rochester ny here

Hey everyone! My name is Nicky and I am starting my wls journey. I have my first nutrition seminar Thursday. I am so excited!!! Can anybody tell me how long i should expect to wait until I have a date for the surgery? Also does anyone here see Joe Johnson or O'Mally? If so, what has been your experience. Thank you for listening to me!

Hi Nicky,

I had RNY surgery with Dr. O'Malley last December.  To give you an idea of time, I attended the information seminar at the end of March, 2007.  I took a little while to think things over and decided to go for the surgery.  At the nutrition seminar, you should get an idea of the timeline for nutritionist visits, psych eval and surgery consult.  I had an insurance issue which caused a brief delay.  I was expecting to have surgery in October, 2007.  I met Dr. O'Malley early in November and could have had my surgery just before Thanksgiving.  Because I was taking college courses, I decided to wait until December 11 (when classes were finished) to have the surgery. 

Surgery went well and I didn't have a lot of pain from the surgery.  Everybody is different though.  The staff at the hospital are very efficient.  It was snowing pretty hard on my discharge day, and the nursing staff was very good about having everything done so that I could leave as soon as my husband arrived.  That was probably the first time that I've had a hospital discharge go so quickly without having to wait around for something.

The Bariatric Center's services are in high demand, but it is well worth the wait to have the surgery.   Good luck on your journey.

Hi Nicky! I had O'Malley for my surgery. I had my informational seminar in March 2007 and had my surgery that October. I have not had any bad experiences with the hospital or the practice except that they are very busy and you may have to wait to get appointments scheduled. My surgery was very easy and the recovery was a breeze. So far I have not had any problems. I remember that the hospital stay was a lot easier and better then I thought that it would be. I would totally recommend the practice and Highland hospital.

If you have any further questions I would be more than happy to help!

Thanks for the responses guys!!! I am also attending college and hopefully i can work this around my classes. I am pretty excited but it seems like its going to take so long!!!! Well I have lived for so many years like this(large) so i suppose i could wait a little longer. Again thanks for responding!

From the time you attend the first seminar through the nutritional couseling meetings and psych exam and subsequent followups it took me almost 1 year from start to finish. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT !!!!!!

A few months ago I might have raved about the Bariatric Center at Highland Hospital but I am not in a positive frame of mind about the place at present.  If you are looking for really good aftercare - Highland isn't going to be your place.  Recently I believe one of the surgeon's left so that the other surgeon's had to take on their patients.  Additionally surgery has become more and more popular and they are bogged down.  I am a LapBand patient which requires frequent aftercare visits for adjustments.  I drive an hour and a half to the hospital from Syracuse and I tried to get in earlier for an appointment because I was denied an adjustment at my last one.  It is November 20 and I was told when I called that I couldn't get in earlier because he is booking out past my appointment already which is on January 2nd.  I asked about cancellations and was told that there weren't any and if there were it would only be to lighten the doctor's load, not to fit in more people because they're way overbooked.  I'm not trying to scare you off from the center because I had wonderful care when I was there, wonderful pre-visits, and confidence in the surgeon.  But the aftercare has fallen short for me.  Hopefully you won't have the same experience.  Good luck to you.