Hey guys. I am still trying to decide on a doc. Dr. Barker is obviously much cheaper but I had an awful experience at his office yesterday. I had a 1 pm appt and I waited 3 1/2 hours!!!!!! to see him. They knew I was pissed and gave me the run around. They scheduled me w/ the insurance guy when I told them on the phone 50 times my insurance won't pay and I wanted to meet the doctor. Anyways, I liked the doctor but the office was a MESS - the waiting, crowds, ants crawling on the wall, etc. I just don't know if I can put my life in the hands of someone whose business is SO out of control. WHat do ya'll think?

I saw Dr. Barker right before he learned to do lapbanding, he was strictly a RNY dr, prior to mid 2003. He is a nice guy and he was in a different office than he is not. When I was there, it did seem that I had to wait awhile before I got to see him. But it was a well organized chaos back then. I couldn't get my surgery approved before my insurance ran out. Once I had insurance again, I decided to go with a different dr. Sorry to hear that your last experience wasn't good. Keri A friend in Mesquite.

Follow your gut instincts and RUN!!!! any dr that would allow his practice to operate that way would never be operating on me!! If money is your concern..think of it this way; how much would you really be saving if you went to him? how much is your well being worth to you? I am sorry to say this but sometimes you do get what you pay for (or errr.. in this case don't pay for). If your brain is questioning him this much already...maybe you should listen to your inner voice that is telling you to NOt go with him and use some one else. Best of luck in whatever you decide.

no do not RUN..... that is advice from somebody who hasnt had surgery with doctor barker... i have....

doctor barker is moving offices right now... the one you saw him in is a temporary office... a tiny one compared to the old place and not run quite the same yet... he was at a different location forever with a partner and now is in this tiny place en route to his final spot at the doctors hospital...

i wasnt impressed with his temporary office either, but it is not the office waiting room that is performing your surgery...it is the quality of the surgeon you should be concerned with and not the hoo ha luster of the magazine rack in the waiting room...(of which isnt even his real office)... he also has a completely new staff in there... i had my fill last week and had to wait forever too... its called growing pains.

i can tell you from experience that the doctor is very nice, very smart, and very good... i have had no problems at all and he is available all the time if i need him... i dont even get paid for extolling his virtues... i should... but... my scars are tiny, my butt is smaller and i am super healthy with zero complications... so... if that is what is important to you, i say give him a real chance... you arent having backyard surgery... the man went to texas tech and if you just talk to anybody in the waiting room, you will see what i know already... he is worth the wait.

sorry for the rant

you said you had to wait a very long time to see him...well isnt that a good sign as then he is very busy and attending to alot of patients that are happy with him.

I would be more concerned if i didnt have to wait and got in straight away

DallasDoll - I know you loved him and that's why I wanted to see what you thought and if this experience was "typical" or not. I probably will have the surgery thru him b/c I simply cannot afford the doc I liked best. But I am concerned that you have had the band since April and only lost 15 pounds - I mean it's great you're losing but for 13k I expect alot more weight loss then 15 pounds in 5 months. Do you think you need more fills or what? I am not trying to pick at you and believe me I COULD NEVER lose 15 pounds no matter what if I was trying on my own, but it does concern me, so it wold be very helpful to me if you could kind of take me thru your experience so far. You can private msg me or post on here. Thanks so much.

well... i actually drove up from houston to have my surgery with doc barker... and because i was an "out of towner", he said that he would only fill me slowly because if i needed an unfill or something, he didnt want me to have to drive 4 hours back to see him... so we went slow... it was his doing... so that right there proved to me that he was concerned about me... he wasnt just gonna fill er up and let me drive home to houston and see what happened.... he puts alot of thought into it...

but now that i am back in town living here, we are going to be more aggressive... i just got a fill and it is finally kicking in.... i cant eat as much as i used to... i havent had any real restriction up until now.... and i still lose weight.

to be honest... i dont follow any bandster rules... none.... i eat mcdonalds and ice cream and all sorts of bad things and i do not exercise.. and i manage to lose 4 pounds a month... which is about a pound a week.... which is right on target for 50 pounds in a year.. which is perfect for me.... i also did not do the preop diet at all... so i lost a big 1 pound instead of the 10 pounds others tend to lose... so.... you can add that in!

i also have a different body type in that i dont have alot of tummy fat.. its all in my ass and thighs which are the places the fat likes to stay forever!!!!!!.... but when i went in for my fill everybody was asking what procedure i had done and how much i had lost.... when i said 15 pounds they looked kinda shocked... but there was a girl in there with me who had the surgery the same week i did with doc barker... she started at 340 and has lost 49 pounds in the same amount of time...

i really think its about your body.... and you can improve it if you work hard... different people lose differently and it has nothing to do with the quality of surgery...

so my weight loss is slower but i have eaten like a hog. i love the band for that exact reason.. i can eat pretty much whatever i want, just not so much of it. but now that we have ratcheted up the fill, i understand what it means to have restriction.... so i expect to lose more...

oh and i met a great guy who was a pitcher for the red sox and is an exercise freak.. so i expect to be dragged to work out for once.... the band has had lots of positives for me so far.

DallasDoll - thank you SO much for that post. It really helped me. I probably will go with him b/c I did like him - just not the office. Good luck with your fill and you red sox hottie!

lovecat I seen Dr Barker a couple of months ago and i loved him i am trying to get my surgery financed finally got an ok on it and Dr Barker has to get set up to accept care credit apparently it is all together different and his ooffice is working to get this settled yes his office help is all a mess right now but to me he is worth a little disshovle (sp) i really liked him and we will all work thru this move I was also wondetring what the heck was going on a dallas doll answered my questions ty

But I am concerned that you have had the band since April and only lost 15 pounds - I mean it's great you're losing but for 13k I expect alot more weight loss then 15 pounds in 5 months.

A persons ammount of weight loss with the band has absolutely nothing to do with the Dr they had to do their surgery. Its all about the person who has the band and if they follow the rules, if the rely on the band to do all the work,if they work with the band if they have less weight to lose then someone else etc...

Personally if I went to my Dr.'s office and saw ants crawling on the wall..I would run but that is just me. I'm a clean freak! Ants do not belong in a doctors office waiting room. In a restaraunt maybe but a Dr.'s waiting room NOT! To each his own though.

Good Luck to you

Dr Barker Did My Lap Band On Last Friday (08-19-05) He Was Great, Trust Me. He Did A # 1 Job On Me. Go For It.....

I had contacted Dr Barker's office last week but was told he no long accepted Medicare. I got a call this morning from his office stating that if I found another pay method, they would love to help. Then lady suggested other doctors that might work with Medicare. She was very helpful and I didn;t even ask.

I too have had bad experiences with docs and if the staff isn't up to par or there is a problem with the ofice (bugs) I would think that would reflect on the doctor in question. Make sure you have all the facts and then decide. What worked for someone else may not be good for you. You are the one who will have to live with this. Be strong!

I'm trusting you Barker patients and going with him. It's all I can afford. Pray for me!

dont worry.. he is great... you made an excellent choice.