I called my drs office this morning to set up a fill as I am starting to gain weight and feel no/VERY little restriction. The receptionist told me that they have a new procedure where the pt comes in, gets weighed and fills out a questionaire before getting set up for a fill. Okay, sounded fine. Well, I went in, filled out the questionaire (very basic, like how often do you vomit, how much do you eat, how often do you exercise, etc) and got weighed (- and payed a copay). Then the nurse turned to me and said , see you, bye, we will call you. I was a little taken aback, and asked her was I to wait in the waiting room for the dr ? No she says, we will call you. I said about what? She then tells me that "they will consult", decide if I need a fill based on the questionaire and will call me to tell me when the next available date is.

BOY OH BOY!!! I do not like decisions being made about me, my body, my anything, without my personal input!! Right at this point one of the other surgeons walks past and overhears and interupts. He explains to me that many pts are mismanaging their fills and are requesting fills every 2 weeks, to the point that they are taking up all the slots and those pts that need fills are not able to get in. Mmmmm?!?

Thanks for letting me vent... any comments?

Oh, and, where did you get your band?

I had my band placed by Dr Albert Wetter, in San Francisco. I moved out there for about 15 months and came running home to Texas. I left, thinking he would be able to refer me directly to someone he knew would see me. That didn't work out exactly how he lead me to believe or how I envisioned. Now, I'm having issues and I seriously need a doctor. Looks like I'll have to see Veninga since he's on my insurance and the others aren't interested.

I've only heard good things about him, though, so that's good.

Leatha

Does Veninga still do bariatrics? There is one more here locally-(Plano Presby) Dr Horrileno- does mainly Roux-en-y here , but has done a few bands too.

There are actually tons of surgeons who do em here in DFW, but the issue is getting one to take you on as a pt?

Exactly.

Dr Benavides saw me and was quite happy to take me as a patient, however, SCOR was not contracted with my insurance. So that fixed that.

Veninga has started doing bands and I've ready many testimonials by patients that seem to love him. I'm a bit leary of anyone who hasn't done lots and lots of bands but what choice do I have? I could fly back to San Francisco, but I really need to establish a doc here and he sounds like he's the guy.

Wish me luck!

Leatha

Good luck, Leatha!! So sorry about your slippage, but glad you're going to be able to have it fixed!