I have my first pre-opt appointment scheduled in Dec (my choice) with Dr. Schrope and the staff over at NYPH/Columbia, but reading all the different threads here on this site I see a large percentage of ppl have been banded by the Dr's over at NYU. Has anyone on here been banded at NYPH/Columbia? And did anyone have the choice over the two and deceided to go with NYU and if so for what reason?

Thanks:confused:

I was banded at NYU by Dr. Kurian on 9/16/08 and I will say that I had a great experience. I did not even really consider another place since I knew a co-worker that had been banded their the year before and lost over 150 pounds. However, it is still surgery and still hard work no matter where you go. I think Columbia is a bariatric center of excellence as well as NYU. So it is a toss-up I guess. Aren't we lucky to have these resources?!

Best of luck to you on your journey

Thanks...I work at Columbia so I know the staff and didnt want to be so biased that I ended up not looking at other options. So if you dont mind me asking how long did the pre surgery process take? I am meeting with a new PCP on Monday Oct 6(my old one basically told me he wouldnt write me a letter of referral and said I should diet...and since I have been dieting for 14 yrs and obese for almost 16 I wasn't too happy to deal with him especially since he has been by PCP for over 10 yrs) and for my insurance United Heathcare Choice all i need is a letter from my PCP showing 5 years of a BMI 40+ which i know I have...my only real concern is that my former PCP was such a slouch that I was rearly but on the scale and would ask me what I weighed and since I was in denial so much I always gave a weight that was significantly lower than I was....I brought a small notebook and plan on including a brief summary of my issues with my weight and also pictures to show the new PCP what I have been stuggling with...I guess if worse comes to worse i will have to do a piece meal effort to gather my weights for the past 5 years from my orthopedic doctor and gyn but i hope not! Do you have any suggestions...Sorry for the long winded reply but I am a lil scared I wont be able to get approved.

Sorry it took a while to get back to you. I went to my informational session at NYU the end of May and orginally had a banding date for the end of August. I postponed it due to vacation to 9/16. So it was fairly quick and painless. I understand about the primary MD issue since i often did not let my MD weigh me because I was usually sooo mortified. It is a good thing that at least within the past five years I let him weigh me. The letter documenting my BMI for the past five years was great to have and I too have Unitedhealthcare. Whatever you have to do to get the documentation I am sure that you will do it...don't beat up on yourself for the vagueness with your doctor. I did that so much because of the shame and embarassment over the obesity. Hopefully between your gyn and orthopeaedic doctor you can document. The very best to you please let me know if I can be of any further help!!!!

I was banded at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Brian Jacob

(baricenter.com)

PM me if you'd like to learn more information.

I was banded by Dr. Ude from Columbia (I was banned at the Valley Hospital in NJ) Dr Shroppe was the assistant surgeon. I had a problem a few days after my surgery on a Sunday and Dr. Shroppe was on call and met me in the in emergency room within an hour and was excellent. I don't know anything about the Dr's from NYU but everyone from Columbia have been great.

Tom

I have my appt with Dr. Schrope...if you dont mind please share your expeience...what went wrong?? I am actually studying for my LSAT which I take on Dec 6 so I am concentrating on that right now but still trying to fit in the visit with the new PCP and doing my research...I would like to have my surgery in either Jan or Feb so I can have a good hang of this before I start law school in the fall...

What went wrong was (this is disgusting, but you asked :smile2:) I started to go to the bathroom and it was black. So I started to get worried it was blood so I figured I would call the office to be safe. It turned out to be blood but after some tests I wasn't bleeding internally they think it was from taking too much blood thinners (I take them because I get blood clots). I was also dehydrated (my fault for not drinking enough). So I had to stay in the hospital overnight and get fluids put back into me. It just made me feel like I made the right choice in a group of dr's the way everything was handled when I told them what was going on. Dr Shroppe was very nice to me and my family and told us what they were going to do to find out what was going on. I go to the office in NJ but the office staff is also very nice and the nurse practitioner Gio is great at giving fills (two fills so far and he did it with the first shot both times).

Do you have everything done to get it covered by your insurance? Once my insurance gave me the approval they gave me a date for the surgery about 4-6 weeks away. I had my surgery on June 24th.

Tom

Glad to hear that they was able to correct that problem. How long were you out of work? How many lbs have you lost so far? How was it the first few weeks after?

I have to get the letter of referral from my PCP thats where the problem lies...the PCP i had for 14 years basically refused to give me a letter and also he would always ask me what my weight was instead of weighing me so i dont even know if requesting my med records would work so I can stuck looking for a new PCP...i have an appt on Tuesday with a new PCP so hopefully I can get the referral and then get the bloodwork, psych eval and xray and then go to see the nutrutionist and nurse in dec...once I get the letter i will push up the meeting with the nutritionist I just want to make sure I can get it.

Dawn

I had surgery on June 24th which was a Tuesday and was planning on going back the next Monday. I went back into the hospital on Sunday, stayed overnight and then went back to work on Tuesday, so I was out a week. I do computer work so mostly just sit at a desk so I was fine. Total with pre-op diet I lost 67lbs. The strange thing to me I haven't had any restriction until this week. I had my second fill on Monday which gave me a total of 6 cc's in a 14cc band, until now it was pretty much will power. I didn't expect that, I thought I would feel something right away.

The first week I definitly felt bad, most of the pain was in the port area, especially while getting up and down. By the second week I was fine, by the third it was like I didn't have anything done.

Most insurances want a 6 month weight/diet history with a dr that they usually include in the letter, what type of insurance do you have? The letter from the PCP is the hardest part, the nutrionist, psyc, and tests are really easy. I couldn't believe when I got everything they wanted and they submitted it all to the insurance it only took two days to be approved. They everything seemed to move very quickly.

Tom

I have United Healthcare...and they are asking for a letter from the PCP stating i have had a BMI of 40 or greater for 5 years...thats all! They dont require the 6mth thing