Dr. Hess

Hi everyone! I know this is for people who are having surgery in January...but maybe someone could help me! I started my WLS journey yesterday and I am so excited!! I got my referral from my PCP and now I am making an appointment with Dr. Hess. I have read his reviews which all seem great. I wanted to know if someone had a timeline of their surgery. I am in college so I am trying to work appointments between my schedule which is going to be hard but its something I need to do for me, so I really could care less about school! (Don't tell my parents...30,000 a year! eek!). How long did it take you from first consultation to surgery? How is Dr. Hess's staff? I sort of got rushed off the phone today with a you need a referral hang up. So anyways, I have been reading all the posts and I wish everyone luck, I hope to learn a lot more as the weeks go on. Thanks!

I started my journey in May 2006 with the seminar and the surgery scheduled for January 22, 2007. I took my time and scheduled my appointments way out. I needed my surgery for after January so I have vacation and sick time to take from my job. So to answer your question, my total time was 8 months. Good luck to you! Best wishes.

I started my journey Sept 1,2006 and had surgery January 8, 2007. Check out my page for my timeline. As for DR. Hess, I am not familiar, but what I have found is if you post on your state site you may find some people who know him/her. Best of luck to you and STUDY HARD. The only thing better than a beautiful face, is a beautiful mind. Crystal post-op 1/8/07 244/230/125

Well, I'm a college student, so I worked mine around my schedule, too. I waited to winter break to have the surgery so there wouldn't be a lapse in classes. January 2006, I went to my primary and told him I wanted the surgery. He wanted me to try dieting more and come back in another 6 months. Beginning July, I seen my primary and he wanted a ton of bloodwork and see me back in 2 weeks and if all my levels, etc were ok, he would recommend me for the surgery. I did the blood work and had his letter by end of July 2006. First week in August, I see the pysch and did the eval. A week later he wanted to see me back and talk about the eval. Mid-Sept was the quickest time I could see my surgeron as he is very very very in demand, but I wanted him, so I waited. I did an over the phone consult with the nutrionist end of September. I did bloodwork a few times. Attended an excercise class to learn how to excercise after surgery, and a nutrition class to learn about how to eat, etc after surgery. I had my approval from my insurance around Thanksgiving, but I didn't want the surgery the week of Thanksgiving nor for Christmas. So I had to wait till the beginning of January which was my choice. I had my surgery on January 8, 2007. So I guess my journey took approximately 1 year. School starts the end of next week and I'm ready to go back.