Hi, I had the surgery almost 4 years ago and I still dump depending on what I eat once of course now in a long while, however when I first had the surgery I dumped quite often and Yes  it defintely was no fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Gail

Hey Valarie!
Come check him out for yourself and ask your questions.  He's presenting at the Banner Gateway support group this evening at 6 pm (60 and Higley in the conf room past the cafeteria).

Support group presentations are a great low key approach to gathering your p.s. information.

He'll show some amazing Before & Afters of other weight loss peeps and their post p.s. results.  We'll have some of his post-ops there to answer some of the personal questions (like:  what was recovery really like?  Did it REALLY hurt?  Do you like your results?  etc)  ....Don't be surprised if they just lift up their shirts and show ya the "stuff"!  LOL!  They are proud of their bodies and love the results!  And...it wasn't that long ago that they were in your exact shoes!!!

I'm headed out the door but give me a call if you have questions.  480.814.7466

Dr. M will be at other events in the future if you can't make it tonight or.....just call the office for a consultation.  I actually had my very own consultation with my good Doc last week!  LOL!  Check out my blog on my profile to see where I'm at......Yikes!  I need to go update it...I have more news to add:)

Good luck!  This is the really FUN part of the journey!!!

Woooooo Hoooooo!

My WOW moment came 2 1/2 months after surgery when I could sit the coach class of an airplane and not need a seatbelt extender and had a small amount of hip room!!

 does anyone know anything about this dr.  I have heard good things and looking for a good plastic surgeon....    also looking for a good price...  I bet he is expensive!  

I appreciate you wanting to defend your friend, nothing wrong with that.  But we do disagree about support groups not being a place to sell surgery.  MANY people go to a support group of a specific doctor or a specific procedure and they are sold right then and there.  Sadly, not because of the doctor's skill but because they really like the "staff" that are present.  You know that better than I.

We used to have a Phoenix lunch, actually ... we still do kinda I just haven't put it together lately.  We would go to lunch monthly.  There were always newbies there considering surgery.  We had people from many different doctors and they had the opportunity to ask questions about lots of doctors and yes, most of them were Mexican. (GASP)  But a support group is every bit as much as a seminar when it comes to newbies.

Regarding a doctor doing several procedures vs. just one, we disagree.  Doctors can be capable of doing 4 procedures and being very experienced and skilled in all of them.  If someone goes to a band mill the surgeon does not usually spend time talking about other options.  It would be like a Toyota dealer talking someone into going to a Honda dealer and giving them the business instead.  It's not going to happen.  Your doctor is an example of this very behavior.  I would suspect most who are unable to do all the procedures would be.  There is great value in not being pushed to one procedure vs. another because the doctor is better at surgery type A vs. surgery type B.  It should be all about what is right for that patient vs. pushing them into something that might not be the best.  What about these 400# people being banded?  We all know 99.9% of them will never come close to goal let alone maintain it but the band mills are banding them anyway.  I guess it's good business, they get to do the revision in a few years,  But I digress.

I see far more value in going to a surgeon that is experienced and skilled in all 4 major WLS types vs. just one.  Otherwise it would be a bit like saying one doctor specializes in appendectomies and another in Tonsils.  Doctors can do them both quite well.

I believe you missed the point about selling surgery.  Darcie is suggesting that since I show people how to research their surgeon in MX (or the US, it works for both) that I was somehow benefiting from this.  If I did that I would need to give out more info about myself but I don't and I won't.  I have posted much personal information about my weight loss journey and I look at this like an AA meeting.  I get to keep my contact info personal.  That is a far cry from this being a business and earning a profit from "working" the boards which is exactly what she was doing.  Using support boards to sell people bands.  She's had no interest in OH since 2005 but now that she's selling bands she suddenly wants to be helpful and supportive to OHers.  Bah... Nobody is going to buy that one.

Darcie was completely and totally inappropriate and the way she represents a surgical center and doctors.  She was out of line and I can't believe they will approve of these posts.  She has a responsibility to behave in a professional manner when posting with their link at the bottom of each post.  I feel quite comfortable this will be dealt with well.