I have met with Dr. Johnell and am in process of trying to all that is required to get approval for a lap-band. Has anyone out there ever used Dr. Johnell and NCMC? If so I would like to know how your experience was. Thanks.

I am going to Dr Johnell on August 8th for my consultation. I will let you know what I think....

I was banded about 6 weeks ago by Dr Johnell. He is extremely knowledgable and a fine surgeon. I can't say enough good things about his staff. Everyone has been so friendly, helpful and all are well versed about what they are doing. I had some concern about NCMC prior to my surgery because of a previous bad experience. However, I have to say that this time was completely different. I could not have asked for more competent friendly treatment.

I would highly recommend Dr. Johnell and his staff and NCMC.

Are you scheduled for surgery yet? Good luck and keep us updated on your progress!

I was banded about 6 weeks ago by Dr Johnell. He is extremely knowledgable and a fine surgeon. I can't say enough good things about his staff. Everyone has been so friendly, helpful and all are well versed about what they are doing. I had some concern about NCMC prior to my surgery because of a previous bad experience. However, I have to say that this time was completely different. I could not have asked for more competent friendly treatment.

I would highly recommend Dr. Johnell and his staff and NCMC.

Are you scheduled for surgery yet? Good luck and keep us updated on your progress!

I am still in the getting everything together for insurance approval stage. I am worried that my insurance will not approve. I haven't been above 40 BMI for five years. I have been above 35 but I may not have significant enough co-morbidities. I am just keeping my fingers crossed. I meet with Gina (the dietician) and Paula (physicians assistant) and agree with you about his staff. I will let you know.

Thanks, Mile High

Are you above 40 now? I hadn't thought about that. I don't know if I have been about 40 for 5 years either...

I am above now but I only have been for the last 2 years. It is Aetna Insurance thing. If you don't have Aetna you may be fine. Keep me posted. I am going in tomorrow for the last of supervised weight loss meetings. I have to do the sleep study at the end of the month because my nocturnal study showed very low oxygen during the night. I am just trying to stay positive.

They are sending my paper work to insurance tomorrow. I will keep you posted if you would like.

Good luck!

Yes, keep me posted! Did you have to do a lot of grunt work to get stuff ready for your insurance, or was it mainly testing and things like that? What about a medically supervised diet?

I mostly just kept logs of food and exercise. Did the testing too. Asked for records from PCP (2 because I changed jobs.) The most recent one's PCP office have been downright nasty to deal with. Dr. Johnell's office finally called to expidite the process. Now I am just on pins and needles waiting.

How long did you have to do food/exercise logs for? I'm wondering if I should start that now before my first visit? I have been searching out all of my medical records. I didn't have a PCP so I had to get them from 7 different doctors.

There is site website that the nutritionist suggested to me called FitDay.com. It is free and really helps you keep track. You could start your logs now. What I a hoping will help me is that my PCP's (I had 2) talked to me weight, cholesterol some failed weight loss attempts. I didn't have the docmented medically supervised weight loss so I completed three months with Dr. Johnell's office. You are going to like them very much if your experience is like mine.