Well... here's a different perspective:

My insurance doesn't cover the surgery, so I have to pay out of pocket.  The Anchorage doctors charge $45,000 for the surgery, which is absolutely ridiculous.  I can go out of state to San Diego, to Scripps Hospital (or Alvarado), and use doctors with a much better reputation and success rate (not to mention more experience), for about $25,000 out of pocket.  For me, it's a no brainer: I am going outside for the surgery and for the peace of mind.

My local primary care physician can do all the labwork requests, follow up, etc.

My wife, daughter, and many people I know and consider friends have had Dr. Todd as their surgeon, I know one person who has used Dr. Searles. One thing I can say about Dr. Todd is that he is not a "slice and dice em, see ya later" kind of DR. he is concerned for his patients, he wants his patients to learn that this is a life long  journey and not a magic pill, and that you need to use your tool to help you change your life, As far as Dr Searles being more technically advanced I dont know, I know that Dr. Todd performs bothe  the lap-band and the RNY bypass surgery, laproscopically and open, depending on the needs of the patient. I know Dr. Todd has completed around 1680 surgeries, that also helped us make the decision, knowing he is not new to the practice. 

We live in the Fairbanks area and the travel required for everything and the hassle of being away from home is a bit of a pain, you have the oppurtunity in your home town, with two very competent surgeons. I would look at both and weigh the pros and cons, and then compare all of the with what you will have to do to complete the journey in MN. Good luck and if you have any other questions dont hesitate to ask.

Hey all:

I live in Anchorage and have started working on getting RnY surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN (went down there for the initial evalulations etc.).  I have the usual comorbidities for this (diabetes, high blood pressure), but nothing way out of the ordinary.  I'm about 80-85 lbs overweight.  I've been happy enough with everyone I've met at Mayo, but it also is, a pretty major hassle.  They are very structured in their program, and they want to do most things themselves (which means several trips to Rochester).

In general, while I have very high confidence in my primary care provider, I've not been real impressed with the quality of the specialists here.  I go to OHSU in Portland for a lot of my stuff (I'm a testicular cancer survivor).  I'm wondering what you all think in terms of having the surgery done locally vs. going to the lower 48.  As best I can tell there are two WLS surgeons here, Dr. Searles and Dr. Todd.  Both have good reviews.  The impression I guet is Dr. Searles is perhaps a bit more technically advanced.  I'd be interested in any opinions or experiences.

Thanks.

Stephen Bloom

 

Michelle,
There is a support group meeting at Fairbanks Cancer Treatment Center Wednesday Feb 24th, at 7:00 PM. anyone and everyone is welcome.

If you would like to speak to many patients of Dr. Todds at one time, you are welcome to come to our support group meeting. We meet on Wednesday, Feb 24th. 7:00 at the Fairbanks Cancer Treatment Center, which is on the north side of Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

Although most of our group have used Dr. Todd we are not specific to one Dr. or hospital, we are a group of people who want support and want to help others who want support.