Need a "Good" Doctor in Tulsa :) Please?

Hi Brand new here.. First ever post... I was wondering if anyone in Tulsa could recommend a good doctor, one who is sensitive to what you have been through an wont make you feel like it is all your fault and if you would have just put down that "Ding Dong" you never would have ended up here.... I want the lap band surgery.. The other is just too scary for me. I am afraid of problems with adhesions which have been a big issue in my last major surgeries. Anyone willing to recommend someone would be appreciated. Also any advise on how to get this ball rolling would also be greatly appreciated. To all of those here who are already Post Operative! My sincere congratulations for caring enough about yourself to take control of your life. I am so very anxious to join you. Sometimes it is hard to realize that caring about yourself is not selfi**** NECESSARY.. this is something I have only recently come to realize. I hope I am not to late. Thanks in advance for any advise or help you can pass my way Always Just Jackie

I would recommend Dr. Gorospe. He is my surgeon and I am 10 months out. I had the LAP RNY but he does lap band as well. I have never felt that he was in any way judgemental of how I got to be 409 lbs, just the opposite in fact. He mentioned some things from my medical history that could point to why I never lost the weight after gaining it no matter what I did. As I said, I am 10 months out and have my 1 year appointment next month. Currently I have lost 180lbs and have 40 more to goal. Lise

Hi Jackie, At first I too considered the Lap Band. The "other" was too scary for me too. I have scarring issues also. But after much research, I found that the Roux N Y is what I needed to get me where I need to be. Anytime time you place any type of foreign object in the body you are at risk for developling scar tissue. I'm not sure of your current weight or results expected, but I can say the Lap band is probably not going to give you what you want. Most people who have had that done end up back in the OR having the GP done. The lab band makes it far too easy to cheat and the permanent weight loss statistics aren't very good. We didn't get this way by having the monopoly on self control. There are 2 Doctors in Tulsa that do this. Dr. Gorospe is my Dr. also. He is kind, caring and makes no judgements about you. You need to call his office to go to his seminar to get the ball rolling. There is also Dr. Kevin Fisher. I'm not sure of his stats. I know they have a seminar too. Dr. Gorospe is at Southcrest and Dr. Fisher is at St. Francis. I wish you the best of luck in your journey and if you have any questions please feel free to ask. Donna E.

Jackie, I think if you read up on adhesions you'll find that it's just the fact that you have surgery, NOT the particular surgery, that makes adhesions a problem if your body is so inclined towards them, and that adhesions don't necessarily ONLY develop in the surgical area. Additionally, lap bands have a rate of complications specific to the band that would certainly give me pause- so you might have to deal with those as well as the adhesions. So don't let that stop you from considering ALL possible surgical types- but be sure to talk to your doc about the adhesion situation. I have done enormous research over the past year and have decided solidly to have DS - possibly with Dr. Gary Anthone in Omaha, which isn't a horrible drive. I started looking into WLS knowing that I wanted a procedure that is malabsorptive as well as restrictive. I wanted something that will work to keep my weight healthy for the rest of my life. I was leaning toward RNY because it was the only one of those types of procedures I'd ever heard anything about. But then I found out that the surgery itself doesn't work for the rest of your life - within a couple of years, I'd be back to depending on my own ability to keep the weight off with diet and exercise and no help from my "tool" in the long term. Well, I've already depended on that and look where it got me - BMI of 47. So I was ready to give up on WLS, having decided that it wasn't what I thought it wasl Then someone to whom I am eternally grateful directed me to the DS board and I learned about that procedure. In addition to the fact that it has a longer 'honeymoon period', it doesn't stop working even when your stomach inevitably stretches somewhat bigger. I learned that with this procedure I could eat a healthy and widely varied diet, not dump (I don't consider dumping or other punishment about eating to be a good thing) and not have to count calories or be deprived of ANYTHING. But most importantly, I learned that this good effect is for the long term, and that DS leaves people with the most healthy nutritional status AND the best long-term weight loss of all of the procedures- all without having to go on a low-fat diet or count calories. The only 'special' thing you have to do is, as with them all, protein first...don't want to lose muscle mass!...and save high-glycemic carbs for last so you're fuller and eat less of them. Once you learn by sight how much protein will get your 100-125 grams in a day, you can stop counting anything. RE: "Sometimes it is hard to realize that caring about yourself is not selfi**** NECESSARY.. this is something I have only recently come to realize." Amen to that. I struggled with this, too. As a Christian convicted about my sin of gluttony, I wondered if WLS weren't somehow 'cheating' - that I should step up and deal with that sin by discipline rather than surgery. Then one day, it occurred to me that the Bible DOES address this. It says that if our hand or eye causes us to sin, we'd best cut it off. So...the parallel would be that if my appetite causes me to sin...cut it off! OK, that's figurative with some procedures. The sleeve gastrectomy in DS actually removes tissue that produces a hunger hormone called ghrelin, so in that case it would be literally cutting it off. Hey...at least you get anesthesia with WLS LOL. Denise in Ark ( but an Okie born and bred)