Montreal Surgery

Hi all,

I have a question regarding the VSG with Dr. Michael Gagner in Montreal. I was wondering if any of you had already gone through this procedure with Dr. Gagner in Montreal. I know that he is one of the best surgeons for this procedure, but would like to know a little more about the hospital where he performs these procedures. I would also like to get a little more information on how easy post op recovery is in montreal (I would be staying at a hotel). And last, I would love to get some hotel recommendations. Preferably close to the hospital.

Thank you very much for all your help!!

It depends on where he gets the operating room scheduled.  Two that I know of is, Surgery Plastique, and Rockland.  Rockland is very new, extremely clean, modern, and the personnel there are top notch.  Surgery Plastique is an older facility.  I also remember reading that there is another hospital in Montreal that he has performed surgeries in, but I don't remember the name of it.

I stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn Airport in Montreal.  It had free parking, free wifi and it came with full kitchen and balcony.  Bedroom was seperate from the living area.  Very nice, clean, and free continental breakfast brunch.  It's about 15 minutes from Rockland.  The Marriott staff will call a taxi for you to go to the hospital.  If you stay at the hotels in downtown Montreal, you will pay for everynight parking at the hotel, it is NOT included with the nightly hotel cost.  I had a car, so that was a concern for me.

Post op was great for me.  Dr. Gagner sent me off with pain meds and the nursing staff called me a few times a day to check up on me.  The hotel room was quiet, so I was able to rest. 

I asked for extra pillows, they supplied them to me.  The living room couch and comfy chair were just that.... very comfy.  My surgery was on a Monday, I saw Dr. Gagner on Friday as a follow up.  He allowed me to travel home for saturday.  My son drove me home to New Jersey, which was a 6 hour drive.

Best wishes to you!

I had lap-band to VSG revision surgery with Dr. Gagner at Westmount Square Surgical Centre in December (a Wednesday). The night before the surgery I stayed at The Residence Inn hotel, about a 10-minute walk from Westmount Square. The hotel was great - I had no complaints. 

I was told to arrive at 7:00 am for an 8:45 am surgery, but it actually did not start until 2:30 pm. He had three patients before me and I think that they took longer than he anticipated and he may have been overbooked. I got the distinct impression that he was exhausted, and that that had a lot to do with why he was only able to give me the first part of the DS (the sleeve) instead of the complete DS (which would have included the intestinal portion as well). 

After the surgery, I stayed at the surgical centre overnight. Early the next morning I was transported (it was a very bumpy, unpleasant 20 minute ride in a hospital transport van) to a convalescent home called Le Waldorf, where I stayed overnight. I was feeling fine, so I went home on Friday (a two-and-a-half hour drive). My care at the Waldorf was excellent. The private nursing staff were hired through an agency called Equinoxe, and they were fantastic. The care at Westmount Square was great too. I always felt I was in good hands. Dr. Gagner visited me the morning after surgery and the next day, as well. 

Very best of luck to you!

Hijack!  Hi!  I have been wondering about you.   How are you doing with your sleeve?  How is the weight loss coming along?  Feeling ok? 

Not much weight loss to speak of. I think I've regained most of the weight I initially lost after surgery. The restriction provided by the sleeve is not that different from the lap-band. After years of yo-yo dieting, my metabolism is shot. It seems my body just doesn't require that many calories to function. I'm pretty sure my only hope is getting the intestinal part of the DS.

I've changed my eating habits, doing mainly low-carb, but not to "induction" levels (as in Atkins induction). I've been eating too many almond-flour-based bread substitutes. I went shopping yesterday and am starting induction today. 

I'm still hoping to get the intestinal part of the DS in June. Dr. Gagner says there is no research to support the idea that people who have the surgery in two steps lose weight more slowly than those who have it in one step, but from the anecdotal evidence on this board and elsewhere, I'm not so sure. I'm anxious to get the second part done to see if there's any improvement.

How are you?

Hi Tony!  I don't have any info on Montreal for you - had mine in Miami.  But post-op went smoothly.  I was out of the hospital in 2 1/2 days!  Dr. G was great!

Hi there,

I had a DS with Dr. Gagner in Montreal.  I was at the Centre Metropolitain de Chirurgie Plastique - CMCP.  The facility was good and I was generally pleased with the staff. I had my surgery first thing in the morning as scheduled and everything went smoothly.  I was in the hospital for 2 days and Dr. Gagner visted me on both days.  I was discharged and stayed in a hotel for the rest of the week.

I stayed at Le St. Martin hotel, which was about 10 minutes from the hospital and had an in room fridge and microwave so I could heat my broth or cool my crystal light.  It was a very pleasant little boutique hotel with a big welcoming fireplace in the entrance.  The rooms always smelled clean like soap and it was extremely quiet.  I remember there was lovely gentle old fashioned Christmas music playing in the hallways, when I went for my walks around the hotel. I enjoyed my time there and in fact I plan to go back with my husband for a little walk down memory lane. The area where the hotel is very industrial and not appealing in particular but you are not likely to be doing any sightseeing during recovery anyway.

I think it was very nice for post-op recovery.  I was given the go ahead to drive home a day early.  I drove 5 hours to Toronto.

I wouldn't send my worst enemy to him! Here's what he did to me!

Here is my story with Dr. Gagner. I emailed Dr. Gagner about a self pay revision around the 1st of Dec 2011. He asked for my phone number and called me at work the next morning. He said he could do my revision for $20,000. He said he could do it laproscopically and take out my gallbladder (I have stones) as well. He had his nurse Veronique contact me via email back and forth after that. For the last two weeks of December I jumped through all kinds of hoops! Dr. Gagner said if I would have the funds ($20,000) wired to him by Dec. 29th, he would schedule me for Jan 4th surgery. I paid for expedited shipping to get my esophageal he ordered on disc sent to him. I also had EKG, labs, barium x-ray and several other requests done just so I could have the surgery on January 4th. On Friday, Dec. 30th around noon, he emailed me and postponed my surgery. He said his anesthesiologist was still on vacation. He was teaching in Hawaii for the next 3 weeks and had other obligations after that. The next surgery date he gave me was Feb. 15th, 2012. Ok, I cancel the hotel room, change my Sprint account back to non international roaming, changed my airline tickets to Feb 15th, which leaves a United Airlines credit of $400 that I have a year to use, change EVERYTHING at work to prepare for a later surgery date and postpone EMR till a later date. Practically the mental anguish was so much that I cried for several days. He kept my $20,000 waiting for 2/15/12 surgery date. I rescheduled everything and once again had all of my ducks in a row! Wednesday, February 8th, one week before surgery, he did it again!!! Sent me the ever-so compassionate email that he was going to have to cancel again. This time he offered to refund my money! I left work that day crying so hard because I just could not believe he would do me that way again! I asked him to call me but he would not. He gave me the same song and dance about not being able to get an anesthesiologist from McGill University to perform the surgery. He said it would be about two months before he could get the administration issues resolved. I am now looking into other options for the DS surgery. I wanted to warn everyone about him. I did get $20,000 back on Friday (thank God) but now I have a $1233 United Airlines credit when I really need the money instead. My advise to you is stay clear of this one or you'll be in for a lot of heartache. Word is he's skipped out all together!

Now you have me worried....what do you mean that he is skipped out? I am supposed to have the VSG by him on April 27, but not in Montreal, in Europe. He is lecturing somewhere and is stoppung over to do the VSG for me...I am supposed to wire him the money tomorrow. Tell me more please!!!!

I wouldn't worry about Dr. Gagner "skipping out." He did my VSG in December, and I wired money to him, too. My husband is having surgery with him next Monday (wired money to him last week), and I'll be having the second part of my surgery (to DS) with Dr. Gagner in Montreal in July. The only problems we have encountered was a cancellation of my husband's surgery due to someone else switching the order of the patients the day of surgery. You'll be in excellent hands. Good luck!