Just wondering if anyone in the Oklahoma area has used Bailey Bariatrics in Owasso and has or is having the VSG and what their experience is/was? I am set for my first appointment with Dr. Kirk on 11/17 and am a little bit nervous and a lot excited. I'm self-pay so I think the process is a bit easier but just wanting to get some idea of what to expect...any help is appreciated!

I am going to Bailey and I actually am seeing Dr. Kirk on the 17th as well. He's a really nice guy. I'm doing my cardiologist and psychologist vist tomorrow as well. I'm hopefully doing the surgery in January. Good luck.

BTW I'm also self pay. If you smoke you have to quit. Also, you will have to see a psychologist, pulmonalogist, cardiologist, dietician, exercise physiologist and get their ok before the surgery. They will set up the appointments for you. I meet with the surgeon Dr. Varnell on Monday as well. If you have any other questions just let me know :-)

Cota1262....glad to know someone is going through this at the same time/place as me. My appointment went well. Dr. Kirk certainly is a talker. I've found the experience so far pretty good. I thought being self pay would be easy and it is so far. Thank goodness they are allowing me to see doctors in my own insurance network outside of Bailey's so that's going to same me quite a bit of money. I go see the cardiologist tuesday and i'm still waiting to hear back from the pulmonary doc and the psychologist but i'm well on my way now. Actually had my blood work done today at my regular doc and she's going to fax over all the tests that Dr. Kirk requested so that part is cool. I'm starting to get a bit nervous now that things are actually happening and it's REAL now. I'm still excited as hell but the nervousness is setting in too! LOL are you planning on going to the support groups as well? If so, do you have to sign up for them somewhere or do you just show up? I can't find on their website any kind of sign up page just gives the day/time of the group meetings all over the state.

I don't smoke but I do dip tobacco and smoke cigars occasionally but I know i am going to have to give that up too since it's nicotine no matter how you ingest it. LOL but that's a small price to pay for getting my life back. It'll be hard to do but I know I can do it!!!!

oh one last thing...what kind of deal is the psychologist part? do they just see if your mentally fit to go through the surgery itself and the life style changes that follow? Just curious is all...never been to a shrink before

We have to go to at least one support group, and I think you just show up. I haven't decided which one I'm going to. Which one are you closes to?

I though the psychologist would be the easiest, but it was actually the hardest for me. I saw Dr. Wood in Owasso...I just thought I was going to talk about me being fat lol but noooo. She started digging into my brain and wanted me to talk about things that I really couldn't bring myself to say out loud. It was crazy how emotional I was. I'm typically the girl that doesn't cry in front of others, but oh my. She is very nice but at the end I had to take 2 tests on a computer that had about 500 questions on them.

I got all my appointments mixed up so I actually see the surgeon tomorrow (Friday). I'm excited. I have Dr. Varnell, do you know who is doing yours ? In addition to seeing the pulmonalogist and cardiologist I have to do a stress test, echo, sleep study, pulmonary function test and he says I need a cpap machine (yuck). The pulmonalogist also said that if you have sleep apnea and don't address it, it will negatively effect your weight loss.

Besides tomorrow, my next day of tests is December 8. By the way, just in case, if you do any drugs, including weed, Dr. Wood said that they will cancel your surgery permanently- no second chances. I quit smoking on Oct 26 and am doing ok with it. Everyday this week I have gotten up around 5 or 6 to exercise. I totally surprised myself on that one lol. I'm also doing the food journal on my iPhone app, it actually is helping. I've tried doing it before but only half assed it.

Sorry for writing a book lol. I hope all is going good.

I had my surgery sept. 23rd at Bailey, Dr. Varnell was my surgeon.

What do you think of him?

I chose Varnell as my surgeon as well. I would also like to know what you think of him. I meet with him next month. I will have all my preliminary appointments out of the way by Christmas. So I'm on track for January for my surgery!!

I really like him, he answered any and all questions I had, didn't ever seemed rushed with me. I have my two month follow up appt. with him tomorrow. Dr Kirk is a little too talkative for me, I had a large co pay and I didn't see the need to see him 2-3 times before surgery just to hear him talk about himself or non surgical issues and have to pay the fee for that. Wasn't fond of Dr. Worley, the pulmonologist either because he took so long to read my sleep study results and get the cpap ordered because you have to have two weeks of downloadable results from cpap machine before surgery.

I live in tulsa so I guess the owasso one is closet for me. I'll probably just go there next month. I'd like to keep going as much as I can because I have a feeling this is going to be harder than I think and having people who've been through and that are going through this will help.

I have only scheduled the session with the psychologist and will have to schedule the test another time because she didn't have time for me on the day I could see her. 500 questions? Dang that's a lot. Another small price to pay I guess. I'm seeing dr. Fritz in tulsa unless the overall cost with woods is cheaper. I have to pay for the test out of pocket. If you don't mind could you private message me how much dr. Woods cost since you are self pay as well? If not, I understand.

As for weed or drugs I'm good there. Been several months since I've smoked any weed. I do take prescribed pain meds for chronic back pains but I don't see that being an issue since I listed them on my meds sheet for dr. Kirk.

I already have a cpap machine and yuck is correct. It has helped me though. Had it for almost 3 years now. I'm hoping that goes away after the surgery.

I'm praying all goes well for you on the rest of your appointments. I'm also praying for myself!! Haha

I hope we can keep in touch since we are along the same timeline it seems. I'll friend you.

So now it's my turn to say sorry for the book. Lol

Also if you tell them you smoke, even socially, you have to be 6 weeks free from a single cigarette and they WILL test your nicotine level.

I don't smoke but I do dip and smoke cigars rarely (which is smoking right? LOL). I'm quitting all of it the day after thanksgiving though. Wanna smoke one last cigar with my dad after dinner. Kind of our thing.

Yes, you just show up for the support groups, I think the one in owasso is the first Monday of each month, they will bring in post op patients and you will get the chance to ask them any questions you may have.

Awesome!! Thank you so much Tawnya71!!!

I really like him, he answered any and all questions I had, didn't ever seemed rushed with me. I have my two month follow up appt. with him tomorrow. Dr Kirk is a little too talkative for me, I had a large co pay and I didn't see the need to see him 2-3 times before surgery just to hear him talk about himself or non surgical issues and have to pay the fee for that. Wasn't fond of Dr. Worley, the pulmonologist either because he took so long to read my sleep study results and get the cpap ordered because you have to have two weeks of downloadable results from cpap machine before surgery.

I feel the same way about Kirk. He's VERY talkative and gets off topic quickly. He also told me some things that ended up not being true. Not a big deal but kind of annoying really. I don't have to see Worley because I'm seeing a doc in my insurance network. And I already have a cpap so no sleep study needed just a clearance for surgery is all I require.

Even though I am self pay for the actual surgery, we are trying to get all the preliminary testing paid for by my insurance. They are coding my visits under my co morbidities so hopefully the insurance companies don't ask questions and just pay it lol. Dr Wood did give me a price sheet though but it is 6am and raining outside and the sheet is in my car, so I'll get it to you later today :-). At first, I felt the same way about Dr. Kirk and his talking lol but I was very hesitant about doing this in the beginning and I have already seen him 4 times. But I think he uses his talking as a "tool" to calm people like me down. I want to get to know people before I can feel comfortable asking questions so I'm OK with that. I really liked Dr. Worley. He was 15 mins late for our apt and actually apologized, that rarely happens. He also explained stuff pretty well. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with him. I'll let you know how my apt goes today.