After 5 months worki...

After 5 months working with the nutritionist and losing 9lbs, I finally got official approval from my insurance company yesterday! I've made an appt with the surgeon for my first consultation on July 11 and then hopefully I'll be able to schedule my surgery date. The only thing that I'm a bit nervous about is the surgeon I was assigned to. Although I requested Dr. Paul Lin, a surgeon with many years experience, I was assigned to Dr. Brian Cantor, a Kaiser surgeon who is fairly new Since my BMI is just over 40 and I don't have any other medical problems, I'm considered an easy patient and since they contract with Dr. Lin for more difficult cases they assigned me to Dr. Cantor. He just completed his residency in 2001 and has only been with Kaiser since 200. I'm sure he's a good surgeon, but I can't seem to find out anything about him other than he graduated from University of MD and is specially trained in laparascopic (bypass?) surgery. He has a profile on here but there's only one patient comment. Did anyone have a good experience with an inexperienced surgeon and does anyone have any suggestions on how I might find out more about his surgical skills?

Linda, Before going with Kaiser, Dr. Cantor was an associate with Dr. Barry Greene, and used to work with our support group. He is an excellent doctor, and a sweetheart of a guy. When talking with our post-op group doing Q&A, we got the impression that he was extremely well trained and very (I mean VERY) up to date on the latest in weight loss surgery issues, including very strong residency and fellowship training in laparoscopic WLS. I believe Kaiser has steered you into very competent hands, and they were lucky to get Dr. Cantor as an in-house surgeon. (That said, the sister of a secretary in my offoce had her surgery with Dr. Lin, through a different insurance program, about a year ago and also has done extremely well.) We still have Dr. Cantor post-ops attending our support group meetings, and to this day, speak only very glowing words about having worked with him. If you haven't met him yet, be prepared that he's very youthful looking (Doogie Houser-type); don't let that dissuade you. He knows what he is doing, and should be happy with him. Caution: he's a strict disciplinarian about pre-surgical weight loss, but it's for your own good. Best of luck! Leesa

Thanks very much for your response Leesa... are you a clincian or a WLS patient? I couldn't access your profile.

Linda, I'm a WLS post-op; July 25, 2003 w/Dr. Greene. I don't have a posted profile. Leesa