Dr. Baker? Dr. Ikramuddin? Dr. Buchwald?
Dr. I performed my surgery 4 years ago. He's an excellent surgeon, I love love love him. When I'd come in for my follow-ups, he would tell me how beautiful I was, how great my legs were (that I should wear shorts and skirts), and I'd leave the appointment feeling like I was a super model. That being said, I do NOT like his PA Donna. I saw her twice and neither time was I examined, she was always late, she spent maybe 45 seconds or a minute with me and moved on. One time I had a pretty bad rash and needed something for it, she never even looked at it, even though I asked her to. I refused to see her after that and always saw Dr. I.
HW 265 / SW 226.5 / CW 130.5 / GW 135
Are you getting a VSG, not a DS? It's my understanding that Dr. Buchwald does not perform standalone VSGs.
I have heard a lot of great things about Dr. I. I also believe that Dr. I practices out of/performs surgery at Abbott. Dr. I DOES perform standalone VSGs.
As for Dr. B, I adore and admire the man quite a bit. And he's got what seems like about a million years of experience. Add a million supleratives, and that's my opinion of Dr. B. If you are thinking about getting a DS, I would recommend him or Dr. I. Period.
BUT (and this is a big but), dealing with U of M has not always been plesant. The clinic's office staff leave a lot to be his desired, I'm not enamored of their clinic's head CNP (who sees almost all the bariatric patients alongside the Dr's). The hospital stay was perfectly fine and I felt very well taken care of.
I have heard a lot of great things about Dr. I. I also believe that Dr. I practices out of/performs surgery at Abbott. Dr. I DOES perform standalone VSGs.
As for Dr. B, I adore and admire the man quite a bit. And he's got what seems like about a million years of experience. Add a million supleratives, and that's my opinion of Dr. B. If you are thinking about getting a DS, I would recommend him or Dr. I. Period.
BUT (and this is a big but), dealing with U of M has not always been plesant. The clinic's office staff leave a lot to be his desired, I'm not enamored of their clinic's head CNP (who sees almost all the bariatric patients alongside the Dr's). The hospital stay was perfectly fine and I felt very well taken care of.
-EJ 
"If television's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up." -cat and girl
5'6" HW 325 / SW 317 / CW 214 / First Goal 190 | Century Club 09/19/2011
"If television's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up." -cat and girl
5'6" HW 325 / SW 317 / CW 214 / First Goal 190 | Century Club 09/19/2011
A couple of other things that may help you make your decision, if such things matter to you:
Dr. Buchwald only performs his surgeries open, he does not do lap at all. My open surgery scar is about 10 inches long, from a few inches under my chest to just above my belly button. Dr. Ikramuddin performs lap surgery on all but his heaviest patients. Dr. B does not require any weight loss to perform surgery, but I have been told that Dr. I often requires (most of?) his patients to lose a certain amount of weight before doing surgery.
Dr. Buchwald only performs his surgeries open, he does not do lap at all. My open surgery scar is about 10 inches long, from a few inches under my chest to just above my belly button. Dr. Ikramuddin performs lap surgery on all but his heaviest patients. Dr. B does not require any weight loss to perform surgery, but I have been told that Dr. I often requires (most of?) his patients to lose a certain amount of weight before doing surgery.
-EJ
"If television's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up." -cat and girl
5'6" HW 325 / SW 317 / CW 214 / First Goal 190 | Century Club 09/19/2011
"If television's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up." -cat and girl
5'6" HW 325 / SW 317 / CW 214 / First Goal 190 | Century Club 09/19/2011
Dr. Ik is my hero. He's smart, easy to talk to, easy to understand, won't talk down to you, and always ends appoinments wanting to know if I have any questions. Surgery was at Abbott and I had a great experience there. You won't go wrong with Dr. Ik.
5'5" Age 63 HW 212 SW 200 Currently 8 pounds below goal
Jacque 
Hi Jennifer!
I ended up getting my DS in Mexico two months ago (using Dr. Aceves and Dr. Ungson) but I did a lot of research on local surgeons before I made that decision. The only surgeon I would have chosen for the DS in Minnesota is Dr. Buchwald due to his experience with DS and the number of DS surgeries he had successfully completed. Since the DS is less common you might not want someone who has only done a few dozen of them (or less).
Buchwald is known as a published expert on the DS. Plus he's listed on the DS Facts web site (the folks over there run the surgeons through the veritable ringer before they'll even consider adding them to this list):
http://www.dsfacts.com/North-American-Duodenal-Switch-Surgeo ns.html
If you decide to do a VSG instead, I am sure that any of the surgeons you mentioned would be fine.
Another poster indicated that Buchwald only does the DS as an open surgery. If that's true, that might have been a deal breaker for me. I had my DS done lap and my recovery thus far (barely 8 weeks out) has been nothing short of miraculous. My incisions are so tiny and already healed that it doesn't even feel like I had surgery. Because of that I've been really phyiscally active since my surgery which has helped the weight come off even faster... almost 50 lbs. so far. So, if it all possible I would urge you to consider getting your surgery done laparoscopically.
Good luck whatever you decide. :-)
I ended up getting my DS in Mexico two months ago (using Dr. Aceves and Dr. Ungson) but I did a lot of research on local surgeons before I made that decision. The only surgeon I would have chosen for the DS in Minnesota is Dr. Buchwald due to his experience with DS and the number of DS surgeries he had successfully completed. Since the DS is less common you might not want someone who has only done a few dozen of them (or less).
Buchwald is known as a published expert on the DS. Plus he's listed on the DS Facts web site (the folks over there run the surgeons through the veritable ringer before they'll even consider adding them to this list):
http://www.dsfacts.com/North-American-Duodenal-Switch-Surgeo ns.html
If you decide to do a VSG instead, I am sure that any of the surgeons you mentioned would be fine.
Another poster indicated that Buchwald only does the DS as an open surgery. If that's true, that might have been a deal breaker for me. I had my DS done lap and my recovery thus far (barely 8 weeks out) has been nothing short of miraculous. My incisions are so tiny and already healed that it doesn't even feel like I had surgery. Because of that I've been really phyiscally active since my surgery which has helped the weight come off even faster... almost 50 lbs. so far. So, if it all possible I would urge you to consider getting your surgery done laparoscopically.
Good luck whatever you decide. :-)
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