Newbie with lots of Q's

Have you looked into Bariatric Specialists of NC? They have offices as far west as Burlington and several of their surgeons perform the DS. I'm 4 weeks post-op; Dr. Bovard was my surgeon. I know Burlington isn't exactly "local," but the thought of being so far away from my doctor that I absolutely couldn't get to him in case of emergency/complication weeks down the line terrifies me. I know a lot of people do it, and I'm not judging at all....just saying it wouldn't work for me. Good luck with whatever you decide!

I agree it's a nice security blanket to have the surgical practice somewhat nearby. Thanks for your reply and best wishes :)

Hey I live in Concord NC! Dr Bauman is doing my DS. He is the the best around!!!

Small world, when is your surgery date? I didn't like the only Charlotte dr doing the DS and I'm self pay so I am going the Mexicali Bariatric Center route. Even though everyone raves about it and the doctors have a lot of experience, I still occasionally ask myself if I'm nuts for going to Mexico! My surgery date is July 3.

I went out of country for my DS in 2008, I live in Canada and traveled to Michigan (8 hours away). I was a single mom with 2 kids in school, 1 high school and 1 elementary school. If going out of country you will need a travel buddy, this also applies if you go out of state.

So here's how it went down for me.

I traveled to MI for my initial consultation and got the list of everything that was required for surgery.

Once I was home I did the required BW, EKG, bone density scan, and chest x-ray. Once my surgeon received all the results my surgery was booked.

I went back to MI a few days prior to surgery and for my preop assessment. Unfortunately, the night I got to MI I became very ill with a fever and horrible chest cold. My mom who was my travel buddy immediately called my surgeons office to notify him I had become ill. My surgeon had me come to his office first thing the next morning and sure enough I had all the signs of a bad chest cold. He immediately started me on antibiotics and my surgery was postponed a week. I was pretty sick and it was winter so we decided to just stay in MI. I recovered well enough to proceed with the new surgery date. I was in hospital for 4 or 5 days (don't remember) and then I had to stay local until my staples were removed which was another 5 days. I was very sore upon discharge and needed assistance for the first few days!!!!!! I was very foggy brained and no way would I have wanted to be on my own.

I ended up being in MI for like 18 days.

Edited to add: I had open surgery and I believe your surgeon does a lap ds but he'll still want you to stick around after discharge for a followup before you leave. Also feel free to take a peek at my profile to see my hospital pics.