John Alexander Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS

Dr. Alexander is confident with his abilities. After our consolation on March the 20th he has informed me that he has had O deaths and O serious complications out of something like 1,100 surgeries. I plan to be 1,101. The office seems like a little organization skills might help.

Dr. Alexander and his staff have been wonderful! Be prepared for at least a two hour wait when you go see him. However, I spent this time talking to post-ops in the waiting room. It's almost like a support group!

The wait was 3.5 hours, but that gave us plenty of time to talk to other patients in the waiting room. There were several patients only one week out of surgery, as well as others who had been out for 3 to 6 months. The discussions on the procedures, and eating habits, as well as the post operative procedures was well worth the time waiting.
The visit with Dr Alexander was very informative, I like his style, and direct approach. I went in with several questions given to me by my Primary Doctor, and Dr Alexander answered them all. He told me about the benefits and the risks, plus the expectations before and after surgery. He was very thorough and we did not feel at all rushed.
His staff was nery helpful and friendly,I would recommend him to anyone else contemplating this procedure.

Dr. Alexander was wonderful. He explained everything to me so that I could understand it and he answered all my questions. He will spend as much time as you need to make you feel comfortable. I would recommend Dr. A to others who are considering WLS.

I had originally selected Dr. Provost to perform my surgery because I was hoping to have it done laporoscopically. But the waiting list for even the initial consult. with him is over a year and I may not have that long to wait and still have decent insurance coverage. Also, I've since found out I am not a viable candidate for lap anyway, because I am supermorbid (over 350) and have already had abdominal surgery in the past. I have also read more statistics and they seem to point to more leaks and complications with lap procedures than with open ones, so I wouldn't want to have a lap now, even if I could. I have heard wonderful things about Dr. Alexander, and I have a friend who has used him and knows several post-ops who used him and sing his praises. I want to ask him about his aftercare, as I have heard that may be the one place where he is lacking as far as support groups; etc. But I will see in less than 2 weeks! My initial consult is in 13 days, on January 30. I'll let y'all know.


2/11/03


It's true, he doesn't have an organized aftercare program as far as dieticians and such. But I've found that it is because he really wants you to focus on trying to just learn to eat normally, without restrictions and head games with yourself. I think, after talking to him about it, that it's just as important to use the honeymoon period to learn to face your food demons and figure out that you can take one or two bites of a favorite food and leave it at that rather than face it after the honeymoon period is over and letting it become a problem again. There is a support egroup of his patients on Yahoo groups, and I will join that; and there are tons of support groups that meet in my area and I have been invited to go to their meetings. So I'll be okay as far as aftercare, I feel sure.

I have only met with Dr. Alexander once, which was for my consultation on December 6th. He was very nice and informative. I never felt overwhelmed, like I have with some doctors. He put me at ease from the very beginning. He let me know how best to get in touch with him if I had any additional questions.

I went for my consulation with Dr. Alexander o 1-23-03,and he was the nicest man. He made me feel very comfortable and assured me that I would be in good hands.His staff was very nice and answered any questions that I had.I would recomend him to anyone who is considering having weight loss surgery. i rate Dr.Alexander a 10. and I loved the cowboy boots!!!!!

This is the start of my journey

I went to the consultation appointment, this was the hardest thing I have ever done. I sat there for 5 hours waiting to get in, the whole time thinking that I could just get up and leave now, and noone would know the difference. I had to pay 205.00 for the consultation, which I think is horrible, I cant figure out what exactly the insurance will and will not pay for. I found it irritating that nobody will explain that to me.

Anyhow, while I was waiting for those 5 hours I met a lot of people who were experiencing the same things that I am and have been. They were all nice, except for one woman, who I must say was larger than me, she was talking for about 3 hours about how much men wanted her and how beautiful she was, and making out like there was nothing wrong with her at all. She just struck me as someone who is in some serious denial about who and what she was/is. I feel that we are all the way that we are for a reason, but there comes a time when one has to step back, look at their life and decide if this is what they want forever. I am not happy being fat, I don’t like what I see when I look in the mirror, men DON’T want me, I don’t expect them to. I don’t understand how that woman could sit in a room full of other fat people and try to pretend that she is better than everyone else. I did not know what to say to her, I just sat there in silence for 3 hours, how do you tell someone how rude they are being? I found it insulting that she would behave the way that she did. It was like she was trying to convince herself that she did not belong in a room full of fat people. INSULTING if you ask me.

When I met DR Alexander, I was very pleasantly surprised, he was willing to answer all my questions, and evern though he was running way behind on appointments, he did not act like I was taking too much of his time, I did notice that when he had come into the waiting room to pick up patients, the other patients who had seen him before were very happy to see him, and treated him like they would an old friend.

I have a letter submitted to the insurance, and am waiting, rather impatiently for them to approve it. I have called them every day for 3 days now, and am starting to wonder if I am bothering them entirely too much !

Dr Alexander is a lovely man who had the answers to all my questions before I even knew the questions.
So far my first impression is the same: He very much cares about his patients and you should feel absolutely fine about calling with any questions or problems. He'll always get right back with you.
The office staff is pleasant. I mean, they see people with the same problems every day.
The only problem I had was that I was told I could go back to work within 2 weeks. That is just not reasonable. I didn't have my G-tube out for 3 weeks.
Aftercare is not really emphasized. You're pretty much on your own.
All risks were gone over. You know what you're getting into.
I would recommend him to anyone.

I had heard of only great things about Dr.A so I wasn't really nervous about seeing him. It did surprise me when he came in with scrubs and cowboy boots on!! I had researched alot before the meeting so he really didn't tell anything I didn't already know. I didn't even think to ask about aftercare and he didn't mention it,I figuerd that would come after APPROVEL anyway. His office staff has ALWAYS been wonderful to me. Poor Anne I have put that woman thru HELL!! I'm sur she'll be glad for me to hurry and get the surgery so I will stop calling her 5 times a day with questions!!!!! He didn't meantion alot about the risks of surgery only the benefits. I guess I really can't rate him yet seeing that I've only talked with him for about 30 minutes.I will post more when I talk with him on Jan.13,2003