Hey everyone -

Thought I'd start a thread to see how many people are in Mass and what city they are from. You can also put in your stats if you'd like!

Brenda

Woburn, MA

Lap band date 9/26/07

Winchester Hospital, Dr. Sandor

Highest 303 / current 275

I live in Westfield, MA.

Attleboro here....

Sandy:)

Born and raised Boston girl.

Milton, here and banded on 10/30!

Sandy:

Where did you get banded? Do they do banding at Sturdy?

I went to Glasgow & Glasgow LLP in Norwood, banded at Caritas Norwood Hospital.

Sue

Hanover MA

banded at B & W's 11-13-07

Scott fron North Reading

banded at Layhey Clinic Burlington

DR DMITRY NEPOMNAYSHY MAY 24 2007

Carver checking in.

Banded at Brigham & Women's by the best surgeon Dr. Lautz. At least to me he is.

i was just wondering if anyone has had their band done and Winchester Hospital and how there experience was with them

i was just wondering if anyone has had their band done and Winchester Hospital and how there experience was with them

I had mine @ Winchester Hospital this past September - They were EXCELLENT. In fact, they are considered a "Hospital of Excellence" by many insurances. If a hospital hasn't been designated with that award, that particular insurance (United Health being one of them) will NOT allow you to go there for surgery.

I had Dr. Sandor who I absolutely love. He uses Winchester and Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford. (I did NOT want to go to LM - too many horror stories in other types of surgery that my cousin experienced). I also did not find the need to go into Boston (even though it's only a 20 minute drive away).

Dr. Ameri practices out of Winchester also. He is really experienced and an overall nice guy. I do go to his support groups that he has the second Tuesday of every month (7-9pm) @ the Jenks Center in Winchester - they are very informative.

So - do not hesitate to go to Winchester - even the nurses have had specific training on bariatric surgery. They were very attentive to me during my overnight (I had lapband). One even made me a pillow to hold on my tummy to help when I got up!

Brenda

Feel free to email me with any concerns.

hey I grew up in Milton! Had mine at the B&W

I live on Nantucket

Had my band done on Dec 11, 2007

New England Medical Center by Dr. Julie Kim.

Hi Brenda,

I am from Woburn also...And a mother of an 8 year old daughter...I guess we have alot in common. I noticed you mentioned Dr Ameri's support group. I am being banded by Dr. Ameri on Jan 14th. I'm looking forward to it and felt really great about it...Until I went to his last support meeting...It seemed to me he heavilly favors Bypass, as did most of the group members. He kept referring to it as "The Golden Standard in Bariatric surgery" and touched very briefly on the LapBand. He stressed how weight loss is a lot slower with the Band as opposed to Bypass. Do you find his meetings to me almost totally focussed on Bypass rather than LapBand? Or that he believes more in the sucess of bypass over the band?? (also, Just for the record...I enjoyed the meeting and am crazy about Dr Ameri...He's so nice!) Just curious how you felt about this and wanted to say hello as we are both Woburnites...

Suzanne

I had mine @ Winchester Hospital this past September - They were EXCELLENT. In fact, they are considered a "Hospital of Excellence" by many insurances. If a hospital hasn't been designated with that award, that particular insurance (United Health being one of them) will NOT allow you to go there for surgery.

I had Dr. Sandor who I absolutely love. He uses Winchester and Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford. (I did NOT want to go to LM - too many horror stories in other types of surgery that my cousin experienced). I also did not find the need to go into Boston (even though it's only a 20 minute drive away).

Dr. Ameri practices out of Winchester also. He is really experienced and an overall nice guy. I do go to his support groups that he has the second Tuesday of every month (7-9pm) @ the Jenks Center in Winchester - they are very informative.

So - do not hesitate to go to Winchester - even the nurses have had specific training on bariatric surgery. They were very attentive to me during my overnight (I had lapband). One even made me a pillow to hold on my tummy to help when I got up!

Brenda

Feel free to email me with any concerns.

Hi Brenda,

I am from Woburn also...And a mother of an 8 year old daughter...I guess we have alot in common. I noticed you mentioned Dr Ameri's support group. I am being banded by Dr. Ameri on Jan 14th. ...It seemed to me he heavilly favors Bypass, as did most of the group members. He kept referring to it as "The Golden Standard in Bariatric surgery" and touched very briefly on the LapBand. He stressed how weight loss is a lot slower with the Band as opposed to Bypass. Do you find his meetings to me almost totally focussed on Bypass rather than LapBand? Or that he believes more in the sucess of bypass over the band?? (also, Just for the record...I enjoyed the meeting and am crazy about Dr Ameri...He's so nice!) Just curious how you felt about this and wanted to say hello as we are both Woburnites...

Suzanne

Hi Suzanne,

Hope you had a Merry Christmas! I actually had Dr. Sander (Commonwealth Surgical Associates in Stoneham) perform my lapband @ Winchester Hospital. I went to his meeting and absolutely loved him. His specialty is laporoscopic bariatric surgery and much prefers lapband over bypass. However, if he believes the patient is going to be noncompliant regarding diet, Dr. S. does try to talk the patient into Gastric Bypass. As you know, in lapband, it's just a tool, and you have to really choose the correct foods. It's VERY easy to eat around a lapband by eating soft foods, hi cal drinks, or grazing all day. With the gastric bypass, most patients will have a dumping syndrome (which Dr. Ameri calls a "blessing"!!) if they eat food high in sugar or fat. Most Lapband patients do NOT get this.

Now back to Dr. Ameri - Yes, his support groups do seem more geared to Gastric Bypass - but a lot of what he speaks about - diet, supplements, motivation, etc. can be applied to lapband too. I do enjoy going to hear the success stories (regardless of what surgery they had) - it keeps me motivated to stay on the straight and narrow... Every other month he does meetings for "newbies" and then for post-surgery. Once in a while he'll gear the whole meeting primarily to lap-band. He is a very sweet man, and everyone I've talked to that has had him - absolutely loves him.

If you're around and would like to meet for coffee - let me know!

Brenda

Thanks for the reply Brenda. I went to visit with Dr. Ameri again today. I'm all scheduled for Jan 14th and ready to go. This 2 week pre-op liquid thing isn't much fun, But I'll get through it. Also, after talking to Dr Ameri, I was surprised that he gives the 1st fill a full 12 weeks post-op. It seems many on this board get their first fill within weeks. I was wondering what your experience has been with Dr Sandor? And yes, I'd love to meet for a coffee sometime or join you to a local support meeting. Keep in touch. Thanks

Suzanne