Dr Craig Taylor

First topic message reminder :

wahroonga sydney..
Anyone experienced him??? My gp wants me to go to this one? ...
thx

I had my first appoinment with Dr Taylor on June 29th and i am booked for my sleeve September 3rd, as soon as i walked into his office and sat down he almost immediately suggested sleeve over band which is great because that what i wanted, i am going to be having my sugery at the Mater hospital, im really nervous as i have never even been to hospital let alone a surgery.

With all the raving reviews of Dr Taylor i am confident he will do a great job. is there anyone that has also been to the Mater and was given a private room, fingers crossed i get one??

Optifast is a complete meal replacement which means you can have it for 3 meals a day and it includes vitamins. Its what the dietician at O'Clinic will recommend.

cheers
xZenna

Hi Zenna,
wow that was quick. Glad you have had a speedy recovery.

Another question...Is there any difference between Ferry Ferguson shake diet and the Opti Fast shake diet?

Thanks Emm

Emm there is nothing to stop you from starting Opti sooner, you will get your weight loss started. A few have done that. I second everything people here say. I was sleeved on Monday and he is strict, the nurse will not do anything unless it is written down or he has told them. I will also mention I had fabulous service from his lovely wife Paloma the anesthetist. I have some allergies and she was more than accommodating and I had a great recovery. They are a solid team.

I first saw him on July 4th and was sleeved 23rd July - soon enough, but I was ready for it.
I had a shared room at the Mater. I was probably put into shared as I had the least amount of other medical issues. Personally I would have preferred a single room but no complaints at all. You will not get anything except an icecube per hour, so it is very different from others on here but my tummy is good now 5 days later.

good luck

Thank you everyone. I too am seeing Dr Taylor. Your positiveness is really helping to reduce my anxiety.
Worried about the hospital reviews though. I am going in as a private patient.

- Just a question how long from appointment to surgery

- Should I start a shake diet prior to seeing Dr Taylo?

Thanks Emm

He was great and i had the surgery at the Mater, the nurses that i had the hospital were incredible. I am an incredibly fidgety person and they knew how just laying there made me crazy. They bent over backwards to look after me. Dr Taylor is an extremely straight shooter and i like that i highly recommend him and if you can go to the Mater hospital

I couldnt fault dr t he was great when I first saw him didn't see till op day but all his support staff was fantastic :-)

Woo I am booked in for first consultation with Dr T on 7th June cant wait!

Big thumbs up for Dr Taylor and the whole O Clinic team.

My surgery was scheduled for 2:50pm but the nurses advised there
would be a big delay as the two patients before for both were very
difficult cases. I was disappointed because I was anxious to get it over
and done with. The nurse then said to me. "One thing you need to know
about Dr. Taylor is that he is very focused. When he is operating he is
concentrating solely on the patient at hand and will never cut corners
to try and keep schedules". She said "no matter when you will see him
today he will be professional and very dedicated". Surgery started at
about 11pm.

Surgery took longer than scheduled because he
found issues with my liver and took 3 biopsies for further investigation.
He came in to see the day after my surgery (on Saturday) and phoned on
Sunday to check how I was. He then rang at least once every day
following. He ensured all my questions were answered to my satisfaction
and was very down to earth and professional. I was not well enough to be discharged after 4 days and went home on Day 5. That was not until he was satisfied though with the results of the extra tests he had ordered.

His concern is sincere and unlike some specialists I have dealt with over the years he is not patronising at all, explains things in detail, ensuring you fully understand what is being communicated.

I cannot recommend him highly enough.

Dr Craig Taylor is fantastic. Wouldn't go back to Concord Hospital, but Dr T was brilliant.

redrooter99 wrote:

Quote :

not too bad to look at either (sorry shouldn't be mucking around)

Oh please muck around those eyes//.........drool......

At first when I saw his eyes I thought they were contacts they are ice blue lol

My experience with Dr Taylor has been fantastic.. I went for my initial appointment to get the band done 8 months ago.. Due to health fund I had to wait till Jan 2012 for my surgery.. After speaking to him we came to the realization the sleeve would be better for me.. I'm currently at Mater hospital waiting for my post op visit with him, (sleeved 2 days ago). He was amazing, so kind and made sure I was ok just before and just after surgery' he has been calling to check up oon us all the nurse has sad... Great commitment and very cute, kind and caring... Highly recommend, I wouldn't go to anyone else

Weight Loss with Dr Taylor is fast - he is very strict with you for 9 weeks post op (some other surgeons have patients on real food weeks before he does) and he uses a 32F bougie (size of stomach) not the 36 that others use. Let me repeat he is STRICT. Nine weeks is a long time without trying something crunchy. He is over careful but I guess that's why he's never had a leak.

I switched to Dr Taylor after not being sure my other surgeon could deliver, and after checking out 5 or 6 Sydney based surgeons. I too wanted fast weight loss that was still safe. Good luck!

Thankyou very much.
Now all i have to do is organise the super paper work with him and i should be on my way to having the surgery..
just wondering also .. is the weight loss slow? fast?
im needing it done due to thryoid levels being 12 times what they should be.. and causing me to gain weight even on a healthy diet and medication, hence my dr saying this is my only hope.

Hi Chantalle
You can find most of the information about costs on the oclinic website here: http://www.oclinic.com.au/costs.html
If you have any other questions just call. Sometimes you do have to leave a message and they will call back when they are busy though.
Best of Luck with it all.
Tash

Hi all,
im new to this site, and i was looking up Dr Taylor as im needing surgery done asap.
But i too have to go through APRA we are releasing my husbands super.
and was wondering if someone could tell me the costs of doing so as i was reading someone had to do the same above.

Many thanks
Chantalle

I was sleeved by Dr Taylor 4 months ago and I can thoroughly recommend him as a very skilled surgeon. I was privately funded at Public (Concord) Hospital. No PHI. Cost $8750 all up. My experience at Concord Hospital was great too. Very good hospital and very competent and attentive nurses. My surgery was quick and complication free. I had some initial pain after surgery as Dr Taylor also stitched some muscles together under my diaphram for free during the surgery.
Great surgeon at the cutting edge of this kind of surgery.
I find though that the appointments with the dietician and psychologist are perfunctory and by rote. Not very personal. This is my only complaint.
I have no regrets whatsoever though with going with the O'Clinic. Very good at what they do. Very busy Clinic though so I can somewhat understand why the consults can be performed by rote as they say the same thing to everyone over and over and over. Maybe later I will find my own dietician for a more personal consult.
Over and above everything Dr Taylor is a very skilled and kind surgeon who is also very very busy.

pipette87 wrote:

I have my surgery booked for Tuesday 11th october at Concord with Dr Taylor and I must say I am impressed with him so far. Can't wait for the surgery and am happy to read all the rave reviews on here about him. I don't think I could be in better hands.

All the bes t to everyone on the losers bench - I'll be joining you soon!

All the best hope everything goes alright for you

I have my surgery booked for Tuesday 11th october at Concord with Dr Taylor and I must say I am impressed with him so far. Can't wait for the surgery and am happy to read all the rave reviews on here about him. I don't think I could be in better hands.

All the best to everyone on the losers bench - I'll be joining you soon!

Hi i have my first appointment wednesday and so looking forward to it,i will be having it done at Concord. I am paying for it myself as i dont have private insurance,i am hoping i don't have a long wait to have it done,i'd love it done this year,lol

I was sleeved by Dr Taylor about 4 days ago at the Sydney Adventist Hospital and I am still alive to tell you all about the experience so that is a good sign!

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, if you are at all worried about risks of your sugery or aftercare, then go to Dr Taylor. From what nurses have said here he has a reputation of being extremely skilled and exacting and I can attest that his aftercare is peerless.

I was supposed to be discharged today but since I spiked a moderate temperature after my surgery my stay in the SAN has been extended from 4 to 8 nights and frankly I have been shocked by how much effort he has put in making sure I am ok. So far he has ordered a chest xray, a CT scan, two urine tests, daily blood cultures, 2 hourly temperature & blood pressure tests, 3 different antibiotics delivered via IV, two physio visits, a visit from the house doctor and has been to see me 2 times over the weekend plus twice daily calls. He even wanted to go back in and install a drain at 6pm on a Saturday (but I wanted to hold off overnight & he was ultimately happy that my temp went down and the CT scan was relatively normal although I have to have another one before I am allowed to leave).

My staple line seems to be holding just nicely and my temperature seems to have been precipitated by the bottom half of my lungs collapsing due to the anaesthesia but he is a total fussbudget and torments everyone until he gets to the bottom of it.

On top of it all he is genuinely nice person - obviously an alpha male used to being obeyed - but he is kind and gentle and reassuring nonetheless. I think anyone who has him as their surgeon would be happy with him.

The nurses at the hosital are all pretty awesome too. Friendly and caring and competent. The hard mattresses kind of suck but Dr Taylor suggested I get my hubby to bring me in an overlay and it is bearable now. Big thumbs up for the SAN for me.

I think I should still be OK as I have 3 seperate appointments for that day starting with Dr Taylor. I haven't heard any different from the OClinic and they know I am flying up. I was going to ring on Monday anyways and confirm all the appointments. Thanks for the info ODJ.

I think I should still be OK as I have 3 seperate appointments for that day starting with Dr Taylor. I haven't heard any different from the OClinic and they know I am flying up. I was going to ring on Monday anyways and confirm all the appointments. Thanks for the info ODJ.

I rang the surgery today: Dr Taylor trialled group work with the dietician for Pre & Post (not followup) but it was unpopular & has since returned to one-on-one.

I totally agree with you Emily. I did do some checking around and I didn't solely base my decision on when I could get in. My own GP used Dr Taylor herself and I trust her judgement completely. I would never just go to anyone without checking them out.....it's far too important an operation. From what I read Dr Taylor has an excellent reputation and I am completely happy and confident with my decision. I was just trying to get an idea of time frames as I want to give myself 12 months post op before my daughters wedding if possible, which is in September next year.

Regards
Kate

I would choose your surgeon by their qualifications, not by when they can fit you in... you can still use any preop time to lose as much weight as possible.