Three Issues

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

While trying to decide which surgeon to use I've got it narrowed down to

Gagner at Mt. Sinai or Dr. Ren at NYU.

Gagner is a great surgeon, as I'm sure Dr. Ren would attest to, but the after

care story I'm hearing about is less than appealing. Add to that the ridiculous

attitude you have to put up with from some office staff and Dr. Ren's program

looks appealing.

Here are three issues that trouble me.

ONE: I am male with a bmi of about 52 or 53. I know it is harder to do the

surgery on men and most of the people who are so happy with Dr. Ren's care

are women with bmi's much lower than that. I am very happy for all of them

and glad they're doing well but I am in a different category.

Two: It has been suggested to me that at Mt. Sinai if Dr.Gagner is not

available for an emergency there are many qualified well trained

specialist to step in. Dr. Ren has a limited staff. What happens in an

emergency and Dr. Ren gets the flu like bug that's gotten me TWICE in the

last five months?

THREE: The time factor. Everybody is happy that Dr. Ren takes her time

with each patient and I agree that is usually a plus. But in

laparoscopic surgery speed is good thing. You don't want to be under

anasthesia any longer than needed. I was once told that I couldn't have knee

surgery because I was " Too Big " and wouldn't survive the anasthesia. OK,

maybe that was an uninformed opinion but that Surgeons voice still rings in

my head when I read about one happy camper who was under for EIGHT HOURS!

God bless her but that scares me half to death and I don't want to go

the other half just yet. : - )

Finally, is the office staff that good and is the hospital care really that

good at NYU? Did anyone need to get PRIVATE DUTY NURSES? That seems to be

essential at Mt. Sinai.

Any informative comments would be greatly appreciated. I am coming down to

the wire as far as a decision is concerned.

Thanks all,

Will