Dr Craig Taylor

First topic message reminder :

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

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.

Thanks redrooter99 and oki doki joy. I have already been to a seminar with another surgeon and the day I see Dr Taylor I am also seeing dietician and phsycologist as I'm flying up to Sydney for the day. (Leeton is about 600km's from Sydney) Have also had 2 lengthy discussions with my GP so hopefully all systems go after this appointment on 18th July. I have PHI and hopefully this helps as well.

Regards
Kate

I contacted the surgery on a Saturday, had an email on Sunday to come in on Monday to see Dr Taylor, dietician, psych. We discussed the surgery date that Monday - any time after 2 weeks (Optifast for 14 days). Ended up choosing first op date post Xmas.

I was transferring from another surgeon so no "lets wait and see if you change your mind" time required. From memory, Monday ops are The Mater (private), Thursday dates are Concord (public).

Plan on 2 weeks.

I hope this posts in the right place. I posted it before but it seems to have disappeared into posts from earlier in the year.
Just wondering if anyone can tell me how long they had to wait from their initial appointment with Dr Taylor until surgery. I'm seeing him on the 18th July and hoping to get a surgery date as soon as possible after that. One of my reasons for going to Sydney is that the Dr that does this op in my local area doesn't have any surgery dates until February or later. Now I've made up my mind to do this I just want to get it done and start recovering and be on the road to a new life.


Regards
Kate

i think if your going private you can get a closer date but public he only does a couple of days a week..2 from memory.
if there is a space hell go pretty much straight away, i this your first visit? He may want to see you a coupke of times, and you still have to see the pysch, and dietician....
all good things coem to those who wait...just a bit of philosphy there, lol...

Just wondering if anyone can tell me how long they had to wait from their initial appointment with Dr Taylor until surgery. I'm seeing him on the 18th July and hoping to get a surgery date as soon as possible after that. One of my reasons for going to Sydney is that the Dr that does this op in my local area doesn't have any surgery dates until February or later. Now I've made up mind to do this I just want to get it done and start recovering and be on the road to a new life.


Regards
Kate

Well I'm comming up to my 3 month review in a few weeks and I feel great, I had the best care from Dr Taylor and his team, and concord hospital, without this great surgeon and his team, I would not be 39.6kilos lighter than i was at christmas last year 2010.. I found Dr Taylors team to be more than professional and better than I could have asked for.


Many thanks and I would recomend Dr Taylor to anyone..

Thanks
Ed

hey there,
hes great isnt he sooo profesional. i cant beleive it now 4950,
When me and bingbutt went we payed 6905! oh well, it must be booming to have dropped the price..
goodie bag must be new too..

Well Ive changed to Dr Taylor, and my surgery date is now Jan 10th (was Jan 13th with other surgeon). Heres some notes from my meeting with him. Might answer your questions too.
- this is what he does, all that he does. Specialist in band and sleeve. I think around 12 a week.
- started talking up the band, i interjected "I have considered all options, and Im only interested in the sleeve". When asked why, I said "too many hideous ongoing stories with the band" Sleeve only please. He said: that would be my choice too. (I think the band is preferred medically because the problems are minor medically. When the sleeve goes wrong it tends to be major)
- the most important question I think I asked was "why do you do this?" after all, WLS will hardly be as popular as say being a neuro surgeon. He told me: it's fun. We save lives. We cure diabetes in 2/3 of cases, we watch people bloom and change their lives. He is obviously passionate and committed. Nice to see.
- i asked him about "kinks" He showed me a photo of an operation from the day before. about 2/3 down is the gooses foot (lots of veins). He cuts a bit wider there to stop kinks.
- he stitches/staples in a straight line, not intersecting. Dunno why that's important but apparently it us. He cuts all the way to the pylorus to get better hunger control. 32French bougie. He glues over the top. I said "superglue!" he said no, more like Araldyte with two tubes pressed together. He wraps icky yellow thing (on photo) around top of stomache (weakest part) so that if there IS a leak, its held in place. Icky yellow is like fat tube or intestine?
- he's never had a leak but he said statistics say one day it will happen. My response is : but not to me!
- i asked about gastric plication (folded over, not cut). He was dismissive - dreamed up by Iran who cant get staples due to USA embargo, gastric juices in fold cause issues, etc similar to what my first surgeon said.
- I liked the $4950 all inclusive. It's not the money, it's the setup. The 5k includes 8 dietician appointments, 2 psychologists, follow up with surgeon. etc. No out of pockets like anaesethetists or room. Lifetime one-off fee.
- i bought the goodie bag. Included a couple of Optifast to try, chewable multivits, the "Portion perfection for bands and sleeves" book and portion plate (I also bought the bowl) tape measure, diary, vouchers, benefibre, DVD and so on. I bought it mostly because the first few weeks are critical and I want to understand protein, avoid hair loss and so on.

Had a great session with shrink & dietician - double checked heaps i learned on the forums, clarified exactly what strange things like UpnGo and sustagen are.

I nearly changed my mind a few days ago but these pre op appointments settled me down.

Hope this helps someone out there!

Thankyou, I appreciate the time you took to reply in depth :)

Every one seems to like dr Taylor. We'll see what his office says tomorrow I guess. I hate mucking around like this... still, better I know my options now, than regret later!

Hi Oki,

I went with Dr Taylor and found the entire team at the OClinic just absolutely fantastic. From Keran and Michelle who run the practice right through to Dr Taylor, nothing is ever too much trouble. I have never had to wait for phone calls or emails to be returned - they really, really looked after me so well.

I had a bad band experience and often had to call and say "I need some fill out NOW" and I was always fitted in as an absolute priority. Thankfully, with the yucky band gone and the sleeve in I just never have to worry about that anymore!

Now, I think Dr Taylor uses a 32 bougie, all I know is he told me my stomach capacity would be taken down to about the size of an index finger. I nearly fell off my chair in shock and just kinda stared at him. But he told me any larger than that and I would not achieve significant weight loss and more importantly manage to maintain it and he certainly does no smaller than that!

He did tell me that I wouldn't really know my onging stomach size capacity until about the six month mark when everything has fully healed and settle down. I am now at 6 months (this week) and my tummy seems perfect sized to me! I eat totally normally, just in entree size portions. And that is that. I can eat anything but only a small portion, however not so small that it draws attention to it or looks weird. People just seem to accept that I practice strict portion control now and that is how I've lost my 35kg.

Hope it all works out for you,

xxxHuggyBear

Thankyou Andrew.
I hate changing horses midstream but I'm still annoyed about ignored phone calls (I even faxed), and the fact I turned down work only to have the surgery date mucked around, with my current doctor.
Maybe I'll email the clinic and have a chat anyway. Can't hurt. As long as I don't get talked into waiting longer than mid-Jan. I'm over over over the waiting. LOL.

Hi Oki Doki Joy,

I'm not sure, but I strongly suspect that Dr Taylor would be happy to discuss it with you. He is very approachable and easy to talk to. If in doubt, a second opinion is always a good thing. That said, personally, Craig Taylor would be my first and second opinion.

All the best,

Andrew

Oki Doki Joy wrote:

Does anyone know what size bougie Dr Taylor uses?
I'm considering switching doctors.
Many thanks.

Does anyone know what size bougie Dr Taylor uses?
I'm considering switching doctors.
Many thanks.

Thankyou soooo much dolphinbliss i have sent you a PM

Hi Overit

I sent you a private message regarding the amounts that I had to pay as I went through APRA also. I actually showed my GP the APRA form and the wording that was recommended and she actually went from that. So if you show you GP the form and highlight the importance of the wording then I'm sure they'll do their best to help. ALL THE BEST WITH EVERYTHING. It is a bit of a process but well worth it..........................GOOD LUCK............................

Cheers

Hi Sweetbee703 and Carrie

Thanks for your replies - I'll relax now knowing that everything will be fine. I'm off for my pre-op check on Friday and then the op next Tuesday - it's coming around fast.

Thanks

Hi All,
Im looking into getting the sleeve done with Dr Taylor and i have my first appointment with him on the 30th Nov 2010.

We are hoping to get approved thru APRA for early release of my husbands super to cover all costs. We are not with a health fund

I was hoping someone could give me some advice in advance:

1: Could anypne please tell me roughly what amount i would be looking at to request from super?
2: what wording does my letter from GP need to say?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Robyn,

I didn't have Dr Taylor, but was at Concord with Dr Martin. I found it great. I had a private room, even though I hadn't paid any extra to book one, and the staff were really nice and very professional. There was one older male nurse who was a little bit of a grinch, but even he succumbed to my charm offensive and was smiling when he came into my room by the second day.

I would recommend Concord hospital without hesitation.

Cheers - Carrie :-)

dolphinbliss wrote:

Hi all,
I'm having my Gastric Sleeve op with Dr Taylor on the 23rd November 2010. Hopefully there will be other patients having the same thing on that day. It's getting close now. At first I hesitated to go to Concord but Dr Taylor assured me that it was fine - after all he still indicated that it is him doing the surgery. So, looking forward to embracing the new me thanks to the team at the OClinic.

Hi Robyn

You are in the best hands! You will find Concord okay as well!I myself am a theatre nurse and having worked both in public and private hospitals i can tell you with honesty the public hospital is the safest to have surgeries (not the long stays in the wards though :)) They have much much higher standards than the private hospitals! And Concord is a very good hospital (i can't preach for the nurses over there as i generally hate nurses anywhere) but the stay will be quite peaceful.
All the best for your journey!

Hi there,

do you have private health fund? If you do then it is $4950.00

I am not sure about the self funding. Look up Dr.Taylor in the surgeons thread there are a lot of people on there who gave feedback about him you might be able to find from someone.

He is the best! You are in the best hands! Good luck with your journey.

X

Hi All,
Im looking into getting the sleeve done with Dr Taylor and i have my first appointment with him on the 30th Nov 2010.

We are hoping to get approved thru APRA for early release of my husbands super to cover all costs.

Could anypne please tell me roughly what amount i would be looking at?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,
I'm having my Gastric Sleeve op with Dr Taylor on the 23rd November 2010. Hopefully there will be other patients having the same thing on that day. It's getting close now. At first I hesitated to go to Concord but Dr Taylor assured me that it was fine - after all he still indicated that it is him doing the surgery. So, looking forward to embracing the new me thanks to the team at the OClinic.

How did i miss this thread? Or have i been here before but did not post?

Whatever it is i have to add my exp with Dr. Taylor, and he is just brilliant.

On my first appointment itself i knew that i took the right decision surgeon wise. He is just so professional, caring and very highly skilled.

I thought being on the lighter side he will refuse to sleeve me, nope he just explained that he has two options to offer to help me and explained both band and sleeve seperately. But i did makeup my mind before i got there that i will only have sleeve and no way that im going to be talked into having band.

But it was like he made me feel that i am the decision maker and i have the control of the whole situation there.

Also just before the op, i was breaking down while moving from my bed to the op table and he came over quickly to reassure me and said he will see me in the recovery and it will be very straight forward.. i said if i am going to wake up again i will see him again. He said everything is going to be fine and that i have him and all his team to make sure everything goes well.

I was awake on the table soon after the op and i could hear him talking to me directly telling me everything went well and that i am going to be fine. Then i remember he came over to recovery and called my name and asked how i am feeling, i said i can't believe i am awake! He said you sure are and that doing fine as well! I asked him to please ring my husband as he is home alone with my kids.. and i heard him talking to my husband on the phone.. he is such a darling he understands his patients and treats them so well.

On the day after the surgery he came to my room sat on the bed and shown me the pics from my op and explained what he did in there. He knows that i am a theater nurse so he actually explained the whole procedure incl. what he did to prevent leaks etc. He then promised to ring me before i left the hospital and he did ring although i missed speaking to him because i was in the shower.

When i next see him i am going to tell him how wonderful he is and how lucky iam to have him.

Synna you won't regret your decision i can assure you that.

Just wanted to add my little bit - I have my first appointment with Dr Taylor in a few weeks. Spent ages on the phone with the Karan (i think) discussing options and logistics, she was very helpful. Looking forward to meeting the man I've heard so many positive things about. I'm going self funded, and his package is very affordable from what I've seen.

Dr Taylor is wonderful
done almost 3 weeks ago
and at times wish it was easier to get into the puree stage...
wish i could just go to 1/2 slice toast with avocado and tomato for breakfast, 1/2 cup of food for lunch and same for dinner rather than this try xyz and see how it goes.... lol

he has great people skills
llistens and cares about his patients.
think he is Mr Wonderful sleeve wise