Guest guest Posted April 4, 2001 Report Share Posted April 4, 2001 Pros: excellent, experienced surgeon great post-op comments/referrals Cons: Mt. Sinia--heard all bad things Far from home, no one to travel with me, added travel expenses, far to travel for follow up care The next biggest road block is insurance. Neither doctor is covered by my current insurance. I can switch during the next open enrollment season which is SEPTEMBER 2001 : ( Since I work a government job, I have many choices of insurance. I'm hoping some of you can tell me the better ones for approving WLS with either of these 2 doctors. My choices for September 2001 open enrollment are Aetna U.S Healthcare Capital Care Free State Health Plan Washington Univ. Health Plan Kaiser Permanente MD IPA (which I have now and neither surgeon is covered) BCBS Postmasters Alliance OR I could stick with Dr. Vanguri in Baltimore, MD who does the DS open and is covered under my current insurance MD IPA (100 % I believe) What to do???????????????????????????????? jvaszil@... first ever consult with Dr. Vanguri on 5/10/01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2001 Report Share Posted April 5, 2001 Regarding lap vs. open, I can only speak for myself. You've got to look at the whole picture and consider your priorities. I wanted the lap very much because I had such an easy time of it when I had my gall bladder out that way. My husband had his out open and suffered horribly. However, I did not want to travel for the DS. I felt that if I needed any kind of urgent care afterwards I wanted it available locally. So I was thrilled when I thought that I had found a surgeon here in Philly. We discussed the DS and he offered to try it - but only open (I later come to find out what he meant by trying it: he had only performed the DS on cancer patients). That was the deciding factor to go to New York. Not wanting someone that inexperienced and still wanting it done lap, I sought out the Mt. Sinai team. At my consultation with Dr. Pomp, I come to find out that it would be inadvisable for me to have the surgery done laparoscoptically with my high BMI (63) unless I had it done in two steps: another crossroad! But by now the choice was clearer - I want/need this done and it was time to move forward. I chose the open surgery. Not what I had anticipated at the outset, but it will get the job done and done well. Just my 2 cents worth... CohenPhila., PABMI 63, age 39Aetna USHC, HMO - doc thinks they will pay!Open DS w/ Dr. Pomp, 9am on Wed., June 20, 2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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