Colorado Bariatric Surgery Bariatric Center

The first appt with Dr. T was basically a question & answer period (no exam). I got the impression I was interviewing him for a job, and he got the job! He is very nice and friendly, will answer any questions you have and take all the time with you that you want. (I had a list of about 75 questions for him.) He doesn't offer a lot of information on his own, but will answer all questions. Eileen was very helpful getting ins approval. CJ is very nice. I'd recommend Dr. Tillquist, I think he is a great surgeon. I had NO complications, except I hurt myself two weeks out. But no complications or problems from surgery.

DR. Tillquist is great he was so sapportive of the surgery, answered all of my husbands and my questions was so possitive about the insurence questions that we had, I'm very happy that I had been referd to him by a friend.

Dr. Tillquist seemed like a very nice, quiet man who answered my questions and put me at ease. His office staff was very friendly. My appointment was on Halloween and everyone was dressed up! The doctor and his assistant met with me and went over the proceedure. He stated that he thought it would not be any problem for me to go through this surgery.

8/27/02 I just saw Dr. T for the first time today and he seems like a nice guy. It was the end of the day so I think we were all (his staff, etc) a little tired. The only real negative so far is the amount of time (about 2 1/2 months) I had to wait just to see him for 15 minutes. I tried other surgeons and it's the same everywhere. They're all extremely busy and everyone wants the surgery!
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10/30/02 I found out Cigna recently started requiring a pysch eval so I set one up with Dr. Ammirato for Monday Nov 4th. Should be interesting, I've never talked to a psychologist before. My insurance company hasn't been contacted for pre-certification yet. Getting very anxious to get that done.

September 3, 2002

I met with Dr. Tillquist today for my consultation. I was very impressed by him. He seemed very sincere and caring and put me at ease right away. He answered all my questions and didn't seem rushed at all. The staff was very helpful. I thought the overall experience was great.

Called the first part of July and got an appt for 10/8 and was told by Eileen to see my pcp asap. Well when I went the next day to see my primary care physician, I was told I am now in Congestive Heart Failure. Called Eileen back and got an appt for 8/8 for the intial consultation. My health insurance - One Health Plan - has authorized 3 visits so far.

8/12/02 Met with Dr Tillquist on 8/8. I really like him and all his office staff. Got a surgery date of 11/18. He feels that all of my health problems will clear up within 3 months of surgery.

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10/20/02 Can't believe its less than a month to my surgery date. Thanks to Eileen at Dr. Tillquists office everything is on schedule. I had forgotten to have the psyc evaluation but she called a couple weeks ago and reminded me to get it done so she could submit all the paperwork 30 days in advance. I am really glad she is on top of things.

Dr. Tillquist was very nice, easy to talk to, fully answered all of our questions. I was a little nervous about the surgery prior to meeting with him, but after the meeting I was confident that it is the right thing for me to do. The staff was very helpful and pleasant to talk to.

I felt that Dr. Tillquist addressed all risks of the surgery and I am ready to move forward to a new and better lifestyle.

Dr. Tillquist was very friendly during the consult and answered my questions directly.

I have 2 co-workers who have had the surgery earlier this year and they have nothing but good things to say about Dr. Tillquist and the surgery, very reassuring. Looking forward to meeting with him again.

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Dr. Tillquist was very factual and answered all my questions thoroughly. He explained his experience (about 150 lap procedures as of 4/9/02) with maybe two more serious complications (obstructions) that were corrected and no deaths. He did explain that the obstructions are unpredictable and based on how individual people heal after the surgery and therefore I did not consider them a reflection of his skill.

Gini scheduled me fairly quickly and all I have to do is follow up by getting some supporting letters faxed to him to include in my packet. All I can do now is wait for approval.

I am very confident about his skill and was fairly pleased with his bedside manner.

The one thing that I would tell future patients is that your recovery is very dependent on your compliance with what Dr. Tillquist and Kelly (the nutritionist) tell you to do. Even if there are individual problems (obstructions, problem swallowing, etc.) it is up to YOU to be assertive with Dr. T and his staff and make sure he understands how sick you are. With so many surgeries under his belt he does not panic easily and will make you follow certain procedures before he thinks of your case as an emergency. If you follow his instructiosn you will probably be able to get through it without any additional care. Just my advice, your mileage may vary.
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First consol. with Dr. Tillquist on Sept 19th.

9-20-02 Had my appt w/ Dr.T yesterday, all went great. Dr.T was very nice & anwsered all my questions very throughly. I'm very confident in my decision to use him. All the people in his office are very friendly. My surgery was set for Jan 15th, my problem was my insurance is changing at the end of Nov. to a compant who does't cover WLS for any reason, so this posed a problem. They said if there are any cancellations that they would give me a call. Well guess what no even 24hrs later (17 to be exact!!!) they called me someone had cancelled & my new date is 11-11-02!!!!!!!!! I am so excited.
Dr.Tillquist & his staff are amazing!!!!!!!