If not Dr. Nagle who for WLS?
Hey Kath ... Dr. Fred Tiesenga is the one who wants to take out my gallbladder! I go to his support group meetings at West Suburban (Oak Park) ... went to one last night.
Anyway ... if not Nagle (which you know my probs there right now) ... I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Dr. Denham. I met him at one of HIS support group meetings last month. All I can say is WOW. He did Kim & Alexis' surgery at NW ... I talked to him after the meeting and told him a former colleague of his did my surgery (Dr. Murayama) ... and we had a nice chat, he offered to look at all my test results and go over them with me ... he blew me away. Anyway, he is associated with Evanston Northwestern ... I can get you the info if you'd like.
I'm SO glad Jim has decided on this ... can I take you to one of Dr. Denham's support group meetings? I think you'd love him.
Talk to you soon ... off to see Laurie ...
--Karyn
I had my surgery done by Dr. Michael Iwanicki @ the WISH Center. They used to be located in Downers Grove, but now they are in Aurora (Mercy Provena). (This was the hospital that I had the surgery actually performed at....The care that I got there was absolutely fabulous, and the entire staff is incredible. (Dr. Jeff Rosen did most of my followup care, and I know several people who had their surgery with him.)
The WISH center is a pretty comprehensive program...you meet several times with a dietician, psychologist, and exercise specialist, as well as the surgeon. My sister had gastric bypass several years ago, so I was already familiar with the proceedings when I went in for my iniital consultation. Because I was able to show them that I had done my homework, they moved forward with my paperwork immediately, subject to my following an eight-week program of journaling my exercise regime and changing my diet (six smaller meals a day, no water with meals, taking supplements, etc).
They file ALL paperwork with your insurance, and will walk you through the appeals process, if necessary. From the date of my first consultation to my surgery was 2 1/2 months, so I'd say that they are pretty quick. (I didnt have the need for an appeal, though - my insurance approved me on the first try - in less than four weeks - with no supervised diet, my only co-morbidity being pre-diabetic).
Downside to the WISH center: They REQUIRE you to sign up for their aftercare program. (18 month followup, in person and online). While I don't mind the requirement, it isn't cheap. But, insurance covered most everything else, so my total out-of-pocket expense was less than $3000. (I've saved more than that on food already!)
Hope this is helpful. Feel free to email me with more questions.
Kate Lawson
10/24/05
240/152/150/130
starting weight/current/surgeon's goal/my goal
I have never met Dr's Rosen or Dr Iwanicki in person but I used to work for their answering service for several years. Dr's can be very rude to us operators and their patients when it comes to having them paged after hours. Believe me I have been yelled at by Dr's themselves and i was only the middle man....I can't control what people state is an emergency or not. Also I would page some doctors several times before they responded. Anyway what I wanted to say about these doctors mentioned is that they were ALWAYS very nice to us and very quick to pick up their pages. So on that note .....I can tell you that when it comes to emergencies they are very responsive and kind to everyone in the process.
First of all I want to say that you look absolutely fabulous..... ;) 
I had mine done(started out Lap RNY...but ended up Open RNY) by Dr. Cahill 
...He was at Ingalls Memorial but now he is at Little Company of Mary.... He and his staff are pretty good my opinion of Dr. Cahill it seems as if he really cares and knows where we are standing as to why ppl want the surgery done as if he was there in our shoes....
Mind you I live six hours away from there and it was worth my trip....
I even had to call him once on a weekend and he actually returned my call within the hour....
Cant recall any hoops to jump thru. I called the Cori Center and they did all my work...contacted Cori in December was scheduled for surgery January 18, but when I went for my preop testing I was soooo nervous 
that it made my EKG come back abnormal so that meant further testing...got my all clear January 29 and had my surgery February 22
Hope that this helps and again you look absolutely fabulous..... ;)
I had mine done(started out Lap RNY...but ended up Open RNY) by Dr. Cahill ...He was at Ingalls Memorial but now he is at Little Company of Mary.... He and his staff are pretty good my opinion of Dr. Cahill it seems as if he really cares and knows where we are standing as to why ppl want the surgery done as if he was there in our shoes....
Mind you I live six hours away from there and it was worth my trip....
I even had to call him once on a weekend and he actually returned my call within the hour....
Cant recall any hoops to jump thru. I called the Cori Center and they did all my work...contacted Cori in December was scheduled for surgery January 18, but when I went for my preop testing I was soooo nervous that it made my EKG come back abnormal so that meant further testing...got my all clear January 29 and had my surgery February 22
Hope that this helps and again you look absolutely fabulous..... ;) 
Hi Kathy. I, too had Dr. Guske from Suburban Surgical Care Specialists.
He is the BEST! I would have him again for any surgery needed. He really cares for his patients. The practice is big on aftercare and support groups too. They are the best in terms of pre-op evaluations and getting you ready for the surgery.
They recently received the award of excellence from the American Society of Bariatric Surgery and by BCBS. Definitely check them out!
Wishing your husband the best!
Lucy
484.8/383.4/193.4/160
pre-surg/surg day/current/goal
Most Active
Recent Topics
