I had my Banding done by Dr. Fernando Miranda at Twelve Oaks Hospital in Houston.

I chose this doc and this hospital because they are both certified by Bariatric Centers of Excellence.

Dr. Miranda is awesome. He told me ahead of time that he takes his time during surgery (mine was over an hour) and has a liberal fill philosophy. I did have to do a 10 day liquid pre-op diet to shrink liver, on which I easily lost mucho pounds.

The only thing I did not like about Dr. Miranda's procedure is that immediately after surgery, they woke me up and wheeled me to an xray room where I had to swallow barium and then stand in front of the xray machine... with no meds. I was beggin for meds, but they told me that I needed to be awake enough to stand. So much pain, almost unbearable. I had to do TWO barrium swallos and TWO xrays before they gave me a shot of morphine and took me to recovery. For this reason, I cannot reccomend this surgeon. But maybe if you talk to him about this (I didn't know this would happen) you can work something out so that it is done a different way. No one else I have seen on this board had to do such a test immediately after surgery without any meds.

As for Twelve Oaks Hospital. In no way can I reccomend it. They messed up on everything from pre-op to discharge. When I was there for pre-op testing, I had to wait for HOURS because they had no orders from my doctor, who was not in his office that day. Then, I overheard a nurse telling the addmissions people that for Bariatric patients, there are standing orders, so no individual orders necessary. I was furious! Getting all the testing done was a huge hassle- no one was ready for me in any department. The nurses during my overmnight stay for surgery were great. But when it came to discharge, I had to wait HOURS because they misunderstood the orders. This hospital is a dump. The rooms are dumpy, even the OR was dumpy.

Again, just to clarify, the only problem I had with Miranda was the barium swallow. He is an excellent doctor and such a great bedside manor! This guy needs to get to a real hospital though! There are so many nice hospitals in Houston, I cannot understand why he goes for Twevle Oaks.

Please PM me if you need more information about anything I have written here.

With any Dr. you are going to have to do a barium swallow. They have to make sure everything looks ok. I don't see that as a reason to not recommend a Dr.

Without any pain meds whatsoever? From the table to immediately standing in front of the xray?

I have not found this to be the case. I am an active reader/poster on the April thread, and no one else had this experience, at least not without some sort of pain releif first.

I didn't have to do a barium swallow after surgery. I just had to drink a certain amount of fluids before I could be sent home.

That sounds barbaric.

For anyone considering surgery in Houston - Dr. Spivak and Park Plaza hospital were wonderful. I can't say enough good things about them.

I did a barium swallow and the reason they could not give meds is they need you to pee. The nurse told me that if she gave me pain killers I may not be able to pee. I had dr felps in Houston He has a practice in Dallas also. Great doctor.

I did a barium swallow and the reason they could not give meds is they need you to pee...

It's clear that each doctor has his/her own standards of practice.

In my case, no one asked me to pee until hours after my surgery; told them that I already had, and that was that.

Yea I noticed that Dr. are differnt.

I got up from the bed in recovery and went and did the barium swallow. It isn't bad and I didn't need pain meds. In fact, I never took anything even when I went home. I would rather them do a swallow then and make sure the band is operating properly then to have complications once I got home.

Relax, you are now banded. Just go with it. Good luck on your journey.

Thank you so much for writing about your experience. I am in the middle of trying to pick a doc and hospital and this was great info. I had pretty much ruled out the Twelve Oaks group but this helps to confirm that decision. I'm leaning towards not having the procedure done at a hospital but rather a surgery center that just does the band.... Anyway, thanks!

Hazel, thanks so much for your post. I am still in the researching phase but was narrowing in on Spivak at Park Plaza. I think he's going to be my choice. I'm attending his seminar tomorrow night. Do you mind if I email you separately with other questions if I have them? -Rachel

Raquel,

I too was banded by Dr. Spivak on March 21. I did not however have the barium test done. Would you mind asking if all his patients are required to have that done? I never did. I personally did not like Park Plaza, it wasn't as nice as I thought it was going to be. And the nurses weren't all that great. The anestigiolist (sp?) was awesome. His name was Jon and he was super sweet. Ask about his policy on fills, not sure if your self pay or insurance covered. His policy on fills with insurance has been changing quite a bit lately. Let me know if you have any questions.

Eclipse

Hazel, thanks so much for your post. I am still in the researching phase but was narrowing in on Spivak at Park Plaza. I think he's going to be my choice. I'm attending his seminar tomorrow night. Do you mind if I email you separately with other questions if I have them? -Rachel

I never had any kind of barium swallow until my first fill. I was also self pay and that does make a difference with fills.

Insurance companies have gotten very squirrelly about fills lately. They pay for the surgery and then try to get out of paying for fills.

Hazelbunny...I am scheduled for Spivak on the 23rd. Can you give me a quick run-down on the surgery day for me? When were you scheduled, what time did you get there, when did you leave, did you have nausea, etc. etc.

Hazelbunny...I am scheduled for Spivak on the 23rd. Can you give me a quick run-down on the surgery day for me? When were you scheduled, what time did you get there, when did you leave, did you have nausea, etc. etc.

I got there about 7:30 - I was scheduled at 9:30? (not sure exactly)- actually went into surgery around 10:30. I left around 1:30 feeling OK.

I was terribly nauseous - I had to get a zofran shot before I could get up and walk around because I would start heaving the second I stood up. The zofran shot is a freaking miracle I tell ya.

I went home and slept most of the next two days except for my scheduled walking around times. It really wasn't bad at all.