John Alexander Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS

*All of my comments shown here and
elsewhere on this site are my own personal experiences and opinions and I am making no comment about what others may or may not
experience. (ObesityHelp disclaimer)

I thought Dr. Alexander was very friendly and seemed passonate about what he does. I liked that. He explained the surgury to me fully, and while he did mention the risks, he focused more on the positive aspects of having this done. He said that none of his
patients have had any serious complications. I'm not sure if that is completely believable or not. But judging from what post-ops have posted here, I feel sure he is an excellent surgeon.

His staff was adequate, but nothing outstanding. I seem to be the one doing most of the calling and proding. I am at this point waiting on his office to schedule my surgery date. That is taking longer than I thought it would or should. They are not waiting on pre-approval from my insurance because I determined that BCBS (Fed) does not do pre-approvals anymore. I found this out on my own; the insurance girl didn't know this. I do meet BCBS's criteria, though, so I'm going ahead with the surgery.

I've had my EGD, which was done by Dr. Alexander. I only saw him very briefly as I was leaving, so I have gathered no additional information about him from that.

I do have a little concern in the back of my mind that maybe he is getting more patients than he and/or his office staff can handle well. We'll see about that. I hope in the future to have more one-on-one time with Dr. Alexander. I think he really cares about his patients.

12-5-01 4:00 p.m. Well, I kept calling
(even tried calling the hospital myself)
and I finally got a date--December 27.
Hopefully, things will go smoother from
this point on.

12-27-01 6:00 P.M. My surgery which was scheduled for 7:30 that morning was finally begun. Unavoidably, Dr. Alexander had emergency surgery that had begun at 3:00 a.m. and took almost all the following day.
This could not be helped, I realize. We spent that first full day sitting in an outpatient cubicle waiting and waiting; it
was a miserable day.

I was one of the lucky ones that did not have to reschedule that day. My surgery itself went well but I had some problems with breathing and blood sugars and a alergic reaction to the mophine. It really itched and wasn't working that great. I had some wonderful nurses and some medical personnel what weren't so wonderful. All in all my care at RHD was good.

My discharge was a circus and we weren't really sure what we were to do about some of thie stuff. It is all thrown at you very quickly but several people at once. More needs to be written down, I think. I had a 3 hour ride home from the hospital becasue we live so far. It was the most horrible experience of my life; try not to do that if you can help it or unless you can get a pain shot for the trip. I'm still having PTSD from that. I go tomorrow to have my staples out and then I think in a week I'll have my hose out. It bothers me more than the staples. I am enxious to see officially how much I have lost. I think it's about 19 pounds.

02/14/02 - I met with Dr. John Alexander on Tuesday, February 11th. I waited for two hours before I got to see him. My husband went with me but had to head back to work before I was taken back to an exam room. When I go to the Doctor, I always expect a wait though (just not usually 2 hours). When I met with Dr. Alexander, I understood the wait. Dr. Alexander is a very patient and caring man. He allowed me to ask as many questions as I needed and never once rushed me and believe me, I had questions!! You can tell that he is like this with all of his patients. His behavior explained the wait and from that point on it didn't bother me how long I was there. I have also read comments on this site that mentioned how Dr. Alexander is quick to call you back. He hadn't been in the room with me for 5 minutes when his pager went off. He graciously excused himself, explaining that he needed to make a quick call, and was back very quickly. Once again, I was impressed. I left the office at 5:00pm and was called at 5:30 by Ann. She was already working on my letter to the insurance company and had a question for me. I am scheduled for my EDG, stress test and psycological exam on Monday. Once those are done, I am just waiting on my insurance company and then I get a surgery date. 02/22/02 - Well, I have a surgery date. My surgery is scheduled for 03/15/02. I opted to have my surgery at RHD versus HealthSouth. I just felt that I may be better taken care of at a large hospital. I hope I am right. My insurance approved my WLS after the first letter was sent to them. I had to make several phone calls and when I asked for a return phone call from Dr. A's staff, I never received one. My trust has been put into Dr. A and not his staff. I know that Dr. A will take care of me. He gives me "warm fuzzies"!
04/16/02 - I am now updating my web page with my experiences. http://www.geocities.com/daycoth/My_WLS_Success.html?1013568126759

Very friendly & down to earth. No real change. He was thorough & willing to spend as much time as was necessary to make you feel comfortable with him & the surgery.
His office staff was nice enough, but I didn't like the way the patients are seen. I had a 3"30 appt(arrived at 3pm) there were 3 patients there(2 were for post op appts) the 3rd was a walk in(no appt time). She was seen before I was. Also after I was taken to a room, I heard someone else come in & that person was also taken to a room. I was told some time later(about 6PM) that they had brought their Dr in with them. I don't think that walk-ins & someone with their Dr should be put before a scheduled appt. I was asked twice about rescheduling, but my remaining sick leave is decitated for having this surgery, so I was determined to stick it out. I left there at 7:10 PM, but was over all pleased with my visit. I hope to have a scheduled wurgery date before the eon of this month. I am so excited. My knees are bad & I am very anxious to be a normal person again!!!
Dr Alexander went over all the risks of the surgery & I believe & trust that he knows what he is doing. He has so much more experience than the place in Wylie( nothing against that place- just don't think that it is for me. I want to be in a regular hospital & with Dr's that have more experience & a better success rate)
Dr Alexander comes with high referrals, so I'm putting my trust in him.

The first time I met Dr. Alexander, I was what you call IMPRESSED! WOWSERS! This man was so nice and very very thorough. He made sure you understood everything to the full extent. In case you didnt understand it, he would draw pictures and explain it to you until you understood it. I walked in with tons and tons of questions. He answered every single last one without me even having to ask, because his explanation of everything was just soo thorough. The most impressive thing of all was his 100% success rate in the whole 12yrs that he has been performing this type of surgery. WOW! His office staff was very nice and helpful. He put me at soo much ease with all the info he gave me. At this point in time, since I havent had my surgery yet, I give him a big 10. That can change after surgery, but I'm sure it wont. I highly recommend him.

My name is Jaimee. I am 24 years old and I have Type II diabetes, hypertension, BMI 42.


April 2, 2002 - I had my first meeting with Dr. Alexander today. My loving husband Ken decided to take the day off to go with me for support. Dr. Alexander was very pleasant and he answered every question I had. His staff was also very nice. Much to my surprize as I was talking to the doc about the procedure and he was explaining, I saw Ken's wheels turning. Ken being 6'4 and 380 pounds, having degenerative disk disease and sleep apnea he asked Dr. Alexander if he would be a candidate too. The doc was very accomidating and gave Ken a consultation too. I was a little overwhelmed and surprized that Ken had jumped on the bandwagon too. I am going to set up my psych consult and stress test soon. Please wish me luck and hope that United Health Care comes through .....A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Thank you in advance to Dr. Alexander, seeing the other people in his office today was all the reassurance I needed.

Dr. Alexander is a very personable physician. He's very caring and knowledgable. My impression of Dr. A. only got better with time. He has always demonstrated professionalism. His staff has been wonderful with me. Ann went above and beyond the call of duty to help me get matters straightened out with my insurance carriers. Anyone interested in Dr. A. should know he comes from a background of physicians and this makes him that much more caring. Dr. A. doesn't have a structured aftercare program, but he made it perfectly clear that all the sugars, carbs, breads and high fats were definitely a no no. Dr. A. was very open with the risk of the surgery as well as the good points. Overall if I had to have the surgery again I'd use Dr. John Alexander. His bedside manner is just wonderful. A+ to Dr. A.

Dr. Alexander is awesome. He's a very small man with a GREAT BIG HEART. My impression of Dr. A. has gotten better since my surgery. He's a very knowledgable and caring physician. His staff (especially Ann) is great. She went above and beyond the call of duty for me. Anyone intersted in the surgery should definitely consider doctor A. Dr. A. didn't put a whole lot of emphasis on aftercare, but he made it perfectly clear to eat healty, and stay away from the high fats, carbs and sugars. Dr. A. addressed all the risk of the surgery, but I knew I had done my body more of a disservice than any surgery could. Overall I rate Dr. John Alexander as an EXCELLENT PHYSICIAN.

I have been on a waiting list to have the surgery for a year with Dr. Provost out of Dallas. I was talking to a friend that i used to work with and she had recommend DR. Alexander ....Highly...recommend him. I called in with in a week i was in his office for a consult. My first impression of DR. Alexander was he is a caring physican and has many post op patient that talk highly of him. The next step was to get the insurance company to ok the surgery. I got really frustrated with my insurance company. I have two. Antena is my primary and secondary was my bcbs. I was turned down the first time because they needed documetation that i had tried other ways to lose weight. I called them on a daily basic. I went to all the doctors i used threw the year and got copies of my medical records. I faxed them and sent them certified. Within two weeks i was reapproved. The one thing that everyone needs to do is make a check list to send to the insurance company. 1. letter from doctor. 2. all medical history about your weight struggle. 3. opinions from other physican that can back you up. 4. you have to prove to them that it is a medical necessity. This will save time as the insurance companies have all the information in front of them for the decision. My surgery is set at RHD on March 22, 2002.
on a scare of 1-10 you wont find a better Doctor for you care. His bedside manner rocks... i am so looking forward to this friday. If i can help anyone with question and insurance feel free to email me.

3/12/02

My first impression of the doctor was that he was confident and professional, very personable and friendly. Definitely a people person, it seemed as though he cared about me (this I’m not used to).

I have no negative report about the Dr. He was great.

Plan to spend a long time in the waiting room he has gotten pretty popular, but the wait was worth it. Take a good book.

After care is not mentioned much, he feels you have a life to live after surgery and he doesn’t want to bog you down with Dr.’s appointments ect… given the fact you do well after surgery and there are no reasons for you to be seen.

There is not much of an after care as I have explained above, You will have appointments with him to take out your tub and I believe there is an appointment with the dietitian to learn what and how to eat after surgery.

Risks of surgery were mentioned, however, he proudly gave his states> 100% success rate so far!

If I were giving a rating for this doctor on a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate him at 9. (Of course we’ll give some room for improvement.)

I met with Dr. Alexander today, March 12, 2002 for a consult. I found him to be kind, compassionate and anxious to help me! He talked to me on a level that I could understand, drew a picture to show exactly what he would be doing, explained all the risks and benefits and was very encouraging through all of it. I was a little nervous but very excited and now I can't wait to be on my way to "skinny land". I have heard a lot of great things about this doctor. I talked with several women in the waiting room who were there for their two week checks and they had nothing but good things to say about both Dr. Alexander and the surgery. I can't wait to get this show on the road!