ok so i went in for my consultation ...mind u i am self pay so i paid 250.00for the stupid thing and the whole time i was there all they talked about was how the lapband fails ... i was told that i would only lose about 30 pds if was lucky !!!!! and that they have patients that have only like lost 10 in 2 yrs ... very negative feeling after leaving there ,,,then they kept pushing the bypass and sleeve ..... well when i told the nurse pract that i wanted lapband she's like fine but u know there r so many problems and then i just want u to succeed ... i mentioned that i knew 2 ppl mind u that have lost more than 100 pds on the band she said ohhh they must be 1 in a milliom and bla bla bla ..... so now it's like where do i start again .. i researched this surgeon for like the longest time and heard only good things about him but it must have been about the bypass instead .... can anyone tell me what surgeon u've used or heard of or anything in florida aside from dr jawad and dr kim cuz dr kim is like 16500 for self pay which is like 4500 more than dr jawad and i'm trying to find someone no more than a couple hours drive i'm in orlando ...... i'm afraid if i don't find anyone i'll be forced to just go back and have it done by dr jawad i mean does it really matter with where they place the band and what ur outcome is ? or is it all the same and then u just go home and lose to whatever amount of work u put into it? thanks for reading. I had already recieved a surgery date of 7/7 from dr jawad now i'm back to square one :w00t:

I live in Jacksonville and go to Dr. Cwyes and Dr. Baptista. They are great. If you'd like any information about them please feel free to send me a private message.

Katie - I would not have my surgery done by this surgeon. The surgical aspect is perhaps the easiest part of the journey. Your aftercare is much more important and it doesn't appear that you will get the support that you need. At the first sign of a problem - they will tell you "I told you so". Plus, you have to wonder why their lapband patients do so poorly. It doesn't speak well for them.

You don't want to get into a battle with your surgeon and his staff at every post-op appt.

As someone who had to change surgeons after my surgery, I wish I would have done a better job of selecting one to begin with.

Go on the forum on LBT for Lapband Surgeons in the US and click on Florida, then Orlando. It lists two surgeons.

Good luck. But the red flag has already been raised and you are wise to heed it.

I'm going with Dr. Domkowski, who is in Sebastian, FL. I live in the Viera/Melbourne/Cocoa area, so it's about an hour away from me. But my parent's next door neighbor is a nurse and highly recommended him. I went to the seminar and I meet with him on Monday.

No program/admin fees, either!

Also, their self-pay is like... $12,000 or something.

Riverside Surgical and Weight Loss Center