fantastic. The 4 months post was down about 60 lbs and she too looked fantastic and full of energy! These 2 ladies sold me on Dr. Wongsa even before I met him.
After a detailed history with both Ruth, his assistant, and Dr. Wongsa, the doctor spent a good deal of time going over the surgery, the benefits, risks and possible complications. I have a cardiac history with a valve replacement a couple of years ago, so Dr. Wongsa is having another doctor monitor my blood thinners from 1 week pre to 1 week post op.
Wongsa doesn't believe in support groups personally, but seems very open and seems willing to do whatever he can to make this a success.
Ruth, his assistant, has been a dream. She got us approved with BC/BS of Mass. pretty quickly, then when I switched insurance companies because of a job change, she said, "no problem" and got the second approval from United Healthcare of TX just as quickly.
When I was having some tests done for this surgery, the x-ray techs said Dr. Wongsa has about 6 people per week in for tests. I don't know if this is a high number or not. The hospital folks think very highly of him.

Dr. Wongsa was great. He answered all my questions and never tried to rush me. He is the surgeon for me. Ruth has been great. She gave me names of of doctors to get my medical clearance and set up all my pre-op at the hospital

I have been researching WLS since the beginning of January 2001. I've considered several different doctors, but after meeting Dr. Wongsa on 3/23/01, I'm convinced he's the doctor for me. I appreciated the fact that I could get an appointment to see him within a week of my initial phone call. The office staff was very friendly and helpful. I met other people in his waiting room that had wonderful things to say about him and the surgery. It was important to me to have someone who was experienced with the Laparoscopic RNY. His success rate seems to be very good. He does not really push any sort of aftercare program besides following his instructions. This is fine with me, since I live about 3 hours away.

DR WONGSA IS FABULOUS. I FIRST MET WITH DR. J AT NEWEIGH. I WAS NOT IMPRESSED AT ALL. HE DID NOT ANSWER ALL OF MY QUESTIONS AND I HAD TO WAIT 4 HOURS TO JUST SEE HIM. DR. WONGSA SAW ME, SPOKE WITH ME, AND EXAMINED ME ALL WITHIN 1 HOUR. HIS OFFICE IS SCHEDULING THE NECESSARY TESTS AT THE HOSPITAL, UNLIKE NEWEIGH WHERE I HAD TO DO ALL THAT MYSELF. HE WAS VERY PERSONABLE AND I APPRECIATED HIS SENSE OF HUMOR. I FEEL VERY COMFORTABLE WITH MY DECISION TO GO WITH WONGSA INSTEAD OF DR. J. WHILE I WAS WAITING IN THE OFFICE I SPOKE WITH OTHER PATIENTS AND THEY WERE ALL VERY POSITIVE ABOUT DR. WONGSA. MY FIRST IMPRESSION OF THIS DOCTOR WAS GREAT.

Dr. Wongsa was very knowledgeable. He made sure that all my questions and all my husband's questions were answered. I liked the fact that he does Lap RNY and he is good at it. The office staff was very nice. Ruth is very helpful and had the Insurance approval within Days of my visit.

Very knowledgable,...fortunately for me I know a couple of his other patients and they have faired well. His nurse Ruth was rather helpful she schedule everything for me. As busy as I am that was a big help. I don't think he has a big aftercare program and his post-op diet is very vague. He explained thoroughly the possible complications to surgery, but remained optimistic. As, I said before I don't have any reserves about him cause I've had the opportunity to see the after affects of his work in at least two of his other patients. Over I feel he is the right choice for me.