Perth Surgeons...

Hi Guys

I was banded in 2007 by Chris and he is taking my band out and will be doing my sleeve. He has looked after both my husband and I and our son is his second band baby. I trust him completely and Nat and Bernie his receptions are now like family to us. Would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Jo-Anne

Hi

New here and am looking to get the surgery done next year. I have gone through the thread and I see that there are several recommendations.

Can anyone indicate how much out of pocket exp are we looking at with Dr Thomas or Dr Epari.

And what do i need to consider in terms of paying out of my own pocket. If I understand it correctly the PHI will cover hospital charges what else would i need to consider?

Hi, I had Dr Kevin Dolan for my band back in 2008 and was very happy with him, yes he has a very dry sense of humour but I can deal with that. He will be doing my sleeve on 29 June and I trust him completely. He is an extremely competent surgeon. He even tried talking me out of the sleeve to make sure that I understood that this is permanent and not something to be taken lightly and I know he was doing this for my benefit. He did not rush me during my appointments and I left feeling that this is the right thing for me. Bring on 29/6/12.

Hi Jodie, just saw your post, welcome to the forum :) I had my sleeve op nearly 12 months ago and Jon was my surgeon, he is absolutely brilliant!! I could not recommend him highly enough, he is a great surgeon and a lovely man to go along with it. He explains everything very clearly and has an excellent reputation in Perth.

My scars are quite small they four all up over the last tweleve months they have faded a lot and now are not very visible, I have to look closely to find them . The largest one was the one near my belly button and that is probably the one that is still most noticeable.

Your tummy is sore for a couple of weeks but not overly sore I use to have to take a couple of panadol every now and then but they worked fine and I never needed anything stronger after I came out of hospital. I have good days with my tummy and then other days when I still can't eat a lot but you learn to live with that.

Good luck you've picked a great surgeon.

Kelly :)

Hello there,

This is my very first post as I'm new to all this but very interested in hearing people's experiences with dr john Armstrong in Perth. I initially was all for having the lap banding but after much research I think gastric sleeving is more for me. do most sleevers think this is the better option?

I have an appointment with john Armstrong next week (14th may). I am 38, 164cms and 114kgs so clearly very overweight and getting somewhat depressed over my weight situation.

If anyone can answer a couple questions for me it would be kindly appreciated.

After you have healed from surgery do you feel any tightness/soreness in the stomach area?

What are the scars like? Similar to lapbanding incisions or bigger cuts on your tummy? Do they heal well?


Thanking you Kindly

Jodie

Hello there,

This is my very first post as I'm new to all this but very interested in hearing people's experiences with dr john Armstrong in Perth. I initially was all for having the lap banding but after much research I think gastric sleeving is more for me. do most sleevers think this is the better option?

I have an appointment with john Armstrong next week (14th may). I am 38, 164cms and 114kgs so clearly very overweight and getting somewhat depressed over my weight situation.

If anyone can answer a couple questions for me it would be kindly appreciated.

After you have healed from surgery do you feel any tightness/soreness in the stomach area?

What are the scars like? Similar to lapbanding incisions or bigger cuts on your tummy? Do they heal well?


Thanking you Kindly

Jodie

omg nooooooo what a rouge of a guy, anyway long story short please please please check your surgoun out well, he is the reason i never got a band and sore another surgoun and got the sleeve and can't be happier, hopefully one day he is not operating anymore.................

hi sas

congrats in ur decision to go ahead with this.

There area few of us that had Kevin Dolan. He is in duncraig but does surgery in hollywood hospital and glengarry. Both tinyteddy and i were out in 2 days. No regrets hes wonderful hes dry and to the point, but his humour is wonderful

he doesnt charge much out of the phi but if u dont have it i am not sure of the costs.

message me if u want to know more.

Hi Lacey sorry to hear you were dissapointed I founds Jon Armstrong to be absolutely brilliant and his after care to be excellent. I never felt rushed at any of my appointments and felt he answered all my questions....and I had a few!!! I received a written quote at my first appointment and it told me all the prices this was exactly what I paid.

Good luck with your weight loss journey

Kelly :)

Had mine done by Dr Armstrong, not a fan of his after care service the procedure cost more than I was told it would be. I did it on a credit card!!!

I didn't die so he is a good surgeon but I don't, as I said like the after care, there doesn't seem to be any. I felt he didn't answer all of my questions either.

Lace :D

Another fan of Jon Armstrong here, definately not the cheapest, but very experienced and professional with no leaks so far, very easy to talk to.
J9 x

So I had my appointment today with Dr Harsha Chandraratna and my confidence has grown immensely. Going from band to sleeve, I think the decision to go with Dr Dr Chandraratna will be one of the most best decisions I have made in life. He LISTENED, he UNDERSTOOD and he sympathized with the difficulties I have been facing even though I have only had the band for a short time (7.5 months).

Also, I can also highly recommend his staff, Dale (OMG what a secretary extraordinaire!!) and lovely Joanne Climo (nurse) who gave me her card and said call or email me, anytime!

I almost wished I had got my banding initially through Dr Chandraratna & his excellent team as it may of even worked (you never know)!!

They promptly did all the paperwork up for me straight away, knew the answers to all my questions and I am now prepared to get funds from APRA with correct letter, date set for surgery to remove band (18th May) and felt like the staff KNEW what they were talking about.

If you like I can get the details for you. She was sleeved in Perth and has recovered well. Just PM me and I will get the details for you.

just come across this post.

Dr Dolan does no gap surgery - he charges $1000 admin fee, sleep doctor $600

My Health fund HIF excess only $200 total $1800

I took out health insurance esp for this reason -an my teeth need seeing to lol

so i was prepared to wait a year... it flies by fast

Hope this helps

Hi there Jazz my private health covered all the hospital costs. I was out of pocket $4,000 for my surgeon and had to pay a gap fee of 900 to my anaethesiest. My surgeons fee was 4,800 and I received back 800 you can claim it on medicare Good luck

Sunnie x

You will not be able to claim this on private health I think. I actually had another problem which they did at the same time and used that item number. I had to fork out $5000 to my surgeon and about $500 to the anaesthetist.

Hi all,



I also want this surgery does anyone know what the cost is with private health insurance?

Great choice Mac : ))



Sunnie

I can say nothing bad about Jon Armstrong so far - let's see how I feel in 2 weeks.

I had Dr Harsha Chandaratna at SJOG Murdoch - April last year..........brilliant!! Kind, compassionate, sensitive and caring. His team are awesome! I cannot recommend him enough. The practice nurse calls to see if you are ok and they give you their numbers to call them if you have problems. I have nothing but praise for them all. I am so happy I had this done.

Highly recommend him

You've made a great choice in Jon Armstrong, brilliant doctor and lovely man.



Good luck



Sunnie x

cant recommend Dr Thomas highly Enough he was excellent

I just made my appointment to see Dr Jon Armstrong. =) 19th of Jan.

I have watched two of my good friends over the past year...who were sleeved by Dr Jon... and it's really amazing what they have achieved. Truly inspirational!

Cant wait to be smoking hot like them. =)

Dr Epari at Murdoch is excellent lovely manner and very easy to talk with. His Partner Dr Thomas is also fantastic. They have the best stats too. I had private health cover so not sure what it would be without but if you give their office a call "upper GI west" the girls at the desk will be more than helpful and tell you everything you need to know.

Hope it helps.. good to get some ideas and compare prices too.

I used Jon Armstrong as well :) He was recommended by my bestie who went through him and I've watched her progress etc He really is great! His statistics speak for themselves. Penny is also good :)

I had issues with my PHI that I am STILL sorting out, so, I paid it all myself. With the surgery, hospital and GA, it came in around 15k?

Best money I've ever spent, would do it again in a heartbeat, 4.5 months out and 36kg down :)