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Friend of mine is considering sleeve surgery. Anyone have any recommendations for dr in Orlando?

Hi Missy,

The doc selection may vary based upon her payment source -- self pay vs. insurance. If she has insurance then she may be restricted to only doctors that practice at centers deemed by the insurance company to be a center of excellence. Or she may have no restrictions at all. I have UHC and my employer opted for their Bariatric Resource Program. So I have restrictions regarding which docs/facilities I can select.

I'm in Tampa, but I considered going to ORMC's Bariatric Center that is headed by Dr. Jawad because I don't like Tampa General. People on various boards really seem to like him. There is also a good program at Ocala Regional headed by Dr. Ramos. I contacted both practices and opted not to use either of them.

Dr. Ramos' practice (Central FL Surgical Svcs) wanted me to get a referral from my PCP. Why? She has nothing to do with my surgery and it isn't an insurance requirement. It's not that I don't like her.... I don't like paying $75 for an office visit that I don't need just to get a referral. Then you really have to watch out for Jawad.... I made an appointment at their office and was told the first visit would consist of a group session, a consult with the physician and a discussion with the insurance coordinator to review my benefit coverage. No issues so far. They sent me a link for the paperwork and on the last page was an acknowledgement that the group session would be billed to my insurance and if it was not covered by my insurance, I would be responsible for the $200/250 fee. This was a new one for me. Basically the info sessions provided at ORMC are free. But if you book an appointment directly with the office, they charge the $200 fee for the session to be conducted there.

If insurance isn't an issue then she might want to start researching hospitals and use their doc find search function for a list of either Bariatric Surgeons or General Surgeons that practice Bariatrics. Some people prefer certain hospitals over others.

I opted for US Bariatrics in St. Augustine -- Flagler Hospital.

Hope this helps.

Ally

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
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