I am in the process of deciding where to have my surgery done in Louisville. I have been to both Nortons and Caritas. I don't personally know anyone who has had the surgery so I need all the help and advice :tongue2: I can get. Thanks!

:thumbup:I had my band at Norton's with Dr. Tanner on the 28th of August. Every thing went great & I've had very little to no pain. I've lost 10lbs in less than a week. I wish I could say the same for every one. Hope you do great.

I am in the process of deciding where to have my surgery done in Louisville. I have been to both Nortons and Caritas. I don't personally know anyone who has had the surgery so I need all the help and advice :tongue2: I can get. Thanks!

Thanks! I don't know Dr. Tanner. Is he with a group?

Dr. Tanner is with a group of Dr's at Nortons Beriactric center & you get to pick the dr you want. I went with who could get me in the fastest since I did not know how long I would have insurance to cover it.

Thanks! I don't know Dr. Tanner. Is he with a group?

Dr. Tanner is with a group of Dr's at Nortons Beriactric center & you get to pick the dr you want. I went with who could get me in the fastest since I did not know how long I would have insurance to cover it.

Dr. Jeff Allen is also with that group and I've heard a lot about him. My PCP is refering me to Dr. Shina(sp) who is also from Norton, my PCP was pretty firm about me using the docs from Norton.

My PCP insisted that I go to Caritas rather than Nortons. I'm so confused about this. Actually I think I'm over thinking the whole thing. I'm sure both hospitals do a good job. I've had 2 major surgiers in the past and never worried this much.

JT - just curious as to why you had to attend 2 seminars?

I attended both seminars as well and actually would be happy with either. I chose St. Mary's since I knew I was going to have to jump through lots of insurance hoops and they hold your hand more. Dr. Geller (sp?) presented at Norton and I thought he did a great presentation. I really liked Dr. Lusco as well and he is going to be my surgeon. I am currently doing a 3 month multi-discipline diet and St. Mary's is offering everything as part of their program. I do believe if you are self pay Norton's may be a bit cheaper, but not 100% on that. I know St. Mary's fee pretty much covers everything including future fills.

JT - just curious as to why you had to attend 2 seminars?

I haven't attended the second one yet but I will on 10/28. I wish I knew..... I attended a seminar at Norton Suburban that Dr. Geller gave. I talked to Dr. Shina's office (also part of Norton Suburban) they said that I had to go to a second seminar. So to answer your question I'm attending the second one because my PCP refered me to Dr. Shina and his office said that I had to attend a daytime seminar as well as the night time one. One good thing I guess is that I see the surgon the same day.

That's really strange. I had no idea there were 2 seminars. I attended my seminar at Suburban with Dr. Geller also, but that was back in July. I switched from Dr. Geller to Dr. Kehdy because of insurance reasons, and I am finally getting to go in for my psych. evaluation and to speak to the nutritionist on Tuesday. Out of curiosity, what did your psych. eval consist of? I have heard they can be anywhere from minimal to extremely invasive and in depth, including personality tests. I haven't heard specifically what the ones with the Norton group entail. What was yours like?

Nortin's is great but after your surgery the nurses do not seem to be very friendly. I would say it could be me but my friend had hers done too & the nurses were not very nice. They did not seem to want to help you at all. The up side of this is you are only there over night & the Dr's are so very nice and realy want to help you. This makes up for the hospital nurses.

That's really strange. I had no idea there were 2 seminars. I attended my seminar at Suburban with Dr. Geller also, but that was back in July. I switched from Dr. Geller to Dr. Kehdy because of insurance reasons, and I am finally getting to go in for my psych. evaluation and to speak to the nutritionist on Tuesday. Out of curiosity, what did your psych. eval consist of? I have heard they can be anywhere from minimal to extremely invasive and in depth, including personality tests. I haven't heard specifically what the ones with the Norton group entail. What was yours like?

My PCP refered me to Dr. Shina and apparently he does things differeently than the rest. His office is who told me I had to attend the second seminar when I went to the first seminar they said that covered all Dr's but when I told them i was refered to Dr Shina they siad he does things differently you see him before yousee the Baratric Group. I haven't had any evaluations yet except my PCP saying that it was my best medical option.

JT - just curious as to why you had to attend 2 seminars?

Mellygirl....

Went to my second seminar today and it was totally different than the first. About 10 people we were weighed and photographed and talked with a tech/nurse then Dr. Shina spoke a lot about Pulminary Embolism (sp). Then discussed the procedures a little bit and then opened for questions. After that we each saw the Dr. for a few minutes individually it took 4 hours.

I had my surgeon consult yesterday too and I really like Dr. Kehdy. He wants me to do a stress test and get cleared for surgery from my PCM (which hopefully will be tomorrow). His nurse told me that once I have those things finished that I can be scheduled for surgery and right now with the holiday season upon us, his schedule is looking wide open. They took my "before" photos yesterday at the office visit too. Thanks for the update!