I am new to the forum and have a couple and problems I have ran into. I spoke with Trish(she is a wonderful lady) and we tried to get the ok from Dr Kelly and the hospital for the gastric sleeve surgery. My BMI is 32.5. She received the ok from Dr Kelly but the hospital would not ok it. Has anyone else run into this problem. She said I could gain more weight (which I don't want to, too get to 34 BMI), or find someone else to do the surgery in which she gave me a different Dr.'s name. I am set on using Dr Kelly and am looking for any advice from someone who may have answers for me. I have to loose approx. 60 lbs and have been struggling for over 15 years.

Thanks so much.

I'm here in the florence Hospital getting sleeved TOMORROW my BMI is currently 30, I have been training 4x a week and running daily since august when I booked the surgery.

I was told I was actually encouraged to lose what weight I reasonably could before surgery, as it's about your starting BMI. 32 may be low for obesity, but I doubt that would disqualify you at all. I was 32-33 when I called dr. Kelly and it was no issue.

My BMI was 32 when I had my surgery on August 22, 2011. You should try speak to Dr. Kelly directly and see what he can do.

Brittany good luck with your surgery. Thank you for the information. I really have my heart set on the surgery, I am done spending time and money on every diet and always failing. I thought maybe their was a higher risk with people with lower BMI but I don't see how that could be.

Pamblam I don't want to step on toes with Trish but don't know what to do. Is it possible to speak to Dr. Kelly? How has your weightloss been since your surgery? I can't wait to get it done and get on with my life.

You can call and get a call back from dr. Kelly, I have yet to meet Trish but to my knowledge she is one of his main coordinators. I am just 1 hour away from surgery myself!

Hello 04 Kids....I just sent you a private message. Hopefully talk to you soon!!

I have to tell you, there is some truth to the suspicions behind florence hospital not allowing "low BMI" patients.

Just 10 minutes prior to surgery a female dr. I had never met came in and coldly told me "we will not approve this surgery for you, you cannot have surgery here", as my tears came down (I've had this scheduled since august, sold my car, and scheduled my whole year around it!) she actually said "why dont you just get liposuction?"....isn't that sort of like telling a person with skin cancer to go buy concealor? :0

Needless to say, I was outraged, but dr. Kelly faught for me and I had my surgery. Apparently this happens to a lot of patients under 40 bmi at Florence Hospital.

Dr. Kelly and staff are AMAZING. I do not know who the female dr. with short curly auburn hair is, but her cold treatment of me was really disturbing.

I had 30 bmi on the nose and was at Almater Hospital with Dr. Aceves--no problem. They put my surgery last of the day. I think I was the easiest case that day. I know i had the best recovery. No pain meds needed, and up and walking that day. (as soon as the epidural wore off.) So far i have lost 14 lbs in 13 days--yeah!!!

Maybe I will have to look into another Dr. I appreciate all the help everyone has given me.

I ultimately had the surgery at my 30 BMI- Dr. Kelly was supportive and willing to do my surgery every step of the way, it was the woman who represented florence Hospital/Oasis of Hope that came in 10 minutes prior to surgery to coldly tell me "I do not authorize this surgery".

I had my surgery.

It saddens me that someone could do this, and this person is also talking to terminal cancer patients (it's primarily a cancer treatment hospital).

Dr. Kelly is great, no problems! I am apparently allergic to the antibiotic I'm on, but that's no fault of his.

I also had my surgery at a low bmi with Dr. Kelly. I also had a male doctor try to talk me out of the surgery..... I stuck to my guns and told him that I was not going to struggle for the rest of my life. I was pretty snooty to him and he took the hint and left the room after he was done his tests. He didn't stick around and shoot the breeze with me as he did with the other ladies that were down there around the same time as me.

Dr. Kelly was great, and I think he is probably one of the best VSG surgeons out there, but I also think there are some communication issues between the hospital staff, the other doctors and Dr. Kelly. If you have your heart set on Dr. Kelly, just call his office. Most of us have his email address and office phone number.

I had surgery with Dr. Kelly in August... both my friend and I had lower BMI's and no one ever said anything about it. In my opinion this is a wonderful option for lower bmi patients. And really.. obese is obese... if you have a bmi of 30 you are obese and should have some choices. Telling someone to gain weight to qualify for this surgery is ludicrous. Dr. Kelly was great with my friend and I are doing wonderfully! Good luck!

I just spoke to me one of his coordinators at A Lighter Me and she told me Dr. Kelly was moving to a better, more supportive hospital within 30 days.

I do not know which one, but I can imagine he is not too excited about patients being harassed moments prior to surgery, after they've travelled all this way and had their heart set on this life changing surgery with him.

She (the coordinator from ALM) apologized, but it's not their fault or Dr. Kelly's.

I was an exact 30 BMI when Dr. Kelly did my surgery (I've actually only lost a pound in these first 10 days ...) and he happily did my surgery.

My BMI was 35 and I had 60lbs to lose. No problems with approval and no problems while I was there. I love Dr. Kelly. I used "A Lighter Me".

Dr Kelly is moving to a hospital called Mi Doctor. In December this is where he will be.