Is there anything I need to bring with me? It will be with Dr's Smith and Ferrara. Anyone been to one of there seminars?

im having problems with it.

Hi sara,

I have been to 3 of these seminars before I got my band. Each seminar is hosted by different doctors. By going to multiple seminars I learned a lot of different things!

First seminar: Met Dr. Marsden, really liked him (so much that he ended up being my surgron). I brought my husband along for support, bc in the beginning he was very against any type of wls. The seminar sold him and he gave his approval for me to move forward.

2nd seminar: was for Dr. Benavides. this time I just wanted to see if I could hear more/different info. the audience asks questions and every group asks different questions. Dr. Benavides didn't show up to his seminar, so I felt that if he couldn't make time for that, I was not going to consider him being my dr.

3rd seminar: Dr. Felts. He was good and would have been my second choice if I didn't go with Marsden. There were a lot of different questions in this seminar.

My only suggestion on "what to bring" with you is your calendar. At the end of the seminar, if you want to schedule your initial consultation, you can. I recommend it because they have the open calendars with specially reserved space just for seminars. Otherwise, if you call the office, it will probably take about 1 month to get your first consultation. If you go to AIGB for your consultation, you won't meet with your lapband dr. You will meet with another dr. who will examine you and go over your history. Then they will schedule you for tests (stress test, sleep apnea (if needed), psych test (if needed). The purpose of this stage is to "clear" you for surgery. then AIGB passes it to Lapband solutions who works on getting your insurance approved.

My first seminar was in May. I just got banded on Sept 10...so the whole process took about 4 months.

Good advice from TulipStar. I would also bring a notebook and write down all of your questions. Sometimes your questions will be asked by other people attending or the doctor will answer the questions even before they are asked.

Most of us are so interested in the surgery and losing weight, we don't even think about the aftercare. You might want to asked if the doctor himself does the fills, are they done under floro, or is the floro done afterwards just to see if liquid goes throgh the stoma. How often does the doctor do your fills. What is the cost per fill and per floro and is the first year included in the cost of your surgery. After the first year of surgery, what is the cost of fills and floro. Are there only certain days that fills are done? Does the doctor have early or late hours so you can come before or after work?

Thanks so much for all your help. You guys said things that I havent even thought of. Thanks so much!!