Guest guest Posted October 9, 2000 Report Share Posted October 9, 2000 Hi Laurie, Welcome!!! The Doctor in Marietta is Dr - He's getting quite a following on this list, but he actually hasn't done any DS's in GA. Brown is his first - on Wednesday. He has several out of town patients. Go to his website - www.minisurgery.com and fill out his questionaire. You'll need to find somwone local (hopefully your cruuent PCP) who will go through the pre-op tests with you and will follow you post op. Dr. is a very nice person, very easy to work with, and he doesn't have a waiting list 9 months long!! However he also hasn't the operation hundreds of times. Keep reading the postings about 's surgery, he has several others scheduled in November. Several more of us are waiting for insurance approval - I'm one of those. I hope this helps.... W ville GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 9, 2000 Report Share Posted October 9, 2000 To All Group Members: My name is Laurie, and I'm new to this list. Stats: 42 yrs. old 5'5 " 425 lbs. BMI 70 Great family support Medicare A & B (and I'm shopping for a supplement) TOTALLY determined to have surgery as soon as possible. I'm in Memphis, and there are only 2 docs in town who do bariatric surgery. One does only open RNYs; the other prefers an open extended gastric bypass with silasic ring. The latter said he knows the doc who developed the DS and though he personally has never done one before, he is willing to be flexible. I'm sure the DS is what I want. But should I trust this guy? Here's his creds from his web site: " Dr. S. M. Cowan, Jr., Medical Director of UT Medical Group's Obesity Wellness Center, has earned certification as a Diplomate from the American Board of Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition. He is a Professor of Surgery at The University of Tennessee, Memphis. He is skilled in treating the wide range of medical and surgical problems that can affect the obese patient. He has served as President of the American Society for Bariatric [Obesity] Surgery and is currently Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Obesity Surgery and Secretary-Treasurer of the International Federation for Obesity Surgery. " An alternative: I've heard there's someone who specializes in DS in Marietta, GA, and my brother who lives there, so I'd have a base to work from. On the other hand, that's a 7-hour drive, so how would I handle follow-up visits/exams? Same thing with New Orleans: family there, 6+ hour drive, how could I get followup care? On the positive side, I've met Dr. Cowan and he seems accessible, knowledgeable and flexible, provides double the number of follow-up visits that the other surgeon in town does, and has a strong support group that meets monthly. I have a first visit scheduled for Dec. 7, and he told me he accepts Medicare assignment, which is a huge factor. On the negative side, he's never done a DS and insists that it be open so that he can see and fix other potential problems. Examples: he always takes out the gall bladder (I don't have one anymore); he fixes hiatal hernias if present; he takes a sliver of the liver for biopsy since he said that 95% of the morbidly obese have some type of liver dysfunction; and he even removed cysts from one woman's ovaries when he noticed 'em during surgery. So maybe that's actually positive. I don't know what to do. Please help me. If you think I should discuss this with some of the docs who specialize in DS, I'd appreciate having their email addresses. One way or another, I AM going to have gastric bypass surgery and as quickly as I can, so I'm trying to balance time against doing everything right. Having obsessive-compulsive disorder doesn't help -- it just means I'm frantic about this 24 hours a day and reading everything I can find. Help!!!!!!!!!!! Laurie laurie1@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 9, 2000 Report Share Posted October 9, 2000 Hi Again Laurie, Actually, won't be Dr. 's first DS - he did somw in Mississippi before moving his practice to GA. THe group that he belongs to is a laproscopic group - they do amazing things laproscopically, and I think thats why he joined them. He does both RNY and DS. I will keep you posted - but I'd keep your appointment too if I were you. It wouldn't hurt to fill out Dr. 's questionaire and start corresponding with him via E-mail. You never know how things will turn out. W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 9, 2000 Report Share Posted October 9, 2000 Dear , So if will be Dr. 's first DS, perhaps I should trust Dr. Cowan here and be his first DS? Please keep me posted both on you and . I'm very interested to hear how this goes. Meantime, unless I get negative reactions from the other docs I've written, I'm going to keep my Dec. 7 appt. with Cowan. That way I'll have a surgery date no later than March. Thank you so much for answering me, and so quickly! I pray you get approval soon. Laurie laurie1@... > Hi Laurie, Welcome!!! The Doctor in Marietta is Dr - He's getting > quite a following on this list, but he actually hasn't done any DS's in GA. > Brown is his first - on Wednesday. He has several out of town > patients. Go to his website - www.minisurgery.com and fill out his > questionaire. You'll need to find somwone local (hopefully your cruuent > PCP) who will go through the pre-op tests with you and will follow you post > op. > Dr. is a very nice person, very easy to work with, and he doesn't > have a waiting list 9 months long!! However he also hasn't the operation > hundreds of times. Keep reading the postings about 's surgery, he has > several others scheduled in November. > Several more of us are waiting for insurance approval - I'm one of those. > > I hope this helps.... > W > ville GA > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 9, 2000 Report Share Posted October 9, 2000 >However he also hasn't the operation hundreds of times. Keep >reading the postings about 's surgery, he has > several others scheduled in November. > Dr. told me when I was in correspondence with him that although his practice is new in GA - he has done DS(s) in the past in MS (mostly open procedures). He has also done several RNYs. Perhaps your physician in Memphis (the bariatric surgeon with whom you spoke) would do one of two things: 1. consider going to 'observe' (and practice) etc. with the more experienced DS docs 2. do your follow-up, but let another doc do the DS Go to the duodenal information site (www.duodenalswitch.com) and look under physicians to get names of DS docs and their email address/ phone numbers etc. Good luck, Dee in Nashville Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 9, 2000 Report Share Posted October 9, 2000 Hi: That site just says 'stay tuned.' Is it right? Thank you Judith in Seattle Re: Plea for help > Hi Laurie, Welcome!!! The Doctor in Marietta is Dr - He's getting > quite a following on this list, but he actually hasn't done any DS's in GA. > Brown is his first - on Wednesday. He has several out of town > patients. Go to his website - www.minisurgery.com and fill out his > questionaire. You'll need to find somwone local (hopefully your cruuent > PCP) who will go through the pre-op tests with you and will follow you post > op. > Dr. is a very nice person, very easy to work with, and he doesn't > have a waiting list 9 months long!! However he also hasn't the operation > hundreds of times. Keep reading the postings about 's surgery, he has > several others scheduled in November. > Several more of us are waiting for insurance approval - I'm one of those. > > I hope this helps.... > W > ville GA > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 9, 2000 Report Share Posted October 9, 2000 Laurie, Welcome to the group. You will find all the support you need to get you through this journey. >The latter said he knows the doc who developed the DS > and though he personally has never done one before, he is willing to be > flexible. I'm sure the DS is what I want. But should I trust this guy? How do you feel about being his first DS? My personal choice is to have a doctor with lots of experience and a proven track record, but there have been people in the group who have had very successful results with considerably less DS experienced doctors. > On the negative side, he's never done a DS and insists that it be open so > that he can see and fix other potential problems. Examples: he always takes > out the gall bladder (I don't have one anymore); he fixes hiatal hernias if > present; he takes a sliver of the liver for biopsy since he said that 95% of > the morbidly obese have some type of liver dysfunction; and he even removed > cysts from one woman's ovaries when he noticed 'em during surgery. So maybe > that's actually positive. These are all things that prove he is a very conscientious doctor. >Having obsessive-compulsive disorder doesn't help -- it > just means I'm frantic about this 24 hours a day and reading everything I > can find. This has nothing to do with OCD. We have all done this, especially in the beginning phase of our journey. Love, Marisa age 40 - 5'3 " - 255# Dr. Anthone In Pre-op Testing Consult 8/14 Maxicare HMO For direct replies: marisarua@... mailto:marisarua@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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