Please Help

So sorry to hear about all your troubles. Unless you have really good insurance or a good chunk of change in your account, you might not be able to get the top surgeons, much less the top 3. It might be a good idea to research the type of surgery that you might want & look into what your insurance, if you have any, will cover.

It's nice to aim for the top surgeons, but keep in mind, surgeons basically just cut. You want a Dr that will be there before & after the surgery. It's the long haul you have to aim for too.

Looking at DS. I have good insurance. I also just settle an auto injury claim so I have a chunk of cash. I need to make the surgery my top priority but because of my size I want someone who's done a lot of surgeries and since I'm on my own I need nurses for aftercare. That's what I'm looking for.

inhad friends that did the surgery in as pain but with the outbreak I don't want to get on a plane.

thanks!

There are MANY considerations to moving, so I would tend to view a move a little differently than locating a surgeon. For example, the replies so far have mentioned NJ and NY (check out tax rates and cost of living) as well as the LA area (California is its own place when it comes to living there). You may love any of those places....or not.

As for a surgeon, there were a few variables that I asked about up front:

1. How many WL surgeries has the dr. performed? (I ended up going with a dr. in a specialized bariatric hospital)
2. What is his/her rate of complications?
3. How available is the dr in an emergency or after hours? (Mine gave me her cell #)
4. What does after care look like?
5. Is there a nutritionist, NP, or PA on staff to support post op patients? (You definitely want to be able to speak with a nurse and nutritionist with questions)
6. How far into the future are they scheduling surgeries? (Because some have wait lists or schedule out several months)
7. What are their pre op requirements and how do they work with insurance companies?
8. Do they run support groups for pre op and post op patients?

Ultimately, I read a lot of recommendations, spoke with some people, went to support groups pre op (and before being approved for surgery)....and the way I "clicked" with my dr. was the final variable. I trusted her. I had a fairly uneventful surgery and recovery but did have a bit of a complication with anesthesia in the hospital, and she was RIGHT THERE.

Personally I would recommend a dr. close to where you live for easy accessibility. I drove 90 minutes to mine and it was not (1) convenient, (2) a nice post op drive home.

Someone above said that there are excellent bariatric centers across the US now, and that is true. Perhaps you could research where you'd enjoy settling in to live, and we could make some recommendations from there. Look for metropolitan areas with a number of hospital systems available and you're sure to find some good options.

I'd suggest you start with an endocrinologist, because they often work with bariatric/gastroenterologists.

From there, you'll go through presentations, then various steps leading to actual surgery.

It can seem like a VERY long time, but every journey starts with one step.

Good luck!

my surgeon is top notch does 5 weight loss surgeries including the DS and is the chief of weight loss surgery at ku medical center. just a thought, pretty easy to get into and does great work.

Kentucky? Kansas? Klingon? What's KU?

ku medical center is in kansas, very big, the biggest hospital in kansas, takes insurance, food is great there are 5 surgeons that do weight loss surgery there, top notch. ku medical center is one of the 50 best hospitals in the nation! they take the difficult cases that no other hospital will take on. all 5 weight loss surgeons there do excellent work! its usually a one day procedure.