marie715

Hi,

I am soooo glad to have found another Dr. Sarker patient. Please, let's keep in touch! I am finished with all the pre-ops except the 6 month supervised diet. How did you fulfill that requirement? Weight watchers?

One of my concerns about Loyola is that they will not have the post-op support that I think is really, really important. Dr. Sarker told me that after she does the surgery, it is up the patient to decide when to return and get fills. I attended the monthly support group meeting in May and would you believe that NO ONE showed up? Not even the psychiatrist who is the leader of the group! It was supposed to start at 6:30pm. At 6:25pm, I called her cell phone and told her that no one else was there besides me. She goes 'Oh, um, oh, ummm, well, yea, I'll be there in 5 minutes.' After 15 minutes I called her back and said 'I'm going home now.' I didn't want to talk to her anyways. I want to speak with people who are living with the lap band. She said 'Well, maybe next month more people will come.' I told her I wasn't going to come next month on the off-chance that someone else would be there. I work in Elk Grove Village and live in Villa Park so it is a little inconvenient to be driving to the Maywood campus.

I made a contact with a woman who lives in Wheaton who has had a lap band for 5 years. She's been real supportive and telling me how it really is to live with the lap band. She's lost 100 pounds but has been stalled for a little while in loosing more. She had her surgery done at Loyola also but by Dr. Sayani (sp?) who is no longer there.

I have to get ready for work now but I would love to write you again and keep in touch and compare notes on our Loyola experiences. Definitely let me know how your experience has been with Dr. Sarker's office and getting the insurance information all pulled together and sent off.

Thanks so much for contact me. Take care.

Marie Nixon