Thoughts on doctors

Hi. I am new to this and am pretty much just starting this program. I had the initial consult with my MD and asked for a referral to Dr. Campbell at CMC, Manchester. Thru the grapevine, I have heard good and bad, so am thinking I should look at other dr's. I was informed of Portsmouth Regional. From all ofyou out there in NH, any words of advise for which dr. and your thoughts. Thanks a million

I had my surgery at the Dartmouth Hitch**** Medical Center in Lebanon. They have a great program. Paul Kispert MD was my surgeon and he's just terrific. Check out the web site at www.dhmc.org under Patients and it explains the whole program. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions about this program. Karen

Hi Robin, I had my surgery done with Dr. Lautz at Brigham & Women's in Boston, and, in my opinion, well worth the trip. You get a surgery date at your first consult, no pre-op weight loss requirement, no required meetings. I had to make exactly 2 trips to Boston before surgery, on for the consultation, and anything else you need they will schedule in one day. You have your final meeting with the surgeon and the same day pre-operative evaluation, where they do any tests that might be necessary and bloodwork. I was very happy with my experince there, and I am going back Tuesday for a hernia repair. It is less than an hour from Manchester. And, when I wanted to leave the hospital early, I got the same response from everyone in the hospital, from aids to nurses to interns and medical students, "Don't you live in NH? Trust me, you don't want a complication to come up today and have to be treated in a NH ER." Which, is, of course, silly. I am sure there are some great doctors in NH, but B&W is consistently rated one of the best hospitals in the country, and, growing up in Massachusetts, I have great faith in the health care system and hospitals there. Good luck, wherever you decide, Carrie

I began my journey through Nashua, New Hampshire with Dr. David Drinkwater and Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. I was just getting ready to have a surgery date scheduled when Dr. Drinkwater resigned from SNHMC and moved to a hospital in MA where he is not doing WLS at the current time. So all of his patients were required to select another program and he gave us 4 recommendations. I transferred to the program in Lowell at Saints Memorial Medical Center with Dr. Michael Jiser. I am very impressed with their program, their support staff personnel are incredible and Dr. Jiser is very straight forward, encouraging and seems to have established a great program. They do require a small weight loss prior to surgery, and participation in support groups - which are really helpful for this WLS. I am waiting insurance approval at this point and should have surgery scheduled in a couple of weeks. There are 3 doctors in the Weight Management Program and they do the lap band also. I think they have a wonderful program and the travel from Nashua is only about 12 miles...not bad at all.

Robin, I gave up on CMC. In January, I emailed once and left 3 messages with them asking them to call me to tell me what I needed to do to get going and not one response. That was not very encouraging to me. I went on Dartmouth Hitch****'s website and the first thing I have to do is attend one of their informational/support group meetings, they give you the paperwork there and things get rolling. I'll be there on February 10th with bells on! I'm so anxious to get this process started. Good luck with whoever you choose! Nancy