Sheilah M. Clayton M.D. Bariatrics Bariatric Center

I just met the surgeon yesterday 8/21/02, she seemed very nice and knowledgable. I have had numerous surgeries and I felt very comfortable with my surgeon. If I didn't feel comfortable, I would not be writing this note.

Dr. Sheilah Clayton was very nice and very matter of fact. I appreciated her no-nonsense approach to the explanation of my surgery and what she will be doing, the risks and benefits and I look forward, with confidence, to my surgery.
At first her staff seemed kind of indifferent, but after battling with the insurance company a few times together--we had a better appreciation. Their job is pretty tough. Having to take people through a very emotionally charged process and stay true to their objective isn't as easy as you may think.
My surgery date was 9/11/02 and on 9/27/02 I personally experienced the compassion that others have so tenderly spoke of in Dr. Clayton. I was having pain & discomfot in my stomach and lower back and called Dr. Clayton after hours after waiting to see if the feeling would change. She called almost immediately, asked me a few questions and told me that when the day began, she would be in touch with me on where to go to get a CT scan. I took my kids to school, and when I returned, Dr. Clayton left a detailed message on where to go, who to call, the number and appointment time. She was to be in surgery that day, but was concerned enough about me to have me go to the Imaging Center next door to the hospital, and after her surgery, she came by to check on me and ask how I was doing. I knew I made the right decision in choosing her, but this incident gave me a renewed assurance in my faith in her, her professionalism and that compassionate side I now know. I recommend her highly--she is a consummate professional with the heart to care for you in good times and bad.

she seems very compentent and nice. answers all questions you have.
only saw her once for pre op consultation.
staff is very nice.
nothing like her

to bring in a sheet of questions instead of relying on your memory.

alot

yes

told me it is major surgery and quite risky because of my weight. she told me she has never lost a patient on the table and only 2 after surgery from blood clots because they refused to walk.

very nice and compentent.

do not know yet haven't seen bedside manner yet.

September 22, 2002

Dr. Clayton performed the RGB on March 13, 2001. That is a marked date in my personal health and life. Other marked dates include October 29,2000, January 4, January 25, April 3, April 12, April 26, May 3, May 21, May 25, June 6, June 10, July 30 and most of the days between October 2000 and July of 2001.

A brief review of those dates:

October 29, 2000 blood went into my lungs. As I prepared to go to the emergency room, I passed out, fell off the bed and I thought at first that I was having a heart attack. That was a concern due to family history. My 16 year old son, sat me up (I weighed in excess of 420 pounds) and put a CPAP monitor on me (for sleep apnea). I was came to, I heard the sirens coming closer. After being checked out by the paramedics, I was transported to the hospital by ambulance. During the next 10 days, I began the process of seeking surgical weightloss. It was a suggestion of my physcians. The first two days were spent in a 4 bed critical care unit.

November 24, 2001:

Went to see my nurse practioner and told her that I was seriously considering gastric bypass surgery. Interestingly, another patient of hers was sharing the same consideration. After checking both of us, I met Judy Christian. We discussed different programs. She was really beginning to focus on Dr. Clayton. Judy has also shared her thoughts with this website. We have been in contact numerous times since our original meeting.

January 4, 2001:

Met with Dr. Andrews with the Spectrim Program at Brotman Medical Center. That day they scheduled me to meet with Dr. Clayton in Pasadena.

January 25, 2001:

Met with Dr. Clayton. Discussed the surgery and its risks. The complications could be serious--but then my current medical situation wasn't any better. I was 45, 400 plus pounds, diabetic, poor circulation in my legs and had sleep apnea.

February 5, 2001:

Spoke with Laura from Spectrim, my insurance had been approved. We set a tenative date of March 15, 2001. (I actually could have had the surgery as early as February 15.) We also scheduled the appointments for the pre-op evaluation and then Dr. Goldberg, an endocrinologist (have no idea if that one is spelled correctly).

March 12, 2001

Went to school to handout report cards, graduation status of my students and to tell them I would be back in 6 weeks. They were going off track and would be off from March 16 to April 16. Also, on March 11, 2001, my son's hockey team qualified for the final playoff the next week. I was an assistant coach and told the team I would be there the next Sunday night...I didn't make it.

March 13, 2001:

Surgery day. Scheduled for 7:30. I went to pre-op, settled in and tried to stay light-hearted. I was scared, humor helped. I had great laugh over the fact that my pregnancy was negative...thank goodness, I am a man.

Later that day...ICU. The first thing I told my wife was "I am glad this is done". Somewhere around 6 I was standing by my bed. The nurse was great...I was not that pleasant.

March 14, 2001:

My wife came in about 10:00. Not long after I was sitting in a cardiac chair. Around 1:00, me, the chair, the bed, and my large gowns were on the way back to second floor. During the day I stood by the bed, walked just a few steps and then visited with some friends drove down to see me. One of my last pictures before was with this guy.

March 15, 2001

Dr. Clayton came to see me. She had been working at the trauma unit on the 14th, but had contact with other doctors and the nursing staff. Between surgeries, she came to see me. She was concerned about the color of the drainage. We took a short walk. She then called and I was on my way to x-ray. She met me there. We did a barium swallow and found that there was a tear in the area of surgery. Why? Who knows? If you stop reading now, I knew that there were risks...but my other options weren't all that exciting either. We talked that I would need to stay in the hospital until the leak stopped. She explained everthing. I was disappointed and scared...Friday, the 16th was just another day.

March 17th, 2001:

Perhaps the roughest day. My spirits were diminished...my body was sore in bed or out. But most, I think I was concerned about my decision. Odd, I thought that maybe I could have tried one more diet. My diabetes was monitored by Dr. Goldberg, a kind and compassionate doctor. About 7:30, an air-mattress was put on my bed...a shot of benadryle at about 11:00 and I had a pretty good night.

Sunday: Not all that memorable except I didn't make it to the hockey game. We lost, but on Tuesday my family would bring me a trophy. I was up and walked all four wings of the second floor...probably twice. Physical therapy was kind.

My family did not forsake. My wife continued to teach, run all the family concerns, taking a Spanish class on Monday and Wednesday nights, drive the 1 hour plus back and forth to Lancaster, write sub plans and spend the night on Thursdays. She really had a lot more stress than I did.

During the next week, I continued to walk and gain strength and then watch the drainage like a hawk. I saw Dr. Clayton and Dr. Goldberg daily. Both encouraged me...especially when my spirits were down. I got a new room, identified my first bariatic sighting (the pillow held on the stomach), walked the halls and began to get aquainted with many families and patients there some for days, others a longer period. I also noticed other patients going to surgery. The leak continued, but all of the vital signs were strong. Dr. Clayton showed empathy and encouragement, but her greatest concern was my health. I wanted to go home, but I was on I.V. feedings by late Monday, early Tuesday. She had methalyne blue added to the Promote food to see if it would be evident in the drainage.

April 2, 2002:

Dr. Clayton scheduled me for surgery on the next day. She, Dr. Goldberg and others involved with bariatric surgeries had been consulted. She felt that the surgery was medically necessary. I cried. I again doubted my decision. I called my wife and told her that she and my children (daughter 20, son 16) needed to come on the 3rd. During this same period I had known that a friend had surgery the week before. She said that we needed to talk about him. He had passed away from a blood clot. He had just turned 46, was not obese and was under a doctor's care. That is part of life. My own brother passed away on Christmas morning at age 43, from multiple embolisms--1995. He didn't have an obesity problem. At his funeral, several commented on how I must really be nervous...not really I thing that I would said at someone's brother's funeral. Those thoughts were real, they were on my mind, and I was morbidly obese with multiple co-morbidities.

Later that afternoon, early evening, Dr. Porter came in. He was the anathesiolgist. We talked about my concerns. But we would see each other about noon on 3rd.

April 3, 2001:

The morning was quick. I cried on the way down...I had gotten pretty aquainted with the transportation staff too. Once in pre-op, all forms signed, I decided I wasn't going. Dr. Clayton and Dr. Porter talked with me. The decision, after great research, and considered opinions and consultations, Dr. Clayton would place a feeding tube into the second part of the stomach. I told porter I wouldn't go. He went stairs to talk to my wife...and returned with a message that I was going...easy, so I thought, for her to say.

The staff at Spectrim has changed since my surgery. Deb Vasquez, Laura and Monique had come to see me daily. Deb scrubbed and went in with me. She prayed as I began the count down...I guess I thought it was too long, iterrupted her and then was told count down starting with 5...I woke up in post-op and was in surgical ICU late that afternoon. I stayed there for four days. It was a difficult time. Dr. Andrews came to see me. There were concerns about depression and I was put back on anti-depressants as I had been for many years. The next week was challenging, but I made it. On April 12, 2001 I talked with a patient about to go down later that morning. My personal prayer improved a great deal. 32 days earlier I entered with the greatest attitude. That week I had surgery, my 8th grade students sent probably 50 cards, several long-time friends came to see me and encourage me, and now I was going home. The 405 freeway was somewhat frightening...the fastest ride I had been on in the last month was a gurney to x-ray and surgery. The 14 wasn't too bad, but I think I was asleep. That afternoon, home-healthcare paid a visit, my wive demonstrated the knowledge and ability to care for the feeding tube, medications and everything else. Friends came by, others called and I spoke with my mother. By 9:00 I was ready to sleep. I slept in my recliner for the most of the next week and a half. I went for my first post-op visit.

Wednesday, April 25, 2001:

Late that afternoon there was a change. It was more difficult to breath. I took a short walk in the neighborhood and visited for awhile with neighbors. Over the last week and a half, I slowly stopped perhaps the most important part of recovery. I walked less and less each day. That Wednesday evening I was concerned but convinced everyone that I was fine. I didn't sleep much that night. When my wife left for work, I had gone into the bed and thought I could sleep. The difficulty with breathing seem to increase. I knew that Dr. Clayton was going to be out of town but I knew that Dr. on call so I called her office. I told the answering service of my concern and they told me to wait just a minute. When the phone connected, Dr. Clayton identified her self, and asked what was wrong. She told me that she wanted to make sure that everthing was okay and said to come back to the hospital. That afternoon seemed long. I had a lung scan, chest x-ray and a doppler study on my legs. By the time I got to my room, the nurse was one that I already new. Dr. Goldberg came in and we talked about the probabilty that there was a clot in one of my lungs. I was given medication to alleviate anxiety. He had spoken with Dr. Clayton and told her the situation. He also told me that she was on her way. He told her that I was stable, but she came anyway. The weekend off didn't happen. She talked me, I cried. She held my hand and listened. When I have read some of the comments made by others, about bedside manner, I don't see anything but compassion and care. She got on the phone when I called not later. She came to see me every day. I still had the drain tube and the feeding tube. I had not eaten since March 12, and I didn't get a drink of water except during the many times that I went for barium swallows. Funny, she pushed me all the way back to my room by herself, as my wife walked along and she encouraged me. I wondered why sometimes I chose her for surgery? As some would believe, I believe that God's care helped in my decision making. In the months after surgery, she never returned my call more than 5 minutes after I called her service. Yes, I called after office hours.

May 2, 2001:

Dr. Goldberg's associate conferred and I was going home the next day. I had a great evening. One of my students called long distance...my wife and I teach together and this was only one call the student made. There had been 3 hospitalizations since October 2000. Earlier that evening, Judy Christian came by. Her surgery was scheduled for the next morning.

May 3, 2001:

I was leaving the hospital again. This time I refused a wheel chair. My wife brought me my cane since I wouldn't have an IV pole to stablize my walk. Judy was going into surgery as I was walking out. Dr. Clayton had been in and mentioned that later she would schedule me for a test to see if the cause of the leak could be seen from inside the stomach. Yes, I still had in the drain tube.

May 21, 2001:

A busy day. We saw Dr. Clayton in the afternoon, drove back to Lancaster, picked up my son and back to Burbank for a meeting about Boys State. I was scheduled for a scope down the esophogus (I teach Algebra). By Friday, the 25th, I was dreaded the procedure. As I checked in, I realized the assistant was Jackie, she and brother Mark had been the feature of one of the Discovery Health shows on bariatric surgery and Spectrim. The procedure had risks but it needed to be done. With Clayton's support, my wife sat in the corner...not often standard procedure. I finally drifted off after saying that they needed more medication. As the stomach was inflated, the problem was evident. At sometime after surgery, the drain tube moved into the stomach pouch. That is why I continued to drain so much. Dr. Clayton pulled the tube out and the stomach sealed. Why did that drain tube do that? I guess because there are risks...it had nothing to do with the surgeon, the program, the care of the staff or anything else. What a relief. Another surgeon might have gone back, but she demonstrated the respect of the difficulties that morbid-obesity patients face. This is the first day that I thought that I had really made the right choice. Just as Dr. Clayton had told, the body would heal given time.

Your probably tired of reading...so fast forward. The drain tube eventually came out by itself. The track where it had been placed would heal over the next few weeks. Somewhere during the second week of June I drank water for the first time and had a popsicle. I completely missed the 10 week track back to food. Even though the first couple of months were pretty rough, I have learned about the food I could eat...learned to excuse myself quickly. The feeding tube came out on July 30th and I went back to work that next week.

Now I'm starting my 2nd year where I can walk as fast if not faster than most students. I am positive about my experience. I went back to see the nurses at Brotman, but they didn't recognize me. I went to the support group meeting and thanked Dr. Andrews. The voice she knew, but the person looked different.

I think that almost everyone has that feeling that their surgery was of concern, there may have been some risks they had to face, and down the road was much better than the entrance. We, as a group, have faced the desire to live...healthier, happier and more fully. My personal expectation of life is that I would die by age 40...pretty pesimistic. When my brother died, I was 4 months from my 41st birthday. My dad had been healthier than I ever had been...though he had his first heart attack and age 42. Until his death in February, 1999, he had at least 3 more heart attacks, a triple by-pass in 1976,a double bypass February 94, a single bypass in March, 1994 and one last surgery in September, 1998. There were countless hospitalizations, angiograms, a stint placed and many other stresses that came from the challenges of cardiac patients. After his final attack, his body had a week to meet its final breaths. During, the first evening of the week, I heard for the first time his wishes about his final disire: "...realizing that death is a part of life, it is my desire..." I don't know how long that had been in existence. But it is true. My life has been fortunate...and though I thought I was burdened, I now know that my experiences of 2000-2001 were life changing.

During one the of talks with Dr. Clayton after my surgery, we talked about the other difficulties that were most likely ahead with diabetes, sleep apnea, etc. I haven't taken any medications for diabetes since July, 2001. The CPAP machine doesn't run 8 hours a night. I weigh about 300 lbs, but then again I have "a large bone structure".

So, are there any real regrets? Just one, I jokingly said once I didn't think week 5 of the diet looked all that exciting--pureed chicken just was not appotizing...Go figure, I didn't have to do that week...but then again, I might have been less exciting.

Dr. Clayton is one of the greatest doctors i've ever encountered. She is well educated, professional, compationate, and most of all very confident. When I sat in her office and we spoke about my concerns regarding the surgery I began to tear up when she stated that 1 in 200 patients die. I am a single mom with two beautiful children and the purpose of this surgery is so that I can live a longer and healthier life with them. I am all my children have in this world so the thought of death was rather terrifying. I can honestly say that I could see my childrens reflection in her eyes when she spoke to me about the risks involved. You can feel that she has your best interest at heart. You are treated like you are the most important patient she had seen all day. I can't say enough about Dr. Clayton. I wouldn't put my life in anyone else's hands in Southern California.

My surgeon was awesome. With so many complaints registered about docs, i have only good to say about "My Doc". She is the best and knows what she is doing. This doc shoots straight from the hip and allows you to have an opinion to your treatment. the office staff Donna and Nancy are great. The staff took care of everything. I was never told to call anyone. the Spectrim Program at Brotman Med Center is also very good. I would recommend both to everyone that is interested. Please contact Eileen or Winada, they are both knowledgeable and helpful as you go through this process.

I have been working with the Program Director - for Dr. Clayon's program at Brotman Medical Center (Los Angeles) - Ilene and she is fabulous. I feel very comfortable with the program and all the support it offers post-surgery.

My surgery date will be mid-October. I am going for my Psych Eval on 8/27/02 .. I'll update more next weeek.

I have only met with Dr. Clayton at the initial meeting. I, of course, read what others had said about her long ago when I was researching surgeons. She came off to me to be capable, and to take the surgery very seriously. She was forthright, and she was extremely clear about the possibilies of complications, side effects, and death. She was open to me about the 2 deaths that occurred post op and the few complications. She showed me diagrams, staples, and thoroughly answered all 3 pages of questions I brought with me. One thing that impressed me was that she gave us (my husband was with me) her time. Most doctors want to rush you out, but she seemed committed to listening to us, answering our questions and providing us with all the information we could ever need about the surgery. There has been a lot of talk about her bedside manner, that she seems brusque, and I think that is a misinterpretation of her - I feel that she was very pragmatic in her approach, and her efficiency and lack of warm-fuzzies was due to her need to communicate that this is a very serious procedure and that each patient needs to take it as such. Also, I liked it that she was no-nonsense, because that gave me confidence that she is going to be the same when I am sleeping on the operating table. Beside that, plenty of warm-fuzzies come from Eileen and Dr. Andrews and the fellow patients at Spectrim. I have nothing to compare it to, but I cannot express how wonderful the support groups have been. I go in for the surgery in 2 weeks, and there are things that are talked about in the group that have helped prepare me more than anything else. And it is nice to know that there is a group there to support me whenever I have a bad time, or if and when I reach a plateau, or if I have a question. I cannot imagine going through this without knowing there are so many other wonderful people wishing me well and thinking good thoughts for me, and hoping the same success they have had will be imparted upon me.

06/11/2002
Dr. Clayton is a wonderful surgeon. She isn't very chatty but does answer all your questions and is very attentive to her patients needs. I highly recommend her to everyone.

04/25/2002
I met with Dr. Clayton on April 22, 2002. She is very professional. She spent a lot of time with me answering my questions and calming my fears. I feel very comfortable with her because she did my sisters surgery August 9, 2001. To date my sister has lost 100 pounds. Dr. Clayton explained all the risks to me and also was up front about her history with problems which is basically two leaks and two deaths. She has done over 1500 surgeries and told me that the two deaths were after surgery and were caused by blood clots. She is a perfectionist and that is why she has very few problems. She has just started doing the procedure lapriscopically and will try to do it on me. She was also very up front that if she feels that there is a question or problem with her work she won't hestitate to open me up to ensure all is right. At this point I would recommend her. I will update after surgery with more details.

She's all business and not talkative or warm and fuzzy. She was downright brusque with my husband after my surgery but she's very very experienced and is known for not using staples and using a beautiful careful disolvable stitch. Furthermore, I had no tubes or drains. This is certainly worth the less than stellar bedside manner. Her office staff tends to be a bit curt however I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes on a scheduled appointment. The affiliation with the really excellent Spectrim program out of Brotman Hospital is another real plus.