Finally decided...

I have been working on getting approval (already submitted) with Dr. Blackstone's office. I originally chose Dr. Sprunger, but I was told he left to go to Tempe St. Lukes. I didn't think much about it until there was a post last week that seem to get everyone on here riled up about RNY vs. DS surgery. Although I didn't agree with the method of putting others' choices down (is there really a superior surgery - we are/were all morbidly obese here, right?), I did appreciate the eye-opening post. I did my homework and think the DS surgery might be a better option for me.
 
I attended the seminar today with Dr. Schlesinger and was truly impressed with his straight-forward answers to my questions. Also, I have to say that in all the months I have been working with Dr. Blackstone's office, I have NEVER ONCE been able to get anyone on the phone for any reason. I have had to leave messages, sometimes several times, in order to get a call back. I have spoken to Jen in Dr. Schlesinger's office twice now and I can not tell you how wonderful she is! She answered all my questions and helped me get into today's seminar very quickly! (Thank you Jen!)  I scheduled an individual appt with Dr. Schlesinger on Monday and am going to see if the DS is the right surgery for me - but regardless of RNY or DS - I think I have decided to change surgeons and I am very excited about my journey! :)  Thanks for listening!  -Lisa

Hi Lisa,
It sounds like you are a proactive kind of gal!  ....  Since you are considering the DS, you might want to study www.dsfacts.com and duodenalswitch.com  ....and pop over to the Duodenal Switch forum to get even more information about the DS success and post-op lifestyle. 

I totally hate the word "superior" so it charges me up when people use that to describe a surgery....but, there are stats that do prove the DS to be the better option over all.  I wish I would have had it years ago so that I wouldn't be in the current mess that I'm in.

I too went to Dr. Schlesinger and am now trying to get insurance approval to be revised by a surgeon out of L.A.   The DS is a lot riskier surgery and there are very few surgeons who make the list found on dsfacts.com 

Research that I never considered doing before but now realize is important; is a surgeon's lawsuit record, any grievances filed with the state medical board and whether patient's are happy with their post-op care.  Most surgeon's are great when they're trying to secure a patient but the manner they treat patient's when the patient has an issue is telling.

Good luck with your journey!  Weight loss surgery can open doors to better health and a great qualitiy of life!

Joyce-

Is there a way to get in touch with you directly without having to post my cell # ? I would love to speak to you further about this.  Thanks, Lisa

Hey Lisa,
You can send a private message to anyone on Obesity Help by clicking under their profile pic to the left of this post.  Noone sees that message but the recipient.  If you have a private message then it will show up as a RED number in the top right of the O.H. screne.  You then just click on that number to go read you private messages.

But, anyone can always get in touch with me at [email protected] or [email protected]

I just came in from an amazing hike with my dog.  Gotta LOVE Arizona in March!!!!

Happy Thursday

Oops!  I had to make my profile private so I guess folks can only pm me if they are on my friends list.  You can friend me if you want to or just email me:  [email protected]

I've got my energy flowing from the hike so off I go to pull weeds from my veggie garden  (I'll be ready for a nice siesta this afternoon!  LOL!)

Joyce,

You did not have a DS done with Dr Schlesinger.  You got the surgery you wanted and were always happy to be skinny.  You seem to have major issues and problems when you do not get what you want from your marketing efforts.  GO back and read your posts!!!

I have had a DS with Dr Schlesinger and can speak to his surgical skill.  If it had not been for Dr S informing me of this type of surgery I would probably be closer to my old BMI than nearly to goal.  

Your constant pushing of your doc (the old one GITT, has more lawsuits than any other surgeon in the state), makes you not the best person to get true feedback from.  You are not a very honest person.  I printed off every post you have ever made on this site, yes every one.  You constantly back peddle and lie for your own self promotion.  I am glad that some have really seen through your lies and hate!   Stacysmom hated you but now you are the best of buds.  WOW this does not really surprise most people! 

I used to think Tiger Woods had integrity.

I used to think suntanning without sunscreen was a good idea.

I used to think MY kids wouldn't have snotty noses.

I used to think an ERny with Dr. Schlesinger would help me get healthier.



I'm sincerely glad you are healthy and happy.  Other opinions may vary.  Other experiences may vary.

 

Touche!

Also, check out this profile of a patient who used the same surgeon you are considering:  www.obesityhelp.com/member/tjwood/

I'm sure he'd  be willing to respond to any questions you might have if you sent him  a message through the Obesity Help system.

His experience is NOT an isolated incident.  

I have read similar complaints about this surgeon - and there is a debate over his stated exaggerated experience in performing the DS surgery, which he was putting down and turning prospective patients away from during all of 2008, in favor of his ERNY (extended RNY - that a lot of his patients are having to be revised FROM because of severe vitamin/mineral/protein deficiencies).  Now, all of a sudden (as of October 2009), he started promoting himself as a DS expert.  Note that he is NOT on the list of DS surgeons approved by the two main DS websites, (dsfacts.com and duodenalswitch.com).  There is a reason for this!  Go on the DS forum on OH and ask questions to the people on there - they are experts on which surgeons are the best to use for this complicated surgery.

Here is a recent (the past few months) post from this very forum which was mysteriously taken down (but not before I saved it on my computer!):

Post Date: 12/12/09 8:07 am 

MWG, I am "Poster X". My name is Nancy, and while I sincerely appreciate your protecting my privacy, I have nothing to hide.

 I have some things I agree wholeheartedly with you on and othere I do not. 

To begin... When I went to my very first Dr. S. support meeting, I met Joyce and she was very kind to me. "I asked her" to introduce me to Dr. S. after the meeting, which she did. "I mentioned to her" that my intentions were to have a tummy tuck after the weight loss, something I had always wanted since the birth of my two children. We discussed it no further.

He came across a "extremely caring and supportive", that was the lie, all a show to get patients. From my very first official appt with him, which was to be approx. an hour. to discuss all the aspects and complications of having an ERNY, considering I had had TWO previous RNY's in the past 20+ years and  all the scar tissue in my abdomen from many previous other surgeries.

This VITAL appt lasted 15 minutes because he had to go!

The next time i saw him was the morning of surgery, as he was running an hour late due to surgical complications of the patient before me. He was hurried , rushed ( time is money) and rude.

In fact the only time he was not rude and short with me was that first support meeting before i even had applied for insurance coverage. Boy was I snowed.

My pre-op bloodwork never found it's way to Tempe St. Lukes from Dr. S's office,  in advance of my surgery, so a rookie lab tech came in to pre-op to draw blood at the last minute. The pre op nurse could not find a vein for the IV after several painful trys, and finally said to me " let's put this in "Druggie style"  and comented to the anesthesiologist , just standing there, " I'm not catching it from him for this one". Guess who HIM is?

Later that night, after surgery, the IV burst the vein in my arm and my upper arm swelled to twice it's size, no one on staff noticed! or ever checked it? About 2am, they finally found 4 different people from other hospital depts to try to put in another IV, i never recieve the second drip bag of antibiotics because of the blown IV. it was trown on the floor as waste. My 31 year old daughter was with me and witnessed everything. Tempe St. Luke's is an old and dirty hospital.

This was during September of this year and signs were posted all over "No children under 12 on patient floors" due to the H1N1 virus, yet the next morning i was almost run down in the patient  floor hallway by little kids going in to see a family member, small children.

Dr. S. discharged me the next morning after surgery, time to make room for another paying customer, within 1 week I had infection in my wound drain and three places along the incision, I called him and he blew me off , in fact was furious I had bothered him on the Jewish High holidays, Just a note , I am Jewish as well.

I was taken to Banner Baywood ER that night, put on antibiotics and pain meds. I went in to see him within a couple days and he looked at my infection sites and said "Quote: If you think that is infected, you need a Psychiatrist"  and sent me away again.

Within a couple days I was in Cigna Urgent care, with agonizing pain from these infections and was then admited to Banner Wound Clinic for treatment. it took a month and a half, but Banner finally got the wounds to close. I thought the nightmare was over. I was wrong. 

A month goes by and suddenly there are two bulging abcesses from under the drain area and the incision line. I was terrified. Banner ordered more antibiotics and a CT which showed pockets of fluid beneath the skin trapped there, The Specialist said I needed surgery to open them up, clean out and reclose. They put me on home health nursing care every two days to repack the open wounds. I made an appt with Dr. S., he could not see me for two weeks , he needed more time off I guess, when I did see him, he said I did not need surgery, was overreacting and that if I had taken better care of my nutrition I would have healed by now. In other words, this was my fault.

Now more than three months into this nightmare, I am still terribly sick, need to find a new surgeon to correct Dr. S.'s sloppy work AND SLOPPIER ATTITUDE.

I would not have him touch me again ever, He is the most self centered egotistical man I have ever met. He is the "bait and switch guy", all sweet up front but G-d help you if anything goes wrong because he WILL NOT take responsiblity for it and won't take your calls.

Now as far as my own responsiblitity, I knew my best result would be a RNY to DS out of state by an EXPERIENCED DS REVISION SURGEON, but it would not have been covered by my insurance and I am not rich by any means. So I took a caculated risk and lost, that's on me. Not Joyce, not Jenn.

Jen has always been extremely kind and helpful to me, I don't understand why she works for such a monster. She is very capable and could do so much better.

Joyce has alway been there for me to answer legitimate questions along the way with no push for any plastics, she knows i would never even consider risking my life again with any elective surgery and she understands that and is still my friend.

The comment you referenced to was a "joke" between friends. nothing more , no push for her Boss, just a joke to try to cheer me up.

In closing, I am seriously considering filing a complaint with the AZ Medical Board for failure to treat the infections, TWICE. Infection can occur with any surgery, however to deny it exists and treat it promply  is negligent. Fortunately I advocated for myself through my PCP to get desperately need care, if i has just listened to Dr. S. I might not be here today. He would do ANYTHING to avoid having records of complications because that would prohibit him from getting a "Center of Excellence" rating to treat medicare patients ( more money) .

Well that is my story, told as honestly as I can. Take or leave any thing from it you wish. I can tell you that if I had known there were medical complaints against him from other states before I chose my surgeon, it would have been a different story.

Compassion goes along way, Dr. S. has NONE.

 

 "Your constant pushing of your doc (the old one GITT, has more lawsuits than any other surgeon in the state), makes you not the best person to get true feedback from.  You are not a very honest person.  I printed off every post you have ever made on this site, yes every one.  You constantly back peddle and lie for your own self promotion.  I am glad that some have really seen through your lies and hate!   Stacysmom hated you but now you are the best of buds.  WOW this does not really surprise most people! "


Uh, excuse me, but I don't even know Joyce.   The only reason we are in agreement now is because I exposed her as working for Dr. Schlesinger, the doc she was pushing along with Dr.  Gitt.    The DIFFERENCE was that she told everyone she worked for Dr. Gitt, where she pretended that she did not work for Dr. Schlesinger and "only knew him because they worked in the same building".    At the time, Dr. Schlesinger was EMPLOYED by Dr. Gitt, so she worked for both of them.  

You say, you have every post ever written by Joyce -- well, I have every post from the expose of the incident, including all of Joyce's posts and everyone else's!   As well as the ones which were mysteriously pulled down by ?????  

I also suspect that you are not a happy patient of Dr. Schlesinger's, but a "ringer" who has usurped a patient's profile to further promote this doctor now that Joyce is working for someone else.   This doctor is well known to use shills on this board to procure patients.   And, IF he is such a busy DS expert, how come Jen was able to get this prospective patient a personal appointment so quickly, when the REALLY busy surgeons' offices have a several week wait period?  

No wait ... I don't need to hear your answer ... it is B.S. just like everything else ever written on this board about this doctor, who I is "expert" at one type of weight loss surgery -- the OPEN RNY (which no one wants anymore)!