New here -- Any of Dr. Coster's patients around?

Hello! I've been lurker for awhile but this is the first I've been active on the board. I just had my initial consult with Dr. Coster in Grinnell. I had heard very good things about him and I must say that he is the most personable surgeon that I have ever met. I had a gastroplasty in 1982, so I was doubtful as to whether or not he would think that a bypass would do anything for me. He said that the felt that I would be an excellent candidate. So, they are submitting for the insurance. I would enjoy hearing from anyone who is a patient of Dr. Coster or who has info about him or the facility that he uses in Grinnell. Thanks so much! Martha

Hi, And welcome. I don't know anything about your Dr. Coster or Grinnell but I do know about revision surgery. I also had a VBG done in 10/82 at Mercy hospital in Iowa City-don't remember the Dr.s name that performed the surgery. Long story short found out this last winter that the staple line was disrupted. Found a surgeon in Cedar Rapids that could do the revision(from VBG to RNY). Had it done 03/15/04-alson found a rather large hernia from the first surgery that no one knew about prior to surgery. To date I have lost 66 pounds. I do have a secret weapon though-my husband Lester had the RNY in 10/03 and has lost to date 161 pounds. He keeps me on the straight and narrow. Good luck with your Dr. and surgery. Carol

Hi Martha: I also don't know anything about Dr. Coster or Grinnell, but I wanted to welcome you to the board. The folks at this forum are very inclusive and supportive. Welcome, Eileen

Hi Martha, I am new also I have my first appointment with coster in August. I went to a support group and alot of people there recommended coster to me. They say he is good at what he does andthat he has a great bedside manner. I f you go to where it says bariatric surgeons on the home page and then click on his name you will see comments from people on there that had surgery by him and maybe you can e-mail one of them. good luck.

Thanks so much for the welcome and the info. Lavonda -- I updated my profile with a fairly lengthy play-by-play of my initial consultation visit with Dr. Coster, if you care to see what my thoughts were. I guess that I'm probably pretty skeptical that this could work for me, with my history, but its sounds like many others on this list have had similar feelings and been proven wrong. Dr. Coster seemed very sincere in his feeling that I would have an excellent chance of success. One of the tenants that I live by is that one tends to regret the things one passes up in life much more than the things that one goes for, so I'm up for this as long as my insurance approves or I can find another way to finance it. I hope to be chatting with you more. I'll also nose around the site and see if I can find a support group in the West Des Moines/Des Moines area -- it would be nice to meet some people face-to-face that are going through a similar experience. Thanks, again! Martha

Hi Martha it's me again. I read your profile nice to get info about your consultation. I hope he will do mine since I am on oxygen I dont know what he will say. I had a sudden onset of shortness of breathe in January and have been on oxygen since then had to stop working which is very depressing. I guess I will find out in August keep in touch we can try to help eachother through our experiences since we will be seeing the same doc. from Lavonda

Hi Martha, Don't know anything about the doctor, but just wanted to welcome you. Good luck with insurance! Post often so we can get to know you better. God bless, Andrea

I had open RNY with Dr. Coster's partner, Dr. Schwartz, in Grinnell on April 12. I was extremely impressed with that surgeon group and the hospital in Grinnell. I had excellent care all the way around. Good luck to you! They will take great care of you.

Yes -- let's keep in touch, Lavonda. I think I'm going to try to go to the SOS meeting at Park Fair Mall this weekend -- if I can find out where Park Fair Mall is. Thanks, again, for the welcomes, and for the info on previous experience with Surgical Associates and the Grinnell facility. I'm trying hard to not obsess about the insurance. I feel sort of like I felt when I was going through the adoption of my youngest daughter from China -- it's intolerable having to wait to find out about something that is so life-altering. Regards, Martha

Hello- I'm one of Dr. C's original sucess stories. I had surgery with him about 3 1/2 years ago. I've lost 175lbs and have maintained my weight for about 2 years now. He's a wonderful doctor and an even more amazing person. All of his staff and the staff at the hospital are top notch and from what I have heard things just keep getting better and better now that wls has become more popular. Good luck Melissa W