Rockwood Clinic?

I'm in the Tri-Cities and have choosen to use the Rockwood Clinic in Spokane.  Can anyone tell me if they've had experience with Rockwood and their doctors and give me your thoughts on it all??

Dr Spitz at Rockwood is my doctor. I am scheduled for lapband surgery on April 7th. So far, I have been very pleased with my choice. The process is daunting and you have to muster patience, but well worth it. I would rather them be completely throrough than hurry it up and miss something that can cause problems later.

I have read so many profiles of other patients there and they all give great ratings to the surgeons and staff. Of course, I haven't had surgery yet, but the only caution I can give at this point is that you really have to keep up on all of the pre-op testing. They won't give you a surgery date until everything is completed and approved, and my case manager missed that my psych evaluation was done and kept waiting for it to come in when it was already in my file, having been done two months before. She quickly submitted me for approval to the surgeon once I was able to communicate to her that the test was right there in my chart.

That's my experiece thus far, and I would be delighted to answer any questions you might have! Don't hesitate to ask. If you are going for the lap band, you would have to travel here to Spokane for your fills, or you might could arrange for them there in Tri-Cities.

Best wishes as you continue on your journey!

Lori

Hi Lori, thank you for answering.  I am going to do RNY - lap bypass, or at least that I what I want to do, perhaps the doc will say something different.  My ins. required me to lose 5% of my weight before they would give me a referral to the surgeon, so I got that this weekend and will call Monday to schedule that and schedule the psych eval (ins told me 2 places I could schedule that with) for hopefully the same day.  Can you give me an idea of what all pre-op testing you've had to do?  I recently had my yearly physical and mammorgram and eye exam, so perhaps that will help a bit.  I'm just interested in what all you've had to do, hopefully some of it can be done in the tri-cities so I don't have to go to spokane for everything.  Thank you so much for your reply and your thoughts on the clinic and all.

Tammy

Hi Tammy,

Rockwood is great as it offers a "one stop shopping" experience for everything. For my testing, I had to have the usual bloodwork, an upper GI (to make sure there was no hernia where the band will go - don't know if RNY requires that too though) chest xray, psych eval and EKG. My EKG was fine, but since I have diabetes, the cardiologist wanted a stress test too. All was fine. Once I received the list of tests from my case manager, I made one phone call and they had an appt for the next day for the blood, GI, and xray. The cardio appt was in one week out, then the stress test one more. I had had my psych eval done elsewhere, but they were all set to do that too and I could have had that appt within 10 days. The other benefit to doing it all at Rockwood is that the bariatric office has access to all of the test results the instant they are entered! That really speeds things up. So, I guess if you don't mind a trip or two up here, you could speed things up enormously.

Rockwood and all of their services are preferred providers on my insurance (United Healthcare) so that wasn't an issue for me to get it all there too. The longest thing was getting the initial appointment once I had sent all of my weight history charts from other places where I'd been treated to Rockwood. They had to have a 5 year history that I was the weight that I am before surgery. It was like 5 weeks out so perhaps you can call and bug them to get your initial appointment to be seen by the doctor asap. They won't schedule you for testing though until after your initial appointment and they get insurance approval. They have their protocol that the follow for ease of scheduling for them, and they won't deviate from it. For my insurance, the approval came in 10 days once submitted.

Hang in there....and be tenacious!

Lori

Thanks for all the great information Lori.  Perhaps my appt will come a tad sooner in that my insurance got a lot of documentation from my Primary doc early on, then had me lose weight, they've documented all that is "wrong" with me - diabetes (take pills, not insulin), sleep apnea, high chlos, osteoarthritis, ugh what a list.  Anyhow they sent me a letter and the clinic a letter, so I will hope that I can get it going quickly, but I doubt it, places like that are very busy.  I have Uniform Medical for Insurance, from all that I've read on different boards, they seem to be a bit pickier up front before they even allow you to see a surgeon, not sure if that is good or bad, but I'm doing what they tell me so I don't sabbotage myself as I've done so many times in the past.  I'm sure the RNY requires an upper GI, I would suspect that because they're making a small pouch like lapband, they'd need to be sure about the shape of things in there.  Have you ever been to BTV?  It's also a great site for WLS and they do great shows that are informative and make you laugh.  Here is their web address if you'd like to check them out:  http://bariatrictv.com/
I can't say enough about how nice everyone is on the forum and for me I found it a bit easier to navigate than this site, but I still like this site too.  There is so much information out there and I've really tried to educate myself.

Good luck to you and LOTS of success with your weight loss and better health.
Tammy

Hi Tammy-
I'm a Dr. Spitz patient at Rockwood as well. (hi Lori!) I just had my RNY done March 3. I think Dr. Spitz and staff are excellent! Really top notch.

I'll second Lori's thought about being patient... its a long road. Once a month, there is an information seminar- you can go ahead and sign up for that before you get your referral if you like. I know the one I went to was in the middle of the month (in Nov) so it might be coming right up. You must attend that seminar before you get an appointment.

You can do all your pre-op stuff in Tri-Cities. I live in Grand Coulee and did all my testing locally and they had no problem with it at all.

One "tip" for you... I found that when trying to get a hold of my case worker, she responded much quicker to emails than by phone.

Good luck- you're going to do great!

Corey

Hi Corey, thanks for the info.  I am signed up to attend their seminar this week - March 18th, I did that before I'd gotten the 5% off and the referral letter from my insurance.  I knew I could do that without insurance approval and I'm so glad I did schedule to go too.  I didn't realize that I'd be able to get the weight off that was required in only a month - but I really worked hard too.  I still would like to lose 12 more before surgery and I'm positive I can do it.  I take it you did the same testing as Lori, even though you had RNY??  Also, do they give you information on how much of what vitamins to take, good directions on what to eat and how soon to eat, etc????  I've noticed that some people post and are very confused as to what they should be eating and when, I am hoping Rockwood is very specific and gives good directions.

I had a little bit different testing- what surgery you choose PLUS health issues you may have, age, weight, etc. are all going to factor in.
I had to do a psych eval, gallbladder ultrasound, EKG, chest x-ray, and some labs. Pretty easy!

You will have no trouble losing 12 more pounds, believe me! First of all, you MUST weigh less at your pre-op appt than you did at your intial consultation. I was so nervous that I wouldn't that I dieted and lost 15 lbs. Then, 2 weeks before surgery you'll be put on an all liquid protein shake diet. I lost another 15 but I've heard of people losing a lot more!

They are very thorough and make it crystal clear what you can/can't eat. At your pre-op appt with the dietician, she sends you home with a binder that clearly lays out every stage post op and writes down what date you progress to the next stage. I am always amazed when people come to OH asking, "what I am supposed to be eating?".... I'm amazed that their program doesn't make that clear. Don't worry, Rockwood definitely does.

Good luck to you!

I am 6 years and 3 months post-op RNY with Dr. Rawlins and Bright at Rockwood Clinic.  And I'm from the tri-cities too

I did all pre-op appointments here (EKG, Chest x-ray, Labs and Gallbladder US).  My psych eval was done in Spokane.

It has been a long time since I have been back as my PCP does all my yearly stuff here, but I would recommend them to anyone and everyone!  My surgery was 100% perfect, I have never had the slightest complication and my health has never been better. 

I have run across people who did not have great results and I think alot has to do with the surgeon as well as how well you take care of yourself post op.  You will be in good hands.

Best of luck to you and feel free to email me if you have other questions.

Kimberly
preop/255
current/138