Did anyone else?....

I had my surgery performed at Duke by Dr. Eric DeMaria. Currently, my husband is in the process of going through their program. Duke has an outstanding technical program, but has been going through signicant administrative growing pains for quite some time. When they say that the reason they are so slow now is because they are backed up due to the volume of patients, that may well be true, but almost all of their administrative staff and some of their clinical nursing staff has turned over in the past several months. Of course, this is making the administatitive component more challenging than ever. We are having our own painful experiences as we try to navigate the process again for my husband. All of that said, we'll hang in there and have them do the surgery.

I do believe that there are other very good options out there ... Enochs at Rex, Farrell at UNC Chapel Hill and the folks at Southern Surgical all have good reputations.

Wishing you every success with which ever program you decide to persue.

Barb

They do take a while due to high volume of applicants.  However, they are worth the wait!!!!!  Look on the bright side: you have your appt. booked; the longer it takes to apply, the longer the wait time for an appt.  I HATED their motto at the bottom of all their emails: "Quality takes time" but in hind sight, I totally understand it.  Duke WLS is top notch and is worth the wait.  Good luck, hang in there and start getting your mind ready now for changes that are to come.  I would recommend, also, keeping a printed log of all your contact dates, (phone calls, emails, who you spoke with, what time, etc.), test dates, etc. so that if you do feel like you have fallen through the cracks, you can have that with you when you call or stop in.  I applied in August and had to wait until March (2008) for my surgery.  Again, good luck--don't get discouraged!!!!!

Thank you all so much for your replies and information.  I believe the Drs at Duke are great, its the lost paperwork and delays that has me concerned.  I pondered this decision for almost a year before applying in June/08.  At this point , I am ready to get it done and move on.

Had I paid closer attention and researched more, I would have known about the wait time there and would have gone elsewhere as having the surgery soon is a priority for me.  I live in Durham , so they seemed like the obvious choice at the time.

From what I am gleaning , even after the long wait for an initial appt , I will still face long delays.  What about aftercare?  Are they able to fit u in regularly for that? 

I would love to stay with Duke as they are convenient and my pcp is a Duke physician (easy exchange of paperwork) , but this is already a trying experience(major surgery) ......is it really worth it to hang in there and have it made more difficult by having to worry about falling thru the cracks and misplaced paperwork?

I dont think so,,,,,I have some tough questions for their admin staff that I will address next week , and also I am calling Dr Enochs office which I am beginning to think may be a better option for me.

I had my RNY with Dr. Moran in Raleigh.  My first appt was on Nov 19th and I had my surgery on Jan 2nd.  My experience with Dr. Moran was great.  I've had no problems at all and am very thankful that I didn't have a long wait for surgery (patience is not my strong point).  That being said, a short wait time is not the reason I went with Dr. Moran.  This is a very big surgery and you should feel very comfortable and confident in your surgeon.  If I had not liked Dr. Moran or felt confident in him, I would have been willing to go somewhere else even if the wait had been much longer.  Thanks Christy

I kept a log from day one. Until they get a competent staff in place they will struggle. They could be like most places today understaffed as well! Only Duke knows what is going on behind the doors there. The doctors are under the mercy of the business administration and the two have to work together to make it flow properly. The last group session I went to at Duke one week before one of the surgeons and apologized for what we all had been through to get to the surgery. While this didn't make it right at least I felt like they were aware of the problems and hopefully they can get a handle on it for others in the future.

I looked into other places as well. But like you all my records etc. are at Duke and closer to home. I know there are other places to go and they seem excellent also. I imagine Duke is handling quit a few hundred cases daily. I think at the seminar at Durham Regional Hospital they should tell you up front it could take up to a year to go threw this process. They could mail you something monthly or give you tips via email to prepare for the procedure such as literature and website etc. to visit. Maybe even someone make contact by phone or email once a month to let you know what is going on would help.  In fact when I see Dr. Pryor the end of the month or the next group session I will recommend that to them. The worst I found about the Adm. Staff was the tone in which they talked to you over the phone. They could diffently use some phone edict training. Anyways I have rambled enough and there is more to it than we will ever know or even need to know. Our main concern is our health & well being and their is getting there job done & going home. You have to be proactive in your own health is the bottomline I have found.

I am also in the black hole that is the Duke WLS Program.

I went to the new patient seminar on April 18 and submitted my application online that night. Received my packet about a month later. I called several times during that period. I don't know if it helped but it made me feel like I was doing something. Staff was very rude but told me every time that my packet should be mailed out soon. They did give me one piece of good info though. Don't get your tests done until you recieve your packet because you may not have to get all of the tests done that are listed on the Duke WLS website. The surgeons actually review the application before the packet is sent out. This does seem to be an improvement to the process but it would be nice to know. They should send out a letter once they receive the application explaining next steps. The packet has your appt. date, tests needed, lots of paperwork that needs to be completed and brought to the first appt.

My first clinic appt. was Aug. 7. It was a very frustrating appt. Staff was very unorganized. My scheduled appt. time was 9:00 am and it was 10:30 before I saw the NP. I saw Hilery Blackwood. We went over in great detail all my paperwork that I had brought in. I had one item missing (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone level ) and they took care of that in the lab that day. Next I went to see Dr. Kelli Friedman for the physc. eval. (45 mins.) Last I was supposed to see the Nut but he was on vacation that week!! Go figure. The nutritionist called me at home on 8/18 and we went over the info. on the phone.

I haven't received any updates since my 8/7 appt.  I coudn't wait any longer and called the office on 8/20 and I actually spoke to a person (Jenny). She said she would pull my chart and call me back with my status. By Friday  8/22, I hadn't heard from her, so I  called back. She stated "I'm new and I really don't know all the procedures yet but hold on and I'll try to get you an answer". She was able to locate my file and said they were waiting on my psyhc eval and results from the bloodwork done at the 8/7 appt. Both documents should be completed and in my file by now!  Dr. Friedman submitted by psych. eval already and the lab results are back.

Anyway, Jenny said check the Duke WLS website in a few days and my status will change to "submitted to insurance"  once it's been sent off. (BCBSNC) Wow! That would be awesome, to actually have a status. My status has been Not Applicable No Status since 4/18.