Looking for a Doctor to perform the gastric bypass who won't waste my time.

I have been on 2 appointments for the gastric bypass, first one was CORI Clinic they told me I had to loose weight first, then I went to Dr. Frantzides out of Evanston, on the doctor's information said he accepted Medicaid, however when I arrived at the office it was another story. The hospital accepts but the doctor does not, it will cost $6,500.00. Me and my husband are self-employed new business owners, and because of my weight we cannot get normal insurance or even afford it. Or afford to keep wasting my time with these doctor's who keep giving me the run around. If there is anyone who can help me please respond back it would be great. I am looking for a doctor to perform the surgeon who will not give me the run around and is honest, caring, and is truly looking out for my best interest. I have something that is hard to explain called Traumactic Cellutitis of my stomach area and my general surgeon who does not provide this type of surgery informed me that gastric bypass is the only way I will cure my self it will shrink with the weight loss. I need it to shrink because the area lays on my nerves on my leg and I can only walk so far and that is bad because I have 3 kids all under the ages of 3. Anyone that could help would be great. Sincerely, Stacey

Hi Stacey, I know Dr.Frederick M. Tiesenga at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park accepts Medicaid. Several people on this board has had him as at doctor. Here is the link to his site http://www.newhopesurgical.com/. I hope this helps. I'm still in the process of getting approved, so we are both on the journey to getting our surgery. Good luck. Diamond

I had my surgery done by dr Denham. You go in he tells you what pre ops you have to do. You get them done, they sumit your info to the insurance comapany. Once I was approved they gave me a date for 2 weeks later. I guess the only thing was when I first made my appointment I had to wait a month, but i don't know if it is like that now. But overall it was a very fast process. Most other dr's I called had a very long waiting list some couldn't see me for several months and to have surgery through them was a crazy long wait. Dr Denham was a great surgeon. His staff is great, they always call back right away. He is also out of Evanston, or he does surgeries at Glenbrook (where I had mine done). He has offices in Evanston and Vernon Hills. I can't find his # right now but you can get it off of the find a bariatric surgeon. Good Luck Laura

Here's his number(847) 570-4120

Dr.Stephen Marshall,he accepts medicaid thats the insurance I had and he is very kind he is at OSF in Peoria the number is 1-800-524-7874 Hope this helps Good Luck!!! Candi

I went to Barix in Belvidere, Consult in july , insurance approval mid august, could have had surgery by the end of august but needed to give 30 days notice at work,so went end of sept 2002. worked great for me. I like their program. there was no fuss no stupid stuff, just direct and to the point.

Hi Stacey I just have a quick question. At the CORI Center did they give you any reason why they needed you to lose weight first? How much weight did they ask you to lose? Just curious because I have my consult in the morning. What surgeon did you see? Thanks for your response. Anita

Well the first appointment if you want to call it that, was 5 hours long. I seen Doctor Wood's, he told me after they get your hopes about the surgery, that I needed to lose weight. I thought that was what I was there for, I needed a tool to help me lose my weight. They informed me I needed to lose 30 pounds and I needed to send food logs in every week and stick with the Atkins Diet. I was very disappointed in how they treated me and wished that I would not have waisted my time.

Stacey, Most surgeons recommend SOME weight loss prior to surgery for a number of reasons -- part of it is to see how committed you are.. but another, more tangible and sobering reason is that it can reduce the risk of complication and even death on the operating table. Think of it in degrees of importance.. if you have to lose 30 pounds before you can have a surgery that will SAVE YOUR LIFE and ensure that those 30# you sweat blood to lose *never come back*, is it worth it? Is it worth it to reduce the size of your liver so that a life threatening complication like a small knick in your liver that can cause you to bleed to death slowly and before they could ever know what was wrong would be less likely? Is it worth it to lower your blood pressure just a little so that you aren't *as high* a risk on the table as you are right now? I'm not trying to be harsh, but try to look at this pragmatically. YES you came to them to have bariatric surgery which will cause you to lose weight quickly and permanently.. but there are sacrifices involved from your end as well. And you may find, even though it doesn't make any logical sense to you, that ANY surgeon worth his salt is going to require you to lose SOME weight pre-operatively.. and if you don't understand why, you need to ask him to explain why. You may not like the answer, but sometimes the truth stinks.. and you have to lay manure to get pretty flowers to bloom in your garden. It's not an unusual requirement and the doctor you saw was not just jerking you around. He was telling you what you needed to do to change you habits and your life, long term. I do hope you find what you need, however. Good luck!! Stef Lap RNY 11/12/04 390 -> 282 -> 175