Just saw this part of the forum and thought I'd give my surgeon some well deserved credit! Not only did the surgery go smoothly, but the pre and post op care was phenominal! If I have an issue, all I have to do is call or drop him an email and he gets back to me within a few hours. He called the day after surgery to check on me too! He's a great doctor and I would recommend him and his team at the Surgical Weight Loss Centre (SWLC) to anyone!

Wimic -- me too! I was banded August 18th by Dr. Cobourn -- love him! Can't recommend him enough!

How are you doing??

Hey toodypie!

I'm doing pretty well... Excited about starting soft foods again Wednesday! My incisions are just about healed now and I can sleep on my side again which makes me happy :smile: how are you doing post op??

PS... Dr. Cobourn originally offered me an appointment on Aug 18 too but it was too late for me to start the pre-op diet! I was banded on the 25th! Where are you from? I flew up from St. John's, NL!

That's so funny - we would have been on the same day! I am doing really well. I couldn't believe how much pain I did NOT have.....I only used tylenol.

I am in southern ontario, but I am from Nova Scotia. How many days did you have to stay in Mississauga before you travelled back to NL?

I started soft food this past week - such a relief from liquids and purees. How did you make out on the Optifast -- I could hardly stand it!

We flew into TO on Tuesday the 24th and back home on the 27th. I didn't have Optifast shakes... They recommended meditrim. It was HORRIBLE! I couldn't do it at all... I tried over and over again but the just turned me. I ended up using slimfast shakes instead.

Glad to hear you didn't have much pain. I was in rough shape for the first few days. Surgery was Wednesday and I took the liquid codeine they prescribed until Sunday. I started getting bad headaches so I switched over to liquid Tylenol instead and did okay with that. The worst part (by far) was the gas pain in my chest and shoulders. They repaired a hiatus hernia too so that may have caused more pain for me.... Unsure. I found it hard to breathe immediately post op because of the pulling feeling in my chest from the stitches to do the repair. That was pretty uncomfortable.

What part of NS are you from?

Meditrim - that's what I meant! OMG, wasn't it wretched??!! Icouldn't do it either. I ended up buying one from cosco that had a similar nutrition profile. I emailed them and asked if it was okay (and they said it wasn't), but I was literally gagging on the medifast after a couple of days. Ugh. Now I have a case of them in my basement....

I had a hernia repair too - I had no symptoms, no idea before hand! The gas pains were really bad, weren't they? I kept poppin' the old gas X and walked as much as I could. It was painful, but I think b/c I was expecting it to be SO horrible, it wasn't as bad as I anticipated, know what I mean?

Thats so funny! I wonder how many ppl do that?? I have a full case of meditrim left over too! LOL they told me that I shouldn't use slimfast when I asked about it too... But it's kinda funny that that's precisely what they suggested I use when my meditrim was 2 days late arriving and I was supposed to start my pre op diet! Either way I'm glad it worked out for us both in the end. I was worried about the few carbs that were in the slimfast... Seeing as how cutting out all carbs was essentially the basis of the pre op diet.

Yeah afterwards dr cobourn asked me if I had a lot of heartburn In the past and I said no... I was surprised that they repaired mine too seeing as how I had never had heartburn before in my life lol. Either way I guess it's probably precautionary. Better to solve any potential issues before they come to light. I had done a lot of research beforehand and most ppl said the pain wasn't too bad so I wasn't expecting much. It ended up being worse than I anticipated... I was expecting to only need a week off work to recover and I took two! I ended up getting really constipated from the codeine too so that in combination with the gas pain and my incisions aching and the headaches from the codeine... I was a bit of a pity case for the first week or so! Lol

Hey you two...I'm seeing Dr Coburn for the first time this Friday...I went to the Credit Valley Clinic last week and met Dr Woolfson...Wasn't very impressed...So I'm looking around.

Nice to hear your positive experiences...I have a Nov 19th date set if I go with Dr C.

I'm not telling work - so I get it done on a Friday and return to work that Monday following...YIKES!

I am planning on going to Dr. Chris as well and I just wondered if anyone wouldn't mind telling me the costs involved, iv had my over the phone meeting and am almost at my $1000 down payment goal. I'm reading that it cost $16,000 why was i told $5000 from his office? Is there something iv missed?

Hey MrsButler

I didn't end up going with Dr.C or even going to the office...I ended up going with Dr. Woolfson at the Credit Valley Clinic in Mississauga.

If you're getting the Lapband done it is $16,000 + they charge $200 for the Optifast shakes and after 5 yrs. you may apox. $100 for any fills or defills you may need.

The Credit Valley Clinic does not have these extra charges and they include a meeting with a personal trainer, Dietition, and a Phycologist. They also have a support group every 6 weeks at the clinic where all new/old banders meet.

So far I have been very impressed with the CVC and I'm glad I ended up going with them...They also have you meet with the Nurse (who also got banded there) and she goes over EVERYTHING with you and you then go and get your blood work - x-ray - ecg done...Sounds like a lot but they are very thorough...Good luck in your decision - CVC also had a payment plan through Medicare or like me I did a line of credit through my bank.

Good luck.

I am planning on going to Dr. Chris as well and I just wondered if anyone wouldn't mind telling me the costs involved, iv had my over the phone meeting and am almost at my $1000 down payment goal. I'm reading that it cost $16,000 why was i told $5000 from his office? Is there something iv missed?

It's been $16 000 at SWLC for years so not sure where you got the $5000 price from. You should definitely be double checking with whomever at the clinic gave you that price.

The only time I have heard of a $5000 fee being charged was when someone had their band placed out of country and then wanted SWLC to do their fills so the charge was $5000 for the follow up.