Anyone had Dr. Greenbaum for revision?

I would appreciate knowing your personal experience...thanks!

Dr Greenbaum revised my VBG (old stomach stapling) to a DS on May 4th of this year. I researched extensively before choosing him, and was not the least bit disappointed in my decision. His staff is professional and responsive, Dr Greenbaum was flexible with how he performed my surgery based on my personal goals and concerns.

I was in the hospital for 10 days after surgery - longer than many due to a minor cardiac concern that surfaced. With only one single exception, the nurses at Lourdes were wonderful. And with a 10-day stay, I encountered a LOT of nurses.

You don't mention what type of surgery you currently have, or what WLS you're revising to. Are there specific questions you were hoping would be answered? Feel free to PM me, if you'd like.

Kathy

Thank you for emailing me back!  I honestly don't know what to do.  At first I read all these wonderful things about Dr. John Husted, whose hospital is two hours from me.  Then after I go and do all the evaluations and paperwork, and as I continue to search the boards, I get a couple of short emails from people that one said....look back nine months on this doctor.  Another person said to me....she was a lawyer and worked with civil suits and to run away from Dr. husted very fast but she was not allowed to give me details.  Dr. Greenbaum was my second choice.  But of course, I have to travel longer.  I am curious to know just between you and me if you knew anything about Dr. Husted.  I thought he was the best and even worked with the two brothers than invented the DS out in California.  But, like i said, I am hearing a little bit here and there from people that won't tell me the whole story.  Just enough to make me wonder.  I am 57 and looking for a revision from RNY and I have Medicare and either Dr. Husted or Greenbaum fit the bill on that.  I just dont know what to do.

Hmmm... Both Husted and Greenbaum have great reputations as far as I've heard. If there have been civil suits against Husted, you should be able to find that out through a public records search. Can't help you with that... I am unaware of any details.

I wouldn't concern myself with how far you have to travel for each surgeon, honestly. I mean my thought is "travel is travel," and finding a surgeon you're comfortable with and have confidence in is far more important than additional travel time. People routinely travel to have The Best plastic surgeon or the best open-heart surgeon or the best transplant surgeon operate on them. You make your choice and you make it happen, you know? Yes, it adds to the expense, but this is your health and your life .... so now is the time to really focus on your confidence and your comfort with skill level, etc....  not necessarily convenience.

You'll get varying opinions on this, but in my mind the four really "Big Names" in revision surgery are:

Rabkin - I'm sure these are the two brothers you're referring to in California. One of the brothers retired and the other is still practicing in San Francisco. He'll want ... I believe ... 2/3 of his surgeon's fee up front, and will then reimburse you any overage once your insurance has come through. The Rabkins didn't "invent" the DS, though. The first link on the page I've linked below is "history," but I encourage you to spend some time on this site.... wonderful information to be found, here.

http://www.dsfacts.com/duodenal-switch-explained.html

Husted - You know who he is. He's got a solid reputation as a revision surgeon, but I've not heard anything about civil suits, etc. I know he used to be in the San Francisco area, but I'm not aware that he did a fellowship with the Rabkins (not to say he didn't, I'm just not aware of it if he did). He's known to be a bit of a pioneer. Not afraid to try new procedures, etc.

Gagner - Used to be based in NYC ... then a year or two ago moved to FL and is now in the process of re-locating back to NYC again. He's known for doing his revisions laproscopically, but will sometimes perform the surgery in two stages, if the table time is running long. Since performing laproscopic surgery is by definition a longer surgery, the two-stage DS is a real possibility.

Greenbaum - Bases in NJ, he did a fellowship with the Rabkins. Like Rabkin, Greenbaum is known for taking on the most difficult cases ... the ones that many other revision surgeons won't take on for fear of messing up their statistics with complications.

These aren't the ONLY surgeons that perform revisions, but they are the names that surfaced consistently for me whenever revisions are discussed. Below you'll find a link to a thread off the DS board that I bookmarked some time ago. The information is not very well organized, and some of the information has changed, but this is where I started my search for a revision surgeon. I compared the names of the revision surgeons against the names on my insurance in-network list ... sent out about 10 emails (found most of the emails on the DSfacts.com site I linked above), and went from there.

For me, everything kept pointing toward Gagner and Greenbaum (Rabkin and Husted were out of network for me). I liked the idea of Gagner's lap surgery, but even more, I liked the idea of a quicker table time, and a one-step surgery. Gagner made the decision easy when he dropped off the radar for months at a time and when he WOULD return my emails, he wouldn't address my questions at all.

Greenbaum was not only in-network, but he also had a stellar reputation, was incredibly communicative via email (in stark contrast to Gagner), and didn't display the "god complex" I saw with some other surgeons. I thanked him profusely for taking the time to answer my questions, and his reply was something along the lines of, "Kathy, the moment I begin to get frustrated with an intelligent person asking intelligent questions about how HER gut will be re-arranged once I'M done messing around in there ... I need to look into a different profession."

I like that. it showed me that he realized there is a life that goes on beyond the operating room, and that it's MY body it's happening to. Everyone ends up thinking their surgeon is the best surgeon in the business, so you need to keep that in mind ... but I'm very very pleased with my choice.

Here's the link to that thread I promised. The best of luck to you!

Kathy

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/ds/3808137/List-of-DS-Surgeons-Performing-Not-Performing-Revisions/

Thank you,  I found all of this to be incredibly helpful. I'm doing revision research, and it's great to hear about cases like this. Any doctor who gives an answer like the one Greenbaum gave you would satisfy this librarian's curiosity.

Katy!

Wow!  That is an amazingly informative post!  YOU should definitely be the DS rep!!!

Kudos and Congrats on your success!