Anyone had WLS at Barix Clinic Groveport OH?

I had my surgery there October 16th.  I have lost over 60 pound and no complications.  My surgeon, Dr. Custer, was great.  Nut Katie is very accessible and good.  Dr. Bates was my PAT doctor and was wonderful.  Now about the facility:  It is geared to the obese patients needs.  You are not thrown in with a general surgery patient.  Chair, bed, shower, gowns, etc all fit the larger sized patient.  Even gave me something to wipe my hinny with so I didn't have to bend over so far.  The nursing staff was excellent and was able to help me out with the dreaded "foamies".  I had a fellow for the respiratory part and he was very good to me.  I loved the cleaning lady!  If you have a cardiac problem, well they don't have a cardiac unit, but I don't think that I would have gone anywhere else. A few years ago I started out on the weight loss journey with one of the larger hospitals and got lost in the process.  Two other people that I know have had their surgeries done there and haven't had any problems.  My cousin is scheduled to have hers done in their Michigan facility.  I started my insurance process in May and was initially scheduled for surgery in Sept., but because of a medical problem didn't have the surgery until Oct.  It has been one of the hardest things I've every done, but it has been so worth it!!!! Nancy J.

Hi Nancy J
Thanks for the info! I assume I am getting DR Custer. At least that is who she said my consult would be with.

Ok ... I am new to all these terms. What is the "dreaded foamies" you mention? Is it foamy pooh? haha

I am glad to hear you are doing so well and feel it was worth it.

thanks Nancy J - glad to hear you are doing well.

I think I am getting DR Custer also. I guess I will find out 1/9/08 at the consult?

Was your surgery RNY Lap?

all I am planning to take to the surgery is a tooth brush, tooth paste, slippers, cpap machine, meds, and clean undies. Do you think I will need anything else? I don't want to have to take too much with me. I will wear home what I go there in.

Make sure to take chapstix. Your lips will be very chapped.

I went there first when I initally started my WLS journey.  The staff was very nice.  I strongly dislike the surgeon there (and, sadly, I'm not sure which one he was).  When he found out I was working on my PhD dissertation in psychology, he said "you know, I'm looking for someone who'd be interested in working with me and writing up my research for publication...are you interested?" Of course I was!  I was thrilled to have a surgeon who was willing to talk to me concerning my professional and academic goals as well as my weight goals.  Then, he said he wanted to find validation to support his hypothesis that over 95% of his female bariatric patients were sexually abused as children.  I said..."ummm...are you sure of this statistic? It seem very, very high and rather outlandish." To that he replied, "I'm sure that 95% will eventually admit to it...and the other 5% are merely lying."  To this I said "well, I was never sexually abused." and he said "well, I guess you fall into that 5% then." Needless to say, I left and didn't go back.  He also told me that there were only 2 weight loss surgeries performed...the lapband and the RNY.  He NEVER mentioned the DS (now, I know that this was because he merely didn't do it). He also said he doubted I'd ever get insurance approval (which I did, my first submission, in about 5 business days). So, needless to say, I was NOT happy with the Barix Clinic in Groveport. I'm having the duodenal switch done lapascopically in Dayton on the 10th of this month by Dr. Teel who is FABULOUS!!

thanks for your input. I think I am seeing Dr. Custer.

I totally understand your concerns. I am going in for a consult but I do not have to commit (to them) at that point. What made you choose the duodenal switch over the RNY?

I was abused emotionally and physically but not sexually. I think many of us have experienced abuse of some form and developed low self esteem and turned to food for comfort.

Hi Susan! I guess I'm just one of the few people (especially one of the few women) who's never experienced any type of abuse.  My mother was/is quite the feminist so I was raised that abuse against women is something to not tolerate. And, my dad always loved children and treated me like a princess.  I was also very athletic as a child/teen and was very much a "tom boy" who played sports at recess with the boys.  I could beat up any boy and that reputation carried with me.  Most of my friends were boys too. When I went to college, I met a wonderful man and we've been married almost 15 years now.  So, I've been one of the fortunate ones, I know. For me, I just love to eat.   I can tell you the I did NOT see Dr. Custer.  But, I did feel a little obligated after paying the $85 and going through all the initial stuff with them.  They also followed up well.  Like I said, their staff was nice.  But, I did get a bad feeling even before I went when the women on the phone kept saying that a "clinic was far better than any dirty hospital" and she kept trying to "sell them".  While I understood that this was her job, I didn't think she handled it well...of course, that's just my opinion again.  I had also been accepted into the OSU program and she totally ran it down so that was kind of a turn-off. I chose the DS for several reasons. First, I have high cholesterol and with the DS, you don't absorb it.  I also have a thing for fats...with the DS, you only absorb 80% fats in your diet so KFC chicken is actually encouraged on the post op DS diet (I know...wow!). It also has a 98% cure rate for diabetes.  I'm "pre-diabetic" so I wanted to stop it before it started.  As fars as choosing the DS over the RNY, I was really, really, really afraid of dumping.  That's something that comes with the RNY and not the DS. Also, all the research I've read shows that the DS has better long term weight loss than the RNY. My parent's next door neighbor had the RNY about 10 years ago and has gained back about half her weight.  My sister in law had the RNY about 3 years ago and started to regain her weight at about 2 years. Both of them concerned me because I know them personally and have seen the weight come off and then back on again.  My sister in law is already looking into a RNY to DS revision (once I told her about the DS) but her insurance company will not pay for it.  They did pay for her RNY but don't want to pay for another weight loss surgery.   The revision thing was another factor for me.  I wanted to only have one major surgery like this.  I knew I'd have to live on a life-long diet with the RNY...if I could diet, I wouldn't need weight loss surgery in the first place! I've seen tons of research on the RNY to DS revisions and there are lots of them on OH.  But, I've NEVER seen a DS to any other surgery. So, that convinced me that it was the "platinum standard".  Let me personally invite you to the DS board here on OH so you can ask some "veterans" some questions...they can tell you even more than me. And, I LOVE to hear their personal experiences. Here's the link: http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/a,messageboard/board_id ,5357/

Hi Sylvia

Thanks for all the info. I have been watching WL stuff on tv. That one show about NY WL center is enough to make you want to have this surgery IMMEDIATELY! These are the super obese patients that go there and then they CHEAT on the diet and gain weight while at the facility. Hmmmmmmmmmm

I am pushing the 300 mark and after watching that I refuse to get any bigger!

I have heard that some people regain. This is what happened to a friend of my sister, and my sister is dead set against me having surgery because of her friend. Well her friend loves to party, eat & drink and she was not willing to change her lifestyle so she regained. This is a lifelong committment and you have to change your whole lifestyle.

One show on tv was about a 600 pound woman who had the DS and they showed the actual surgery. They removed a HUGE stomach out of this woman. Mine is probably that size! Then they showed her plastic surgeries. WOW. That is really gross what she went through.

I wish they would show surgeries of the 100-200 lb overweight individuals and their journey to become a normal size person.

DS looks as if it is "open" and not lap? I have lots of ?s when I go to the consult. It does appear that Barix only does RNY & lapband?

Take care!

Yes, Barix only does the RNY and lapband.  I will caution you that those surgeon's who do not perform the DS are NOT thoroughly educated in it.  Just because someone's a doctor, doesn't mean they are "all knowing". I think that's the trap so many of us fall into sometimes.  I guess I'm just the queen of skepticism and don't take anything at face-value.  The doctor there ran down the DS and gave a lot of misinformation about it.  That's why I recommend going to the DS forum here.  You get first hand information from patients.  Also, I would highly recommend if you consider the DS, only getting information from a surgoen who performs it.  Dr. Teel does the lapband, the RNY and the DS. He also does it lap and prefers to do it lap and not open.  His partner, Dr. Maguire, does most of his open.  Many DS surgeons will do it either way you want, but will try lap (if they do it...it's very highly technical) if at all possible.  There is a lady on the DS board who had a BMI of over 60 and had hers done lap.  Your BMI is around mine so Dr. Teel would certainly do you lap.

I had surgery on October 23rd, 2007 at the Barix Clinic at Groveport, and from my experience, I feel that it is probably the best possible place to have this type of surgery.  It is all they do, and they educated me on everything that I needed to do both prior and after the surgery to ensure the best possible outcome.   I did have Dr. Custer as my surgeon, and he is very professional and very meticulous, and wants to do as perfect a surgery as possible, and I had a very good outcome.  I think it is very important to start your protein shakes and your vitamins a couple of weeks prior to the surgery as they ask you to, and then to follow their suggestions for protein and vitamins and food to the "T" after the surgery.   I actually thought my recovery would have been much tougher, but I had a much easier time than I anticipated and I was full of energy and even went back to doing water aerobics 3 weeks after the surgery even though I had the open RNY procedure.   The nursing staff at Barix was extremely good to me and I could not have asked for a better group of people caring for me and making sure things were going along as they should.  I was only in the hospital from Tuesday until Friday, and I am sure that their care was instrumental in getting out of the hospital as soon as I did.  I believe you are going to the right place, and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone contemplating WLS.