Local or lower 48

For me it is probably going to come down to success rate.  Sounds like you are either going to Dr. Wittgrove or Dr. Ellner.  I'm pretty sure insurance will cover it, I think their cap is $50,000..  I have noticed that in general, any medical procedure up here is somewhere between 1.5 to 2 times the cost in the lower 48.  I'm just going to have to force my primary care guy to give a real opinion.  I sense that he is real uncomfortable providing either a recommendation or a negative on another doc in the community.  The one thing he has been clear about is a preference for Dr. Searles over Dr. Todd.
 

I guess you would have to ask or determine why one over the other, again from patients I have talked to and what we have experienced, if I had to do it all over again, I would go with Dr. Todd.

Andrew:

Yep.  it's all kind of confusing.  It is a major surgery, yet at the same time, apparently has become quite safe.  We'll see.

 

 everything in Alaska costs more :)   I went to one of Dr. Ellner's sales pitches and she's very good at what she does.  But if you have a complication she has the local internists do whatever procedure is needed (like a stricture) ... no one up here (in Fairbanks) is really trained in handling complications ... so that's another consideration ... at least Anchorage is closer than San Diego ... or Mexico .. or elsewhere...  

I know Dr. Todd takes military patients when they transfer in-state but I don't know if he would work on another doctor's patient .. you'd have to call and ask (re:complications) 

RNY patients are funny creatures .. they are loyal to their doctors ... lol ... and if someone badmouths another doctor ask for concrete reasons .. not opinions or hearsay from someone who had their surgery done by someone else ... 

good luck with your quest ... in the long run you have to do what feels best to you ... 

As a Dr. Searles patient, lap-band and successful to boot, I would recommend either surgeon.  I have friends that have used both doctors and al have had great results with both RNY and Band.  The differences, from what I've observed, are that Dr. Todd has a more thorough afttercare program and a more stringent pre-op protocol.  Dr. Searles is a get to the point, get the surgery, and tell me what you want from me type.  I've only had 5 fills in 2 years and seen him only that many times, but he fills aggressively and I didn't really require anything else from him. 

Technically I know little about Dr. Todd, Searles is a skilled surgeon and even uses the Di Vinchi robot for some of his patients (pretty darn cool!!!) I'm sure they are both wonderful and they used to be partners.  I do know that Dr. Todd is adamently opposed to taking other surgeons patients even in an emergency.  If you decide to go out of state youll want to be sure that the practice you choose has some emergency protocol available in Alaska!

Kari

Thanks for the info.  If I do it up here. likely I will use Dr. Searles.  I do have an appointment next month.  I'd actually prefer a mostly handsoff approach. 

One of my frustrations with Mayo is the endless hoops you have to go through to actually get an appointment with a surgeon.  I've had enough friends do the surgery and done enough research to pretty well know the rules of eating, lifestyle changes, excercise, post op diet and vitamin supplementation.  The touchie-feelie stuff is a bit much for me, though that might just be a gender thing :)

Thanks again

Steve