Thinking of Dr. Warden

Hi I've never been on this forum before but I figured who better to look for in answer to my questions than locals? I am Denise from Fort Smith, AR. Both my husband and I are planning WLS and specifically DS. WOW - deciding on DS complicates things considerably unless you happen to live close to a place to get it. But we've looked closely at all of the options and we're convinced that this is right for us. Our previous insurace before job change has a written exclusion for gbp. New ins just went into effect on June 1. We had vacation time early in June and I only just now got the cards and the books and have been able to see what's what. I FINALLY figured out the name of our new insurance company - and I looked them up in the insurance list for Arkansas and surrounding states. It is Beech Street and not one person listed as turned down, although one had to re-submit. WOW was that exciting! So then I checked into Dr. Warden. I found a place where people with different insurances have said that they have had surgery with him but Beech Street wasn't listed. Man I was about to start doing the happy dance, but I guess it will have to wait. New Orleans is a 10 hour drive - I'll have to check and see how much Southwest flights out of Tulsa run. He has good testimonials - only exception was that some people didn't think he had great follow-up, but I'll be following up with PCP anyway instead of going down there more often than necessary. If you have Beech Street insurance and have had surgery at Omega Hospital or Surgical Specialists of Louisiana clinic, I'd LOVE to hear from you. Denise

I have known 2 people who had the Duodenal Switch and one was with Dr. Warden. You have to remember that even with a great surgeon there is a high incidence of complications with DS. Both the people I know had a rough few months after the surgery but a year later swear they would do it again. Dr. Warden has an excellent reputation. Dr. Lavin from Surgical Specialists did by gastric bypass. I converted from LapBand to Roux-en-y and he was able to do it through the laparoscope. I know people complain about follow-up but these days, it is hard for surgeons to be consistent with follow-up. I think that is why Surgical Specialists has two nurse practitioners who do the follow-up. They are both very conscientous and a pleasure to deal with. They don't hesitate to contact the surgeons if they don't know the answer to your questions.

Thanks for your response. Everything I am finding out about Dr. Warden seems to be the absolute greatest, and there actually is less complaint about lack of follow up than I thought at first. I appreciate your input about him. Actually, your notion about DS complications is mistaken. Statistically, although it is a technically more difficult surgery, there are fewer complications than with RNY, particularly in the time after immediate post-op. Frankly, after researching WLS and almost exclusively finding info on RNY I was shocked and dismayed at everything I learned about RNY and determined not to even have WLS because I thought that was all that was available. Then I learned of the DS procedure and realized that it was exactly what I need. Here is a quote from one of the DS pages... http://www.duodenalswitch.com/procedure/ds_vs__rny/ds_vs__rny.html "Probably foremost is that the DS avoids altogether the complications with the RNY "anastamosis" -- that is the artificial outlet from the "stomach" pouch into the intestine. Some RNYers have had this opening "close up" on them, sometimes several times. At the very least, this means a very painful trip to the emergency room to have the opening "roto rootered" open again. Unable to eat or even drink water, you can get into trouble quickly." " Since our pyloric valve and duodenum are left functioning as before, we DS patients don't have dumping syndrome, nor a risk of staple line problems, clogging of the anastamosis, ulcers at the stoma, etc. (remember, we don't have pouches or stomas). So, we don't have the problems with "stretching" the pouch or getting something stuck in the stoma -- because what we have is our real stomach, connected the same way it was before surgery to the duodenum." "This hybrid procedure, known as the Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch (or the Distal Gastric Bypass with Duodenal Switch), solves many nutritional problems associated with other forms of WLS, and allows a magnificent eating quality when compared to other WLS procedures. " http://www.duodenalswitch.com/procedure/procedure.html I'm thrilled to find that there truly IS an answer for permanent weight loss, because the "tool" that RNY gives apparently is about like the "tool" that fen-phen gave me... temporary. I need something that will work longer and DS has the absolute best statistics for most people losing highest percentage, and maintaining weight loss for longest periods. Denise

Hi there Denise, I am new to this board, so i just read your post and wanted to comment and give you my opinion of Dr. Warden. I had Lap Gastric Bypass on 9-9-04 and it was performed by Dr. Warden. My initial opinion of him was that he was a little quiet and reserved, but i kept hearing that he is a great surgeon and that was all that mattered to me. I only met with him twice before surgery, and the second time was for my pre-op. He has a bit of a dry sense of humor, but he definitely made me feel very at ease with the upcoming surgery. The morning of surgery, he was great. I saw him again later that day, but not again until my 1 week post-op appointment and i haven't seen him again since. That was over 9 months ago. I feel very comfortable with his assistant and i don't feel like i need to see him again. He did a wonderful job and i appreciate him for that. So, i guess i'm trying to say that i was very satisfied with Dr.Warden and i would recommend him to anyone. I'm sure you already know that he is with the Surgical Specialists of Louisiana team, and from what i understand, all of the doctors on that team are very good. I wish you and your husband all the luck in the world. If you ever want to chat or have any questions, please feel free to message me or email me. Yahoo & AIM...Mysstang [email protected] Have a great day!! ~Missy~

Thank you so much for the input. I actually had an update posted on the DS forum yesterday that I'd talked to Danielle and she is making the call to the ins co. today. Can't wait to hear back from her today! Denise