"I am so thankful that my mother found Brookhaven Bariatric's website which led me to Dr. Sapala. For the longest time I tried to lose weight on my own but could never do it. After a while I felt strongly that I needed a team of people who would take me in, nurture me, and tell me exactly what I needed to do while holding my hand through the entire process. That is EXACTLY what I got from Dr. Sapala and his team. I was excited when I first called and learned that every new patient first attends a meeting/seminar at the office which would last for about 3 to 4 hours on a Thursday morning. I liked the idea of taking a morning off from work to do something good for myself with a Dr. who obviously cared enough to give me hours of information. I had seen a few other bariatric Dr.'s before Dr. Sapala and with them I barely spoke with them for 5 minutes before they handed me a checklist and said "Just get these tests done and we'll schedule your surgery". I wasn't about to put my life in the hands of any Dr. who didn't care to educate me about what they were going to do or about what my life would be like after. When I first stepped into Dr. Sapala's office (which is very warmly decorated, with extremely friendly and kind staff) for the seminar I loved that it was only about 5 people sitting around a table getting the chance to ask questions to Mary (the nutritionist) and Dr. Sapala. By the way, everyone in Dr. Sapala's office, including Dr. Sapala, are always smiling and seem to get along really well together. They all seem to be very happy working there. Dr. Sapala is so warm and caring and when you speak with him it feels like are the most important person in his world at that moment. I'm pretty sure that he treats all of his patients with that kind of attention because everyone I speak to absolutely loves him! Anyway, at the introductory meeting we learned about everything including nutrition (especially the dangers of trans fats and the benefits of protein), the Sapala Woods Micropouch (what it is, how it is performed, what life would be like after, the history of how Dr. Sapala, his father-also Dr. Sapala, and Dr. Wood developed the procedure (It's important to know that they examined all of the the risks and negative things that had happened from traditional "old school" gastric bypass and asked "What can we do to fix all of these problems?" and in doing so they developed the Micropouch), and preparation for the surgery (some pre-op weight loss which varies by individual, medical testing and clearances). After the meeting Dr. Sapala met with each of us individually. I remember that he really took a lot of time with me and got to know my history and health status. After that he made recommendations about what he thought would be my best option (I was a candidate for the Micropouch but if I wasn't he would have referred me to another option) and advised me to lose about 60 pounds in order to take care of some of my existing medical issues (Sleep Apnea for one) before performing the surgery. I forgot to mention that Dr. Sapala really emphasizes how important it is for his patients to be as healthy as they can be before surgery so that everything will go smoothly. I know that other surgeons would probably just perform a surgery for the money without thinking about the safety of the patient but Dr. Sapala cares enough to think about his patients first. He won't operate on someone unless they follow the program and cut out any behavior that will lead to risks (such as smoking). So when he asked me to lose the weight pre-op I was 100% agreeable to it. It also helped a lot that Mary (the nutritionist/program coordinator) came in after and told me exactly what I would need to eat (I did a low carb induction diet). She also followed up with me on the phone each week as did Leanne and Alicen (the other amazing staff there) to make sure that I was sticking to the program and scheduling all of my appointments. Everytime I spoke with someone from the office it helped me to stay on track not only because I felt accountable to someone but also because they always encouraged me. I lost 60 pounds easily before my surgery and actually really got into low carb eating which is amazing because I was such a carb addict before! Now I am 6 weeks post op and I am doing very well. Sometimes the transition has been tough but I feel so comforted knowing that Dr. Sapala and his team are there for me. "
