Wow Stephanie! What a frustrating day!  Thanks for all the info.  Sounds like things are a big mess there.  Sorry you had to go through all this, but very glad you posted your experience.  Hope

I've ran into a few snags myself.  I took it upon myself to switch dr's because I knew it was going to be sooooo crazy in that office.  If there's one thing I absolutely hate it's a dr. who is being short because they are pressed for time and why pay big bucks for nothing?  Maybe I am too demanding?  I hope things settle down after awhile, I'm sure there are still alot of patients there. 

Well I still couldn't tell you anything about him.  Ok I know that there is going to be some confusion in an office once someone leaves but today was ridicilous.  I left work at 12:30.  I got into the office at 1 for my 1:15 appointment.  When I walked into the office the receptionist asked me for my name.  I told her my new married name (as of June) and my maiden name since that was my name when the appointment was made.  She said she didn't have me on the list as being seen today but they could get me in.  She did write down my name and date of birth.  About 10 minutes later she calls me up and asked me my name again.  What she was getting at was they don't have a person by my new name but they did have a Stephanie with my DOB.  I again told her both names and that when I was there 2-3 weeks ago when we thought I had a blood clot I gave them my new info.  Another 10 minutes later she calls me up again and said ok we found you under my old name (so the person a couple weeks ago didn't change it like I asked) and that I needed to fill out a form.  I did and continued to wait and wait and wait.  At about 5 minutes to 2 I finally get called back.  The assistant takes my vitals and then Beth (the new nutritionist person) came in since I had emailed for some help.  We talked and although she seemed nice, I don't think much was accomplished other than to say I need to talk to my new husband and stepkids about eating junk and that I needed a fill (duhhh).  Then some other guy came in.  He said he was Dr. ____.  I didn't catch his name but he was a cutie.  I think he must have been a resident or something.  Anyway we talked about some problems I have been having and how things are going and some concerns I have.  He did seem to know what he was talking about which made me feel good.  He also didn't talk down to me or "dumbed down" the conversation as some do.  Part of it could be the wording I was using so he knew I knew what I was talking about.  He agreed that I needed a fill.  By this time though it was 2:55.  I knew I didn't have the time to do it then (nor do I think Dr. Forse did either since he apparently was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy behind).  When we were done I asked if I was done or if I still needed to see the doctor.  He didn't really know but said he would find out.  Again I didn't have the time so I decided to leave.  So despite the guy being a nice cutie I didn't really get much accomplished.  I did leave and didn't call right way to schedule the fill.  I did about a half hour ago and apparently they are gone as the phones were forwarded to Beth (and she didn't have a clue why as she doesn't do that stuff).  I never saw or met Dr. Forse.  Its just frustraiting.

Hi everone! Has anyone had their surgery done by Dr. Brad Winterstein? He works with Dr. Anthone. Dr. A sounds wonderful...I'm just thinking about open versus DS lap DS and Dr. W does lap from what I understand.

I would feel VERY confident about having Dr. A perform my surgery after reading 100s of reviews.

I'm just checking to see what your opinion is about Dr. W?

Thanks everyone!

Felicia

As everyone else has said, Dr. Anthone only does the procedure open. I had my surgery on October 3rd (edited to correct the date of my surgery) and I was considered a light weight, I had 100 pounds to loose. To date, I have lost 77% of my excess weight and I feel AWESOME. I am on "track" to loose all of my excess (80 pounds at 1 year would be my target and I have until October 3rd to reach that goal).

The six month physician supervised diet is an insurance requirement, to my knowledge Dr. Anthone does not require this, but most insurance companies do.

We have had an incredible summer and I was very sad when my kids went back to school yesterday, I still had more things I would have liked to do before school started.

My DS has been truely life altering. I will admit though, the first two months were HELL. I was very nauseated and then had an infection. I went back to work at 4 weeks and in hindsight should have taken the full 6 off, but it was ok after a few weeks. After the 2 month mark, everything just kind of came together.....the nausea went away, my energy level came back, the infection cleared up (with antibiotics), and eating was possilble again.

Dr. Anthone does give everyone a feeding tube, and let me tell you that was my best friend. That feeding tube saved me from the ER, I have always been one with a sensitive stomach and I was not able to eat or drink after surgery, so I used my tube religiously.

I was trying to answer the questions you put in this post, if you have any other questions I can answer please let me know. And you are always welcome to come on over to the DS board and hang out there, there is a wealth of information to be had over there. Good luck with your journey. I can honestly say I LOVE my DS.

Michelle