Looking for Pts of Dr. Terracina

Hi! I am new on this board and I am looking for candid comments on Dr. Terracina as a surgeon and Sentara Careplex in Hampton as a surgery site.  Any information you could provide would be great! Also looking just for general support from local pts who have had the gastric banding and would want to share their experience.

Thanks!

I was initially going to go with Dr. Terricina, however found I liked Dr. Clark better.  I am sure Dr. Terricina was a fine surgeon, however Dr. Clark for me seemed to really take time to talk to me, he was not in a rush to get to the next patient, etc. He also gives his sample box out prior to surgery which was a plus so I could see what stuff I liked and didn't like. He also has the Center for Metabolic health which is great, and has a fabulous store of all the best high protein stuff in town.
Also - Dr Clark had a sooner opening that Terricina did.

The staff at the clinic leave, well a lot to be desired is an understatement. To say they were friendly would be an out-right lie, I don't know that I have ever experienced an office full of su*****onvenienced people, that really just seem to not want to be there!  Heaven forbid you have more than one question! And when you are there in the office, I can't say I saw a single person crack a smile - ever!  I am not expecting rays of sunshine, however at least pretending that someone didn't whizz in your wheaties everyday would be nice.
Once you get rolling Cat is very helpful.

Sentara was great! I had the best nurses you could ask for. Wow. I can rave on about that place. Well worth the $11,000 I paid them.  They made me feel really comfortable, took a lot of time with me, and were quite encouraging. I had a great experience there.

Before the surgery Dr. Clark came twice to check on me, one when I got there, and another right before surgery. The anesthesiologist was alright, but apparently there is a tech that drugs you up.

I have a unique perspective that I was a self pay for this whole she-bang... so I did a lot of research, interviewed 6 different doctors from here, Norfolk and Richmond... and choose the one I felt most confident in. Not to gainsay the abilities of the other Doctors I spoke with, however, I felt most comfortable with Dr. Clark.

 

Hope that helps, that was my experience.

I am a patient of Dr. T. I absolutely love this man. He gave me my life back. The office staff are wonderful. Sentara Careplex is good. I didn't have any problems with the nurses. Dr. T is wonderful. I can't thank him enough for what he has done for me. I really like the way he is when I go for check ups. He takes his time. I have never felt rushed like I do with my PCP. I feel he really takes his time with each of his patients. Now I had RNY not banding.  Good luck with everything. Keep us posted. I found the only difference between Dr. T and Dr. Clark was that Dr. T does his surgeries laproscopicly. I didn't want to have it open which is the way Dr. Clark does his. Also, I found the office staff very friendly. Everyone always say****o me when I am in there. I hope this helps.

Dr. Clark does he surgeries laproscopicaly....

I was under the impression he only did open. Thats why I went with Dr. T. Maybe 2 yrs ago he only did open, that's when I started doing all my pre-op stuff. Thanx for setting me straight. Have a great day!!!!!

Not a patient of either doctor mentioned on the other posts or the Sentara but I wanted to welcome you to the board!  We look forward to getting to know you.  We are having a meet and greet in Richmond this Sunday if you are up for a road trip.  See the post from last week or PM me if you are interested in the details.

Tammy

Can't answer your questions on the dr. but wanted to say Hi & Welcome!

HI,
I am a patient of both Dr. Terracina and Dr. Clark.  Dr. Terracina was my surgeon and he is the best.  I think he is terrific and did several consults with other physicians before chosing him.  He is kind, listens with a wonderful open heart and mind, and has excellent surgical and laparoscopic skills.  He was absolutely terrific through the preop, the surgery, post op and now even 1 year post op from my perspective.  I agree that he has given me my life back and then some.  I would choose him over any other surgeon again if I had to do it again.  I am thoroughly happy with my results.  

Sentara Careplex is a very nice hospital.  Rather new.  The nurses on the bariatric wing are wonderful.  I did have some trouble the first day when I was not on the bariatric wing but as soon as Dr. T came in and I told him the issues I was having with a float pool nurse with less bariatric experience, he had me moved (within or less than 1 hr) with the rest of my stay being as good as it could have been despite some complications that I had (mostly from my cardiac issues that I had preoperatively and that the nurse anethetist did not account for adequately...or should I say undercompensated for...she did not give me enough fluids (she didn't want to "overload" my heart with too much fluid and when I came out of surgery I had some low BP issues (which I already have low bp.)  So I had to stay an extra day and get extra fluids.  Not a huge issue though in the grand scheme of things.  I would say I was happy with my care.

The staff at the WLSC have been pretty good to me.  I cannot complain about the staff.  Very nice overall.  And, some of the girls are really terrific, including Danni (Dr. T's nurse), Nancy Ritchie (Dr. Clark's nurse), Cat (insurance guru).

Dr. Clark is also a very nice and well educated doctor.  He is also a very talented surgeon who I worked with throught the Center for Metabolic Health prior to my surgery when I didn't think my insurance was going to pay for the surgery.  He did not do the laparascopic surgery when I first was looking for a doc.  But, now he does do them!   I still felt a stronger rapport and comfort with Dr. T and so, I went with him and would choose Dr. T over Dr. C even if they both did lap surgery.

Now that they both do the surgery laparascopically, you should look at both of them.  This is what they do for a living...every day.  This is their specialty, so they do more RNYs and Bands than other docs in the area who also do them.   You will be in good hands with whomever you choose!

Good luck.
Dianne

I was also under the impression that Dr. Clark did only open.

I am unable to have Dr. Clark as a doctor because I have been seeing him as a patient for the last year at the Center for Metabolic Health. I am not very excited about him as a doctor so I am not very unhappy that ethically he can't do my surgery. 

I didn't feel like he listened to me when I would meet with him to discuss why I was not losing weight on his diet plan. I sometimes felt as though he was accusing me of not being truthful in my food journals which actually made me cry in an appointment with him.  He could not tell me why I was not losing weight, which I understand a lot of doctors don't know why, but I had paid him the program fee plus all that food for a year (at least $2K out of pocket for a diet) and would have liked at least some encouragment. I was being totally honest with my food journals. I was paying all that money so why wouldn't I be honest? Plus going there was so I WOULDN'T have to have surgery so I was really working hard at it. I guess I just didn't feel supported by him. 

His nurse practitioner Nancy Ritchie is excellent though. She never gave up and tried several other things with me to try and jump start my weight loss. Even though I was still unsuccessful I felt as though she really cared and wanted to help. After that one appointment with Dr. Clark, I almost gave up totally.

Dr. Terracina seems to be very nice from my meeting him during seminar at WLSC.  I have not met with him individually yet as I still have to do my psych eval (this week) and my computerized test before I can submit to insurance. I'm nervous, scared and excited all at once as I haven't made a concrete decision to have surgery yet. I am still researching even though I feel like there really isn't anything else I need to learn. 

Can any of you tell me what the computerized test is about?

Is there anything any of you wish you would have known before you had the surgery that you now know since having the surgery??