please help! $ - Newark, NJ

Hey guys. I know its been a while since I updated I have just been trying to get myself together. Last update my surgery was postponed due to my bloodwork not being right. I was told I was anemic and that my white blood cell count was elevated. A few weeks later I ended up with an infection in my tooth and then a UTI which would explain the elevated WBC count. The girls at the office helped me with answering my questions thru the whole process. So fast forward to now. I have decided to switch doctors again. Heres why. So I already paid for my procedure in full. They require you to pay $1450 directly to the hospital and the balance to the office which I did. Although my surgery was postponed I was still interested in rescheduling. I got a check from the hospital (i guess they dont like holding money). It was only $588. I immediately was confused because I only had bloodwork done. I have been researching for years and I found it hard to believe that bloodwork for self pay would be over $800. I called the hospital and spoke to a woman in the accounting dept. I asked how much the blood work came too and she said $588(still high in my opinion). I said thats odd because thats how much the check i recd was so you guys owe me some money. She said she would call me back in a few days. Next day I called the drs office expressed my concern and asked the coordinator how much the bloodwork was and if they had a contact person at the hospital. I was told the lady at the hospital must not have known what she was talking abt because the bloodwork is expensive. Mind you no numbers were discussed so I got kind of upset because here i am paying over $10k for surgery (also paid $1250extra for lipo of upper back that dr said he would do free b4 he knew i already pd for it because it wasnt on my chart) I feel like the drs office should try n help me not just try and brush it off because lets me honest to me a few hundred dollars is a lot to just loose. A few days later the hospital called me back and told me they did in fact owe me money because they sent me the wrong amount and if I didnt recieve it in 30 days to call back. At that point I just said whatever...lets see if I get my check. After that whole fiasco I felt like damn, am I making the right decision...is all this happening for a reason? I decided to get a refund and switch surgeons. I feel like my best interest should alwaya come first. Besides this the office staff was nice. I dont want to persuade anyone to not go to him because I think he is a great doctor and he has nothing to do with my decision I am just doing what I feel is best for me. I lost about $1500 between my deposit and the hospital charges but its ok. My husband is glad because he didnt like the hospital when we went for bloodwork. He called it ratchet. Qhen I waa getting my bloodwork there were 3 ladies in thw lab but it seemed only one was working. The other 2 were talking out loud abt someone sleeping with someones bf while one sprayed perfume all over herself and argued with the one person who was doing my bloodwork because she told them it wasnt her turn to takw another person. Also when we walked to the lab we walked through the outpatient recovery room which seemed weird becauae nobody had privacy. He was concerned that that's where I would be after surgery. Its an old hospital so I guess they didn't care about that when they built it. Well I am thinking about making a deposit on a different doctor tomorrow so I will keep you all posted.

Hey ladies. Ok so last week i was getting a pedicure when i got the call from Dr. Alkons office. They called to tell me that the Dr. Def wants me to reschedule my surgery. When I say I fought off the tears....smh I left the nail salon and cried so hars like a baby. Its like you build yourself up so much for a let down. I understand and respect the doctors decision. He wants me to be 100% b4 my procedure. I own a salon so It wasnt hard to schedule clients in the 2 weeks i took off but it is a hard pill to swallow. Not only was my WBC count elevated but I just found out im borderline Anemic. I cannot reschedule until I get clearence from my PCD (which I cant get into for a month). I have a tooth that I been holding off from getting pulled so I think that may be where this infection may be coming from. Im going to have it pulled out this week. As far as the anemia goes after getting my tubes tied my menstral got super heavy and bleed like crazy for the first 3-4days. It probably wasnt a gd idea to do my bloodwork on the second day of my period. I have begun taking iron pills and vitamin c per dr. Alkon. I am hoping after i see my pcp i will be cleared to reachedule. Sadly hes booked until july/august. I have 2 vacations planned for aug so I dont want to try and push my recovery. The office does have a cancellation list so I will def try and get on that to get something sooner. My husband is trying to make me feel better about the situation but i think hes equally upset. I went to the beach this weekend and dreaded putting on a bathingsuit. I need this flab gone! If you can say a prayer for me. I have waited so long for this I dont want to give up. My goal is to keep loosing weight to get best results. I am fully paid for so I only need to worry about my hotel for a few days. He wants me to stay local for 2 days minimum. Ill be sure to keep everyone updated. Thanks for the kind words????

Hello Ladies! Like many others I have been a observer of this site. I have been wanting a bbl/Tt for about 10 years now, I just decided to wait until I had kids so I could do it. I will be 30 this yr so this is my gift to myself and I am super excited. I have done ao much research I feel like I could do the surgery myself. I have been around for a while and its so interesting to have seen the Dr trend. Before DR and Miami it was TJ, Mexico. Dr. Cardenas, Campos and Pantoja were running the BBL sceen years ago then along came Dr Miami, Ortega and the other Miami drs and the DR docs. I went with the wave a few times but decided to try and find a local dr. I live outside of Philadelphia, PA so finding a dr close that could deliver results I was looking for wasnt so easy. I went on a few consultations and didnt feel any connections with the drs. I preferred to have the BBL done with a TT to get it all done at once. I came across Dr. Alkon in my search so I booked a consultation. I am a mother of 4 all delivered via csection. My youngest is one year old. I had my tibes tied after him so its my time. I gained a lot of weight with my last pregnancy and knew I needed to loose weight but decided to go for my consult with Dr. Alkon. Making an appt was pretty easy. The consult fee was $110 which would be applied to your surgery if you decided to book. Linden, NJ is a 2 hr ride for me but I felt like it was worth it because I liked his work. I went for my consultation at the end of January. The office is nice and the staff are very nice and accomodating. I went in the room and they give you a robe to put on and wait for the Dr. I was very nervous because I had no idea what to expect. He came in shook my hand, asked a few questions, explained the procedure and examined me. He was very upfront (which I appreciated). I am 5'5.5" and I went in weighing 241 (i know). He explained that at my size and BMI he could not perform surgery on me. I was a little crushed but I immediately knew he had my best interest at heart. He said I needed to get down to 210 before I could schedule surgery. That was all the motivation I needed because I left that office with my mind made up. Fast forward to now...I have lost 34lbs and I am scheduled for June 6th. I cant wait. I will post pics at some point. I hope to be an inspiration for any ladies that need to loose weight. Feel free to ask me any questions. I hope to loose 5 more lbs by surgery day. My dr wants me to start taking Iron and vitamin C just to help out with recovery. I am having a Tummy Tuck, BbL and I added upper back lipo. Had my blood work done yesterday and my white blood cell count is elevated which could mean my body is fighting off some sort of infection. The dr. Wants me to redo my bloodwork tomorrow. Hopefully I can get this resolved. I have 2 weeks left to get it together. I have no symptoms but I am going to see my dr to just be sure. Anyone have this issue before?? Ill update when I get answers.