JourneyLite of Cincinnati Bariatric Center

I am a gastric sleeve patient of Dr. Curry's. I had my surgery on 2/14/11 and to date have lost 148 lbs, going from a size 26 to a 6. Prior to having the surgery, I did research for over a year and chose Dr. Curry 1) because of his excellent recorded results and 2) because all of my healthcare providers (primary care, pediatric bariatric surgeon, and my Endocrinologist) independently recommended him. I went through a 6 month supervised diet with Dr. Curry and his staff. They were wonderful, knowledgeable, and supportive. Prior to the surgery, I was continually impressed with the extensive preparation and infrastructure the practice provides to all the weight loss patients. They have up to date literature, classes, support groups, and exercise resources. I was very well prepared for what was to come. It certainly is not the “easy way out” and Dr. Curry made that perfectly clear. I had my procedure at Journey Lite and had the best care of my life. Dr. Curry and the nurses were incredibly attentive and skilled. Dr. Curry and his staff excel at aftercare. After my surgery, whenever I had an issue or question, I would call the office and Dr. Curry or the Nurse Practitioner, Lisa, would get on the phone immediately. I never once had to leave a message and wait for a call back. Please note: I did have a couple of unavoidable complications (a stricture from healing and gall stones). Dr. Curry and his staff were compassionate, expedient, and took excellent care of me. I had a dilatation and gallbladder removal all by Dr. Curry and again, received excellent care, not just medically, but emotionally as well. The whole staff is with you every step of the way. I never felt like an anonymous patient. The nutritionists, Rebecca and Erin, are also available and quick to respond to any of my queries. This has been a transformative experience for me and given me my quality of life back! I am eternally grateful to Dr. Curry and his staff!

As a health care provider in rural Alaska, I want to be a good role model of health to all of my patients. After five years of diet failures to the point of self induced kidney stones, I finally decided it was time to have lap band surgery. I researched for several months, and decided to go with Dr. Trace Curry and Journey Lite. I am extremely pleased with Dr. Curry and the Journey Lite Staff in Ohio. They are so worth a 13 hour flight! Dr Curry and many of his staff members are banded, which to me is awesome because they were able to describe how I might feel after surgery as well as in the weeks post op. I have to admit, I am a nervous patient! A little medical knowledge is just enough to freak me out! Nurse Kathy had just been banded a week before me, and I think it was awesome of her to tell me not to think I am having a heart attack if I wake up with left chest and shoulder pain. I was a fast track patient coming from Alaska, so I had my psyche eval, nutrition class and meeting with Dr. Curry the day before my surgery. I have to say it was absolutely awesome. It went very smooth. Everyone was very nice, kind and efficient. After my nutrition class I felt very prepared for the post op experience. I never heard the term PB'ing before, and I promise I will try to avoid that at all costs! The next morning my husband brought me in to Journey Lite. I absolutely loved all the nurses, and the nurse anesthetist Mikey. Mikey made sure my IV was good, I am a hard stick, and he assured me I would not wake up in the middle of the procedure. I was nervous and he gave me a shot of versed. All I remember after that was talking to them about working in a rural clinic in Alaska. The last thing Mikey said to me was good night Kristen.. see you in recovery! It felt like I was asleep for like five minutes. This is how awesome Dr. Curry is.. I had an ugly hole next to my belly button, from a belly ring I had in my youth pre -fat days, and he closed it up for me!! He also fixed a hiatal hernia that I had no idea that I even had! I am so happy about that! When I woke up in recovery I had no abdominal pain. All my discomfort was in my left shoulder and chest. I am so glad Kathy warned me about that, because I would have been worried about it I had not known that ahead of time. I only remember bits and pieces of the recovery room. I remember my hubby helping me get dressed. I don't remember going to the car!! Gotta love anesthesia! I did really good drinking my fluids that day, and getting up every two hours. If you are considering it.. do it!! It's not scary at all! Dr Curry and his staff is awesome!

My VSG surgery went off without a hitch. It was done at the Journey Lite surgery center and I received excellent care. I stayed 23 hours and was discharged the following morning. My pain was well controlled and follow up care was excellent. I would recommend Dr. Curry without hesitation. As a former Lap Band patient with another surgeon, I can honestly say that the gastric sleeve by Dr. Curry was a better choice for me. It's a tool that I will have for the rest of my life. Thanks Dr. Curry!

Dr. Curry is an excellent surgeon. He is patient and kind and always took the time to answer all of my questions. The only reason I didn't give him a five star rating is that there were several instances of miscommunication between the information sent to me via email, the nurses, and the two offices he runs. For instance, I was sent a video for post-op care for band patients, though I'm actually a sleeve patient. The post-op directions for band and sleeve patients are very different!!! Also, upon discharge from the surgery center, the nurse stated that I could not take any NSAIDs, but just minutes before that Dr. Curry said that I could take two Aleves a day. Despite these criticisms I would still highly recommend Dr. Curry.

I have had a wonderful experience with Dr. Curry and his staff since my VSG surgery on 7/12/11. I have lost 43lbs. The staff and nutritionists are always very helpful. I have never felt like a number or felt that I was an inconvience. I had my surgery at Jewish Hospital and I really wish I could have had it at Journerylite. I would recommend him to anyone considering VSG. I can't speak about the Lap-Band because that was not the right surgery for me.

For those of you that have had success with the lap band I am very happy for your success. My wife is a Dr. Curry lap band patient and has a much different story. Our insurance does not cover lap band surgery so we had to pay out of pocket. After the surgery my wife's journey began and began to get her first fills. She was experiencing some slight restriction with the first few fills. She went back for her final tweak when all the troubles began. She had one of Dr. Curry's staff performing the fill and he was having trouble. After several attempts to locate the port he finally left the needle sticking in my wife and left the room to find some help. Dr. Curry came to the rescue and completed the fill. Ever since that day my wife has had no restriction, like the band is not even there. Dr. Curry's first solution to this problem was to have my wife continue to come to the office remove her fluid, replace it along with a couple more CC's and have her come back in another month. This went on for around a year before WE finally requested a meeting to discuss options. Dr. Curry's had a don't care attitude and really had no idea what may or may not be wrong with the band. He told us he thought it was the port and it is not uncommon to need a port revision on our dime of course. To save money my wife decided to go through port revision surgery only using a local anesthetic and Dr. Curry agreed. When asked about what was wrong with the old port Dr. Curry stated it was a "wheepy" port and could not find an actual leak. Then when we requested the port to be sent to Alergan for testing to possibly get our money back the port magically disappeared. Fast foward to the first couple fills with the new port...NO RESTRICTION! Again Dr Curry continued the same song and dance as before until we again asked for a meeting to discuss our options. Dr. Curry looked at us with a blank stare and shrugged his shoulders. He told us he THOUGHT she had a leak at the band. We asked about using some dyes we read about to see where the leak was before we did more surgery. He told us that dyes void the warranty, which later we found out through Alergan the lap band has no warranty. They actually suggested to me to use the dyes. He also told us that my wife was one of two cases he has ever had. I know five people with the lap band. Three out of those five have had port revisions and still have leaks. We ended the meeting with having him email us some of our options with some prices...his idea. We waited weeks for the information. We finally emailed him back and his email states: " 1. replacement of entire system-$6000 2. removal of band/port-$3000 3. leaving and not filling it anymore-$0" Obvioulsy option 3 is what he wanted. After this email we were at a loss. My wife made a decision to not have anymore surgeries by Dr. Curry and we started the process of getting our initial investment back. We understood the risk involved with this surgery and also it may take more than the initial surgery. However, we did not sign off on sub par needle sticks which most of the time were not done under flouro like the contract says. Losing the port along with the emails and the very cold bed side manner we felt this was not too much to ask. We sent our request to Dr. Curry via certified letter and was quickly denied. We then contacted Dr. Curry's partner to discuss the matter further. Dave Strange was very helpful and came up with some solutions we may persue. Two days later Dave Strange is no longer with the company. So now Dr. Curry has cut off all communication about this matter with us. Something just does not seem right. We paid $13,000 for a useless piece of plastic and 3 years of complete emotional turmoil. My wife was so excited for this ..she felt this was going to help her control obesity. We were told how obesity is a disease and this procedure will change her life ...well it did - for the worse. She now has scars to remind her of this surgery that failed, emotional guilt and sadness for spending our money on herself and she hates herself when she looks int he mirror. She is humilated, embarrassed and angry. Dr. Curry and Allergan have the choice to do the right thing and help my wife.. yet Dr Curry refuses to. He should be ashamed, Yes we know there are others out there that are his biggest fans - again, we are happy for all of you that have success- trust us when I say my wife would love to be in your shoes.. so before you jump inand defend this Dr. - walk in her shoes and how you would feel ..All of this information is factual.. we have all of the medical records and statements to prove this. So for those of you exploring your options -- DO THE RESEARCH ask the questions .. find a Dr. that will guarentee their work they are out there and give you their best. Dr. Curry was not this person for my wife. He should be ashamed of himself.

I had a good overall experience with Dr Curry and his office.

I had my Realize Band in March 2008 and lost about 40 pounds since that time. Before I went to Dr. Curry I did alot of research and found that he was one of the best in his field. I loved Dr. Curry and totally believed in him. He was not located in my area but I was willing to make the 4 hour drive to have the surgery and fills.

However this review is to caution any self pay patients about lapband surgery and specifically with Dr. Curry's office. My insurance had an exclusion to weight loss surgery so I was a self-pay patient. I paid $12,500 which included the surgery, and 2 years of fills. I went for what was to be my last fill (March 2010), when something went terribly wrong. The nurse could not access the port. She inserted the syringe and wiggled it around to get the port where she could access it. She finally did get a fill in but I knew right away that something was wrong. I couldn't feel any restriction. I knew right away it didn't feel right and I made that remark to my sister on the way home. I called Dr. Curry's office back and told them but was told to "eat a dry piece of chicken" and that would show I was wrong about not having restriction. It didn't work. I do have a leak and have had it checked with another bariatric surgeon. I have e-mailed and called Dr. Curry's office with out any luck. I can't afford to pay for another surgery and his office will not do anything to help me with this problem. So I am stuck with a lap band that doesn't work and my insurance won't even pay to have it taken out! By the way, the other doctor I spoke to said when his bands fail, he puts them back in at no charge to a self pay patient. I never would have believed Dr. Curry would have treated me this way.

Update 12/2010/five years later.
Just to let those who are looking for a surgeon know what kind of follow up to expect from Dr. Curry. Recently I e-mailed the office to get the paperwork to have annual bloodwork done (my gyn refused to order the bloodwork which is how I usually have it done, sending a copy thento Dr. C.) Within a few days I had the paperwork and orders. Had the blood drawn, planning o make an appointment in Jan. BUT a few days later (and this is over Christmas break), I got a call from Erin the dietitian letting me know my D levels were low!!! I hadn't made an appointment yet! Can anyone else claim such good aftercare?

What can I say? Dr. Curry is a god! He is very personable and is amazing in today's medical field! He calls/e-mails you nearly immediately with answers to any questions (none are too dumb!). Both of his office staffs are outstanding. They do excellence pre-op and post-op training and Erin and Rebecca, the nuts., are helpful, knowledgeable, and humane. There are twice monthly support meetings run by Rebecca. If you sign on with Dr. C., don't think you can "disappear" after your surgery.

Dr. Curry and staff are great! They will try to help you as much as possible through this life changing process. Dr. Curry is very nice and will explain everything as many timeas as needed. I was banded Jan 2010 and have recently decided to convert to the sleeve. I would never go anywhere else or trust anyone else with my preop or postop care, because they are the best. I did not have any complications with the band just don't feel it is the best fit for me. And the best part is if you want to make an appointment with Dr. Curry then you can with no problem, but his sidekicks are great too!!!!