"Most nurse were great and if you ask when you check in they will try to get you a private room. They did not have surgar free jello, though, which was a problem for me. Everyone seemed to generally care about me. In the pre-op check in, the person giving me the EKG noticed I didn't really want to do it and she said "We'll making it as comfortable as possible for you. You're doing a good thing for yourself." "
"<font color="purple">I have now met with two surgeons, Dr. Brown and Dr. Tillquist. Dr. Brown took more time with me and seems like a great surgeon, but his office staff while friendly, didn't take care of business as far as I was concerned. And he is much more expensive than other doctors ($5k out of pocket.) That expense, however, could equate to surgery 1 to 5 months sooner than other doctors.
Dr. Tilquist, on the other hand is a lot more laid back. I already knew most of my answers but I found that he doesn't think fasting does much for you. He also doesn't require you stay off birth control for x time and he works through Porter Hospital. That was three things in his favor. I spoke with the nutritionist in Denver and she said everyone she worked with was a good doctor so I think it is more a chemistry thing -- who do you feel comfortable with. So I think I elect Dr. Tillquist -- more because of the office staff than anything else. I REALLY hate when I don't feel people have my best interest in mind even if they are busy. I'm still the most important person to me and I want to feel like it. So we'll see what happens with the dreaded UHC and go from there.
<p><font color="red>Dr. Brown was fine. In fact, I really liked him. The office was terribly busy when I went in and the wait was unreal. I was reading a book and he poked in and said "I hope we get to you before you finisht that". I like a Doc with a sense of humor.
Also, he gave some good advice. I talked about surgical sterilization. He recommended I wait until it was time for plastic surgery because then the hospital and most of the surgery would be covered and I would only have to pay for the plastic surgery part. Thinking ahead was a great idea.
He also seems to have the entire health thing going. He has a nutritionsist that is in his office. He also is just starting some educational seminars. Of course, he is much more expensive than the other doctors in Denver that I checked out. About $5k versus the $2k that insurance will normally pay. But my surgery date WAS scheduled for 8/6 (originally 7/30 until I had to reschedule for personal reason.) verses a October or November date with other surgeons.
Now for the down side. I went in on June 10th. My insurance is United. I was told I wouldn't have a problem and in fact I called United and was told I wouldn't have a problem. The office staff didn't submit my insurance until 7/17 or so. On 7/19 I was DENIED! I am upset that they sat on it for so long. Their answer is it doesn't really matter because an appeal will take 3 months at least so you wouldn't make your 8/6 surgery date even if we had submitted on time. What a crock! True or not, that is not customer service! I'm going to work the insurance issue and keep my appointments with the other surgeons that were scheduled AFTER I was supposed to have my surgery and decide what to do from there."
