Christopher Cobourn Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

Dr. Cobourn is a very caring Dr.. He answered all my questions and I felt he understood exactly how I was feeling. rnOn the day of surgery I was very nervous and he easily made me feel better. He does have a nice sense of humor.rnWhat I like least about him is that he is so far away from where I live. I wish he was here in my province.rnHis office staff are very helpful and understanding. Whenever I called them they were quick to get me answers.rnAfter my sugery Dr. Cobourn call me at the hotel to make sure all was going well. His office staff called me when I arrived home. and now have asked me to call in every few weeks to up date them. As I live quite a distance from the clinic that is fine with me.rnDr. Cobourn has trained a Dr. close to where I live to do the fills that I will need so it will save me a lot of time and money to get the fills. Dr. Cobourn's office will direct the other Dr. as to what kind of fill Dr. Cobourn thinks is best for me when needed.rnOver all I rate him as -with 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest - a 10.rnThe risks of surgery was erxplained to me that if I followed the diet everything should be fine but in any case if complications arose I would be transported to a near by hospital. I am thankful that did not happen.rnBoth Dr. Coburn's bedside manner and competence are great. He is a people person a really nice man.

The first day I emailed Dr. Cobourn he not only returned my email but telephoned me himself. In two days I have already talked to him three times. His passion for the band and his committment to help his patients are astounding. I was very impressed with him. When I called his office, my file was on their screen and they were actually on the other line trying to call me. WOW.

When I began my research on Lapband Surgery I visited Dr. Cobourn's website and filled out the enquiry form, and the reasons why I wanted to have the surgery. Within a day I received an email back from Dr. Cobourn himself. He followed up on his email with a personal phone call to me to discuss the surgery and my situation. He was very personable and answered ALL my quesitons. He was honest and up front with me when discussing the risks as well as expected weight loss. Both him and his assistant have personally followed up with me several times in the last 4 weeks since my surgery and are keenly following my progress. They put a lot of emphasis on good aftercare. His surgical competence and bedside manner are both FANTASTIC!!

I am finally banded!
The surgery is over and it was really easy! I went in on Friday morning at 7:15 and the nurses weighed me in. I lost 18 pounds (YEA!) since I had been at the doctor’s last. I am glad that the couple of times cheating during the Optifast stage didn’t hurt me. I had a greek salad, veggie sub, almonds and two hard boiled eggs. Not bad stuff to cheat on but still they weren’t on my Optifast diet. Anyway back to my surgery. The anesthesiologist came in and asked me a few questions and was very nice in letting me know everything that was going to happen. Dr Cobourn popped in and said hello and said he would see me in the operating room. I then walked into the operating room and lay down on the table. The nurses were busy as beavers working to get everything ready as the anesthesiologist put the IV in my hand. He first gave me some antibiotics and then he said he was now going to give me a “cocktail” to make me relax. Let me tell you I was quite ready for that! All I kept thinking is what am I doing? What if something happened to me? But the relaxing drugs kicked in before I could keep on worrying. The next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. I didn’t feel any pain just a headache. The nurse kept asking me how I felt and gave me a shot of Demerol for the headache. I also had cotton mouth so she kept giving me water which went down easily. I didn’t have any pain in my shoulder and that was a relief considering I kept reading about it. My stomach felt a little sore in the incisions but if I had to rate my pain with 10 being really bad I was only at a 2. I then started talking to the nurse about my bead store I owned and she is even going to visit me at the bead show at the end of the month. It is now around 11 am and they called my husband and I got ready to go home. The nurses got me dressed and I got in the wheelchair. They took me out to the car and I walked from the door to the car no problem! I was still not in very much pain just sore around the incisions. My husband drove me back t the hotel and I walked to the room without any problem. It was actually nice to have a little walk. I got into bed and had a few hours nap. I can’t believe it is over and went so smoothly. For the rest of the evening we just watched TV and through the evening I drank a lot of water and didn’t have any problems. I first started sipping but then just drank as I normally would. I kept taking GasX just because my stomach keep doing a bunch of rumbling noises and kept taking the codeine every four hours. I really didn’t need the codeine but I thought it can’t hurt to make me relax and sleep a little bit more. I kept getting up and taking little walks around the room when I went to the bathroom. I lay on my side that didn’t have the incisions and didn’t have any discomfort except when I moved around all in all everything went really smoothly. We drove home the next day (today) and still everything is good. I am sipping miso soup and am very excited to have some yoghurt today because Optifast starts tomorrow. I am really a little worried about two more weeks of Optifast. I keep reading how important it is to NOT eat during the two week healing faze but I am hungry. I have had some yoghurt and Jell-O and didn’t have any problem eating. I hope the band keeps me feeling full once I start eating real food. I thought I would have problems with the Jell-O and yoghurt but I didn’t. I still can’t believe I have this band on my stomach it just seems weird to have a foreign thing inside my body that I really don’t know how it’s going to work. I feel pretty positive about this though and can’t wait to see how this is all going to play out.

When I first met Dr. Cobourn and his medical team, I was instantly at ease and felt comfortable. I had a difficult surgery with some side effects and I saw that my first impressions were even more justified, never before in all the surgeries I have had (and I have had a lot) have I met a more compassioante doctor. It is apparent that he loves what he does and that says a lot, many doctors shun those who are overweight, Dr. Cobourn helps them by giving them a tool. On a scale of 1 to 10 I could not rate Dr. Cobourn because there is not number high enough. I would recommend him to anyone and thank him from the bottom of my heart for helping me to give me my life back.

Very nice man. Easy to talk to. He is very enthusiastic about the LapBand and it's success.

Dr. Cobourn is one of the most caring doctors I have had the pleasure to encounter. Marie, his nurse is also just as compasionate and caring. Together, they make a wonderful team and as a patient, could not be in better hands. It is very apparent that Dr. Cobourn cares about the well being of his patients. He is honest, and let me know up front that he was not going to take any risks during my surgery and would back out if he felt the surgery was too much of a risk to me. This made me feel secure knowing that his concern was for my well being, and not just about completing the surgical procedure. He took the time to explain things and answer any questions that I had. The pre and post operative care was wonderful.

I had found Dr. Cobourn's name on line here and sent him an email. He responded and was very pleasant and helpful and asked if it would be okay to call me at home and did so within 24 hours. Being a nurse in Thunder Bay you don't have many doctors who call their patients at home. I was pleasantly surprised by his caring nature and his confidence in the Lap Band. Being the Chief of Surgery at a local hospital in Toronto and his experience with Lap type surgery I decided to go with him. Also he went out of his way to make it easy for me coming from out of town. I had called another surgeon in toronto who I only every spoke with the secretary. They would not discuss the surgery or dates without me coming for a pre op appt/consulation and then I would have to come back again for the surgery. When I decide to do something I want it to be done like now and Dr. Cobourn was able to do a consult on the phone and schedule me for surgery within the month. After talking with him on the phone twice I called to confirm with his office Dr. Lista's Plastic Surgery practise. I spoke with Rose and the nurse Maria. Both very wonderful and helpful. Maria emails me every couple of days and calls whenever I have questions. They have sent me information, diet plans and suggestions emailed me websites that might help and even refered me to a doctor in Toronto selling Opti Fast. I have decided to make my own protien shakes and juice and that was just fine with the doctor. I am scheduled for September 9/05. I'm nervous and excited to get on with things and be slimmer for Christmas. As a RN I'm hoping to get trained in the fills and help others from Thunder Bay to access this type of surgery and then save on the followup costs.
With this surgery and the price it includes one year of followup and fills. The only thing I don't like about the clinic is it is so far away. 18 hour drive or 1.5 hour flight. I hope that I will not need to frequent of fills but I'm in this for the long run and I will do whatever it takes to get the weight off and feel better. I'm excited to possibly get off the pain medication for arthritis and prevent future problems associated with my wight gain.
I would recomend him at this time and I will follow up with a post, post op
wish me luck and keep me in your prayers as I pray for all of you to make the right decision and I hope I made a good one too
thanks JS

Dr Cobourn comes across as a very friendly caring doctor who is well versed in his profession. The more I am dealing with him and his staff it is very obvious that there is a lot of care for his patients especially after the surgery.
Dr. Cobourn's main assistant is Marie B Pead, Marie called every day post surgery to inquire how I felt and if there were any questions. Even though I am in my third week post op, I still get e-mail from Marie asking if everything is OK and with ideas on what to eat at various stages of your re-cooperation, and made up some actual menus to follow which certainly helps. If someone decides to have surgery all I can say they are in good hands and should not worry about the outcome as it will be good as long as you yourself have made a commitment to succeed and follow the program.
The after care is great and very caring and is structured with a booklet with all the information in it and what to do if there is a problem. There was also a pamphlet made up that indicated all of the risks involved.
I think that Dr Cobourn is the best and for a specialist he takes the time to answer any concerns you may have and puts your worries to rest. As far a I am concerned a doctor must have surgical competence but for the recovery period bedside manner is very important to the patient for the comfort and the ability to not be afraid to ask any questions.

I would strongly recommend Dr Cobourn to anyone who would like to know more about my experience in more detail