Ok Banded pro's this is my first time posting , I would like to know if n e 1 has been banded in columbus, ohio at the Mt. Carmel hospital and if so how was your experience? I have just sent in my first set of paper work to be approve by their Dr. Also they are charging $300.00 for administrator fee (paper pushing to the Ins.), not to mention I will have to spend another $200.00 for their nutritionist and this $500.00 is not covered by my insurance:faint: . Are fee's normal? I was just wondering because I feel as much as the surgery cost, these things should be included! N E help would be nice

Good luck today guys!!!! I'm thinking of all of you and wishing you speedy recoverys! {{{HUGS}}}

Thinking of my fellow shrinking shams...hope all is well today with you! Happy GREEN thought sent to you!

n.

YOUR DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIEVED!! I'm praying for a non~eventful surgery for each one of you today. {{{{{HUGS}}}}}

Hi 1 day old bandsters!!!! I hope your surgery was very boring you you had no problems. Congrats. let us know how everything went, ok??

not to change the subject but i just got back from dr chobans office and i am not happy.

first off the waiting room was full. found out she was running an hour and a half behind.

then they tell me i am not on the schedule. i have been known to get my dates mixed up but my appt card definitely says 3/18 at 11:15.

the good news is i can leave and dont have to wait an hour and a half.

but get this---now i cant even get in to see her till may 15. two months.

great. my vacation will already be over. the original plan that i discussed with her was that i would come in before my vacation and have half of the liquid removed from my band, so i could eat on my cruise and enjoy the food. scratch that brilliant idea.

but the whole scenario just had a bad feeling. what if i really, really felt like i needed an adjustment? i would have to suffer 2 months?

if she wants me in there every 6 weeks i better start scheduling 2 or 3 appts at the same time so i can be sure to get in on time.

apparantly not only do they need to hire someone to help Charlene, they now need to hire more doctors.

wow, with the loss of Michelle, and now having to wait 2 months for a fill, I am really getting a little worried about the program. I was wondering if I could schedule my first fill now...maybe I will call and ask.

On a brighter note...I called today to check on Special K, and she was already discharged! I can't wait to hear about how the three amigos did!

niki--yes, i would call now and schedule your first fill.

if you do, let me know when your appt is. maybe they get "first fillers" in sooner. i would be curious to know.

Hey Debbie~ I'm sorry you had a problem with your appt. today. Is there any way you could get in to see Dr. Price or Miller? Its kinda strange that should happen to you. At the siminar last week Dr. Choban was saying she had a pt that was going to have an unfill for her cruise. She said she was happy to do the unfill because you could get something stuck and not be near a doctor who understood the band and they could do possible damage to your port. When she was talking about this, I said to DH..... I bet shes talking about Debbie, and I'm glad to hear she's good with this because we go on a cruise every year.

BTW~ Is this your first cruise?? I hear Disney is wonderful. What are your ports of call?? We are gonna do eastern caribbean next time. We have only been to the western caribbean... Grand Cayman, Cancun, Calica, Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan Island, Honduras. I LOVE IT ALL!! If I had it my way we would live in the caribbean...... but we have those darn kids and grandbabies. I never get to do anything I wanna do!

Wow Debbie, I swear that I heard them talking about you today at the front desk! I had my final appointment with Dr. Choban at 12:30pm today, and they were talking about the mess up with you. For what it is worth, they all felt very bad about it. I am so sorry that you have to wait 2 months, that is unacceptable. The program is expanding so fast, I hope that they are up to the challenge. Michelle did tell me that they have a few very solid candidates that they are interviewing immediately, so they are hoping to have someone in place quickly.

On another note, I can't wait to hear from our newly banded Shamrocks! I am sure that they are all home recovering and feeling fabulous! I look forward to hearing about their experience! Come on 3/31!!!!

Special K here checking in from home.! Did just fine and I am so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight and not being awake every hour on the hour to go to the bathroom or get blood pressure, temperature taken.

Debbie - I think I know what happened to you. Sue, Greg and I were all 2 hours behind schedule getting our surgery yesterday. Dr. Price and Choban may have been working together or something because there apparently was a really difficult case (GB I think) earlier in the day that threw the whole schedule off. Anyway, we got through it and that's what counts.

Dr. Price told me to call tomorrow and schedule my surgeon follow up appt and 1st fill. Dr. Choban stopped by my room right before I left and said she may have Melissa Webb, RN bariatric coordinator do the fills possibly to help out. I'm going to call and see what I find.

Last, Melissa did check on me before I left and she said they are making progress hiring a new bariatric nutritionist and that we should just call back in a week or so and we should get into a post-op class okay.

Glad to hear from you Special K, I am so excited that everything went well!!!! I bet you are so excited that you are home. I am dreading the overnight stay, as I sleep like crap when I am not in my own bed. My prayers and good wishes are with you!!!

(fyi formerly redbone0528, I was inspired to change, just like us and the seasons!!!)

lisa,

you wont have any trouble sleeping that night in the hospital. you are pretty out of it because of all the anesethia and drugs!!!

i would wake up for a few minutes and be right back to sleep.

Welcome home SpecialK! Glad to hear all went well and you are home in your own bed!

Sue checking in from home also! Feeling great and glad to be home.

Hi all, It's the third amigo checking in. As Kathi said, Monday started out as less than stellar. My 1:30 surgery time ended up being about 4:15. I finally got into my room at 7:00. Then they said Dr. Choban would be in to see me at 8:00 this morning. That ended up being 1:00 PM, at which time she told me I could go home ... BUT, after waiting an hour and 40 minutes for discharge papers, I finally tracked somebody down. They couldn't find my nurse, so somebody else ended up doing the final instructions. Next - "somebody will be right here with a wheelchair." After waiting another 10-15 minutes, I finally just walked out on my own. Surgery went fine, but I had the ever-popular gas pain in the upper abdomen, and every time I went for a walk, the pain moved up into my left shoulder. It finally went away, but now I'm coping with the pain in the port area. I hadn't had any pain meds since 7:00 this morning, but I finally broke down and took some codeine this evening. The biggest pain was all of the waiting - but at least it's all over ... or should I say, "The journey is just beginning!"