Mills-Peninsula Health Services Hospital

I would recommend Dr. Foster to anyone who is considering this surgery. She was easy to talk to, very informative and made me feel at ease. She took the time to answer my questions, and I never felt rushed. The whole meeting was very pleasant. Trina, her assistant, and Lorna, the patient coordinator, were just as friendly and nice as Dr. Foster. Trina took my blood pressure and took a "before" photo (ugh!, not my favorite part), but I tried to smile through it. Dr. Foster told me that an aftercare program was being implemented again at Stanford and she encouraged me to attend. She provided detailed information about the surgery, eating plans, etc. I don't have any reservations about her skills and expertise. She is a very caring and professional person. I believe that Dr. Foster has both surgical competence and a wonderful bedside manner . . . both of which are very important to me.

1. He was a very serious man

2. As I went through the process, with ease, I realized how wonderful he was....

3. Very helpful and encouraging, especially Anne Timberlake and Terry.

4. Nothing

5. It works!

6. Alot

7. Yes

8. Advised me of all I needed to know.

9. 10

10. Both great! !

I think Dr. Foster is great. She spent about an hour with me and my husband, going over my medical history,explaining things, and answering questions. She was very direct but friendly. I feel very comfortable with her. The only thing I don't care for is that I have to loose 10% of my weight before the surgery,in order to be in the best possible shape. The more I think about it though, it's a good idea. Michelle, her nurse is nice, but is very busy. As far as surgical competence vs. bedside manner, I prefer both of them to be great. After this week, I have to tell you, Dr. Foster is fantastic. My surgery was postponed because of an elevated white count. She came in to the clinic today just for me. I was so impressed. She also called me at home and at work when the problem came up, she didn't have her nurse do it. I feel very important.

It took 6 weeks to get an appointment with Dr. Wetter, but it was well worth it. I have heard great things about Dr. Wetter and knew that he was the surgeon I wanted. I immediately felt at ease with Dr. Wetter and was very impressed with his background and experience. I talked with him for about 45 minutes and he answered all my questions. He went into great detail about the surgery and was very upfront about the potential risks of the surgery as well as the amount of weight I was likely to lose. My husband came with me and the doctor made sure to include him in the conversation. Besides being a very skilled surgeon, he has a very extensive after care program including follow-up visits, support group meetings, access to a nutritionist, etc. The staff seems very friendly as well. My only complaint is with the time it took for the doctor's office to write the request for approval letter. Terry said it would take 2-3 weeks, but took 6 weeks instead. However, it was around the Christmas Holiday season and that could have slowed down the process. I am currently waiting for approval from my insurance company, I hope to have it soon. Dr. Wetter is the best!

I had Lap RNY on June 26, 2000 and have lost 161 pounds. Dr Wetter is a wonderful surgeon. He is warm and caring and has a great sense of humor.He also shows genuine interest in patients children. My kids adore him. My surgery went fine and my recovery was great.
Dr Wetter gets my vote for Doctor of the year! :)

I met Dr. Wetter for the first time on August 8, 2001 for a consultation concerning GBS. He explained to me quite clearly how the surgery was performed and what the risks and benefits were. He seems like a nice person and I felt at ease talking with him. Peior to my visit with him, I had checked out his credentials and felt he had the training and experience to perform this surgery competently. He performs RNY laparoscopically and this was an important consideration for me. Dr. Wetter's staff was also very relaxed and pleasant. His surgical coordinator, Terry, is the whirlwind of activity that many WLS reports described her to be. She is straigtforward, caring and has a good sense of humor. Dr. Wetter performs GBS as part of the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Obesity Surgery Program in San Mateo, California. While I was in Dr. Wetter's office, he arranged for me to talk with a patient also in his office who was about 10 days post-op. I really appreciated that he did this because just being face-to-face talking with someone who had so recently been through the surgery and being able to ask questions was extremely beneficial for me. I am coming to Dr. Wetter from out-of-state and so have little opportunity to attend the WLS support groups in that area. Prior to meeting with Dr. Wetter, I had talked with Anne Timberlake at M-P and received an informative booklet describing the GBS program. Anne is very helpful and very busy, but she answered my email questions within a few days of posting. I feel quite confident about the team I hope to be working with for this surgery. Surgical competence is, for me, the most important consideration when selecting a surgeon; however, a good bedside manner is an invaluable add-on to that competency. Based on my impressions to date, I believe that Dr. Wetter has both.

I have only had one visit with Dr. Wetter, but I must say I was very impressed with him right from the start. I had read many wonderful things about him on the internet and was pleased to find out for myself that they were all true. When he walked into the room my first thought was "He sure looks young". (I'm still not use to having Dr's younger than myself...but now that I'm 50 I guess that's kind of inevitable!) Dr. Wetter was very informative and took the time to answer all my questions. It was nice to talk with a Dr. who was so understanding. My former internist always told me just to cut back on food intake and exercise by pushing myself away from the table!
Dr. Wetter's office staff were very nice. No one got that shocked look on their face when I stepped on the scale! Terry was very helpful with the insurance and explained to me how long it might take to get approval. Aftercare seems to be a big part of Dr. Wetter's program. He has a support group with Anne Timberlake(nurse) once a month. Anne is extreamly helpful and prompt about answering any questions I have e-mailed to her. I am looking forward to attending her post-op sessions.
I was impressed not only with Dr. Wetter's surgical competence, but also his bedside manner. I have a real good feeling for what I am about to do and am thankful I found Dr. Wetter.

I found Dr. Wetter on the Internet! I really did quite a bit of research. Money/time were not issues for me, but expertise in doing the lapraoscip surgery, a kind bedside manner and giving adequate pain med's were critical to me. I spent countless hours reading about different surgeons, and Dr. Wetter beat them alllll out by a huge percentage.

Consistently, everyone spoke very highly of his expertise AND beside manner.

I met Dr. Wetter 1x. He was extremely curteous, polite and professional. I've dealt with quite a few doctors in my life. Although quite a few people have posted that they found Dr. Wetter direct, straightforward, non-nonsesne and somewhat abrupt...I didn't. I found him informative, open and caring!

His office staff was kind, worked on and got me an almost immediate approval (I love Terry)and scheduled date.

Dr. Wetter informed me about the risks, the after-care and the impact the surgery would have on my life.

Is there a rating higher than excellent?? I can't say enough about Dr. Wetter, and his staff.

And.......yes I would reccomend him.

By-the-way....My surgery is one week from today! July 30th!

Love, Alexandra


Follow Up Remarks:

Pre-Op

My husband and I met with Dr. Wetter for my pre-op appt. He was soooo polite, answered my husbands questions, and allayed some of my fears. Evidently, he has a zero fatality rate, and that is comforting.

2 more days to go...Gosh I'm scared.

Post Op

What a difference a week can make.

I'm home now. My opinion of Dr. Wetter has somewhat changed. He was brisk in the hospital. I was in a lot of pain for the 1st 2 days, and on a scale of 1-10, on a level of 10+ the 1st 2 days, and 7-8, the rest of the week. Alllllll he cared about was walking! Walk! Walk! Walk! He adequately controled the pain, was more than willing to keep you comfortable, but alllll that mttered was walking. On day 2, I had walked 4 times down the lenght of the hall, and the nurses only wrote down 1x, and said I only walked out of my door. He was very irrited about this.

I had a fever of 100.1 to 101.5 all week. When I was advanced to level 2, I became ill when I ate the cereal of soup.

When I brought all of this up, his answer was....walk! Over and over. By day 5, I'd had enough.

The nurse who runs the program, was just a tad patronizing. When I voiced my concerns to her, her eyes just glazed over ( a la "Stepford Wife's" ) and told me it was my responsibility to walk...! :O

And then a small light was going on....I asked her what happnes if anyones gets pneumonia...ill,...vomits....wahtever, then she remarked "We have a wonderful track record here, and typically it is because the patient wasn't following our program correctly."

And all the little comments I heard throughout the week gelled...."we're having our 100th by-pass surgery party"...."Dr. Wetter has a perfect record"...."Our patients do soooo well, that they leave in 3-4 days"...."This surgery has put the hospital on the map"....

And then it occutred to me. If someone did get sick, whateverrr.....

this enourmous armour could act as a sheild for the doctor and the hsopital.

Why if you got pneumonia, or couldn't handle food, or your pain was not typical, or you vomited to much....it would never be anyone's fault but your own.

When I left, my fever was still 101. something...and I had aquired Thrush in my mouth. I was still having quite a bit of pain, and feeling "tight" in my chest.

It didn't matter.

I'm home now. My fever is 101.8, and I could not hold down my teensy dinner of cereal or applesauce. I've been taking sips of ice tea and juice...but my mouth is burning so that's not helping.

I left the hospital feeling very angry and not feeling taken care of.

I just need to remind everyone, that this is my opinion, and other people that have had the surgery don't share my experience.

Dr. Wetter is an excellent surgeon. I'm alive, and from what many nurses said my sticthes looked great.

My biggest fear was not surviving tyhe surgery, and I did.

At no time did I question Dr. Wetter's skills as a surgeion, and I would only reccomend him for this surgery.

However, I would have my own doctor invoved in Post Op Care.

I have concerns that the reputation of the hsopital and the doctor's has become more important that the care of the patient.

At least is was in my case.

I was so nervous before my consult visti but once I met with Dr. Wetter - a complete feeling of calmness came over me. My imprssion of him didnt change - other than it got better.

He explained the entire procedure to me on more than 1 occasion. He told me about his website that he has & about the support group that hospital has for its patients. He emphasized that once the surgery is over the importance of eating right & exercising. The biggest struggle for me will be the eating right - the exercise I can deal with!

I have had surgeries before - so we didnt go over to much of the risks of surgey but he did tell me the risks with this particular surgery.

The only thing was that I didnt see him ( or least dont remember seeing him on the day of my surgey. It was on a friday - so I saw his partner over the weekend!

Dr. Foster was extremely nice. Takes a lot of time to explain everything and just makes you feel very comfortable.
Office staff is really nice too. Lorna who scheduled my first appointment was wonderful. Got me in to see Dr. Foster within a week and a half from first call.
Surgery scheduled tomorrow July 16th. I will update after that.