Dr Costa Karihaloo - newcastle area!

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Hi AimeeB,

I had my first appointment with Dr Costa on 5th December with my heart set on having the sleeve and he convinced me that the bypass was the better option for me. On my first appointment I penciled in my surgery date for 9th Feb, I saw him two weeks ago and confirmed that date with him, have been on the pre-op diet since last monday and counting down the days until I have my bypass now.. Only 5 days to go!

You should definitely be able to book your surgery date at your next appointment.

All the best with it all. If you have any questions at all, feel free to pm me.

Kirsty :)

Hi everyone

I am going to see Dr Costa for the second time on 10 March 2015. I have decided to get gastric bypass surgery and am just waiting on my health insurance to kick in in April.

I anticipate that I will be able to go ahead and book at my next appointment :).

I am interested to hear how long there will be between my next appointment and the surgery - my mum recently had a hysterectomy and her specialist literally said "I have had a cancellation next week if you are available?" lol. That would be my ideal scenario - waiting makes me nervous!

I am looking forward to getting to know you all on these forums :)

Aimee

So I called Medibank today, unfortunately as I was on Bupa Active saver I still have to wait the 12 months :-( even worse thing is I was previously with medibank on their basic hospital which would have covered me :-(

Never mind. Have my GP referral now and watched the DVD so just waiting till Feb to see Dr K.

I had basic hospital with bupa, they used to cover the band at that level, now will cover with minimum benefits only. Will call around tomorrow and see if there are any other options. Thanks for the suggestion!!

Hi Lisa 
That's good to hear. Did you already have public health insurance before upgrading to top cover as I recently transferred from HCF to medibank and was covered straight away for the sleeve as they cover it from basic cover. Could be worth looking into, I was going to wait the twelve months too until I found out I could do that.

HI Kirsty,
I've just dome the same as you, read through from the beginning. I jeard about Dr Costa from a friend who had the surgery 12 mths ago - he's done amazing and highly recommended Dr Costa. 

I habe to wait 12mths as I've only just upgraded my PHI to top cover. I have an appointment scheduled for 24th Feb, won't be able to have surgery till after 16th Nov 2015. Don't want to wait but there's not much I can do about that!

Will keep an eye on this thread so would be great to heard how your appt goes.

Cheers
Lisa

Hi Everyone,

I am new on here. I have my first appointment with Dr Costa on the 5th December. Am feeling a mix of emotions in having the procedure done but am excited with what the future holds. I have just spent the last hour reading through all the posts on here back to the very first one and reading how everyone had such positive outcomes has made me feel more confident in my decision to have this procedure done. 

Has anyone had the sleeve done this year? What it the waiting period between the initial appointment and the surgery date. He seems to be very busy these days. I have been waiting for my initial appointment since the beginning of September and still have another 6 weeks to wait. Am hoping that it isn't going to be months before I can schedule my surgery date. Would be great to chat with anyone that has recently had the surgery also.

Is anyone else looking at having the sleeve in the near future? Would be great to have other people to go through this journey with.

Kirsty

NicoleH~ I don't think Dr Costa does lapbands, and he will only do funded (PHI) surgery. He is however, an utter legend!!! He did my sleeve 3 weeks ago today, and I am so utterly thrilled with it, with his work (and his amazing team) and the awesome results!

Hi All, I am new here and wanting to know what the costs are to get lap band surgery with Dr Karihaloo if you have no private health insurance? I was told by my local gp today I may be able to access super to cover the costs..

Hi New Me! Sorry - I completely forgot to update here!

Dr Costa is lovely...though I saw him at the end of the day and I got the distinct impression he'd had a day of seeing patients expecting a miracle, ha! I just went and found what I wrote the day after I saw him last week...

"I confess I was a little taken aback yesterday when I met my surgeon (dr Costa Karihaloo, Lake Macquarie) - he seemed to be going out of his way to make sure nothing was sugar-coated about the procedure, the weight loss stats, and the associated risks of this versus other options. I mean, he was perfectly happy for me to have the procedure - just gave me the impression he'd seen an awful lot of people that day who'd waltzed in and wanted a miracle fix. I've done an insane amount of research (it's what I do!) and so this didn't put me off - instead I was grateful that we could have a really frank discussion about this, and other issues - like I felt I could talk frankly about his leakage rate (2 in 360+ - so just under .5%. He was very open about them.) and I definitely didn't feel like he was blowing smoke up my arse to get me to sign up...anyone else had this? Like I said, it didn't put me off, just surprised me a little, not quite what I was expecting."


All that said, he was very nice and personable, his nurse and reception staff were just gorgeous, and I felt in very safe, competent hands. Our eldest son died during his birth (10 years ago next week) due to medical misadventure, so the combination of that and my naturally risk averse tendencies mean I pay a great deal of attention to how I feel with medical professionals, as well as how confident I feel of their competence.


Does that help? good luck on your journey - and I confess I giggled when I read what you wrote about being torn about trying to lose weight - I'm a BMI of 42 and have been having the exact same thoughts!!!! But you know - surely some commitment and dedication from here on out (rather than waiting for the sleeve to be our panacea) is a good thing - and if anything, should prove how serious we are about making lifelong changes - thereby making the surgeon more keen? Then again, it's hard ot marry that and the weird notion of a last hurrah!!

Hi all, JolieC did you have your appointment? How did it go?
Just wanting opinions on seeing Costa, current BMI is 41 and can't have surgery for 8 months when private health kicks in. My mind is made up and I can't stop thinking about getting started on the weightless. I'm starting optifast to start losing, as silly at this sounds what if I lose 20kg and then my BMI is 34, is he still going to be okay to go ahead with surgery (after knowing the statistics that such a small percentage of us keep the weight off without surgery)? I've been overweight my whole life since puberty but just wanna feel like I'm doing something during the wait but not if it's going to be. Detrimental if you know what I mean? I'm ringing tomorrow to make the appointment to see him and my GP referral does state my current BMI of 41. Thanks everyone

Hi, I just wanted to thank you all for the great info you've put in this thread about Dr Costa. I made my initial appointment with him this morning after getting a referral from my GP on Saturday. I see him on the 11th of March - am now that ridiculous mix of excited and terrified, ha! Thankfully the excited part is winning out - kind of amazed by the change in headspace just since making the decision that this is what I want to do, to reclaim my life, my health and my happiness. 
Now here's hoping I cope with the patience!!!

hi im about 4hours away lol, im from near Tamworth, i dont think there are any DR"s near were i live that do these op's. ive had Dr Talbet in sydney recomended but i have been reseaching on the net & came a cross Dr costa & he is not as far .

DR Costa is the best in my eyes !! I have lost 70 kgs since 30.4.12 and him and his team couldn't of helped me enough. My dietitians name is Kathy so ask for her when you see Costa because she s fantastic . Good luck and let us know how you go:-)
Where are you from? I am from seansea heads!

Hi guys i've been thinking about having this surgery done & was wondering how everyone found this Dr Costa as im thinking about seeing him .. thanks for any help you guys can give nikki

I was sleeved on the 30.5.12 and Dr Costa and his team are just beautiful.

Hi Jacqueline so glad you finally got done a friend of mine was done the same day as you im coming to visit her tomorrow while I go for ym checkup with costa which ward n room r u in if I have time ill pop my head in the door and say hi

Well guys I made it yay!!! Dr costs and his team were& still are great!! Just on ice at the moment and then clear/ fluids tomorrow and will be going home Thursday.Just doing a lot of walking around the ward.( not to much pain either) :-)thank you thank you Dr costa and all you beautiful people on here. Xxx

Hi Jordysmamma!!! Thats great that you have your date.
I am booked and ready for my sleeve on the 30th of April with Dr Costa. Yay can not wait.

Hi I now have a surgery date having been cleared to proceed after my gastroscopy and dietitician and Psychologist Reviews so bring on 28th of May have a lot of trust in Dr Costa will now hope everything goes to plan am booked into Lake Macquarie Private Hosp for Gastric Sleeve

Congratulations Jacqualine!!! All the best for next month!!!!

YAY Got the extra money approved today.
Bring on the 30.5.12. I am so happy and NOW very nervous.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

You can ask you surgeon to write Bulk bill on the pathology forms to reduce the costs. Just explain that you are under financial strain. They don't lose money by bulk billing pathology tests.

Good luck!

Hi ladies,

Re: seeing a Psychologist (most likely a Psychologist rather than a Psychiatrist)

Cost can be offset with an Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) Plan from your GP which means you can claim a refund from Medicare provided the Psychologist is registered with Medicare! An EPC gives you 5 visits with a Psychologist or you can it divide between dietitian and Psychologist (eg 3 visits dietitian and 2 with Psych)

Just call your surgeon's rooms and check that the Psychologist they send you to is registered with Medicare then arrange the EPC with your GP with the Psychologist's details.

Hope this helps.