"The portion of my post below was written in mid September of 2001. I have since had my surgery with Dr. Ara Keshishian at Delano Regional Medical Center in Delano.
I continue to attend Dr. Rabkin's support group meetings in addition to going to Delano every other month.
My surgical experience I will explain at another time, however, I can, without reservation, recommend Dr. Keshishian. He is a very caring and involved Surgeon, who is dedicated to a great outcome for patients and provides comprehensive after care.
I am four months post op and have lost 65 pounds. I weighed 260 on the day of surgery. My goal weight is 148. I am 47 pounds from goal at this point.
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Posted 9/01
Dr. Rabkin is a busy surgeon. He appears personally at the Support Group meetings on the first wednesday evening of the month in Ventura, which means he flies from the bay area to be with his southern patients once a month. He currently practices and resides in San Francisco.
His office staff is VERY busy and high volume. The best place to get detailed answers to your questions is at the support group meeting.
Dr. Rabkin does not emphasis after care in the way that I think it is important. He relies on the patient to establish a relationship with a local Primary Care Doctor who will do the follow up.
Dr. Rabkin does not have a structured follow up program for out of area patients. Those in San Francisco of course are the exception to that.
Doctor Rabkin explains that the risk of dying during WLS is the same as the National Average for Morbidly Obese people undergoing any type of major surgery, that is about 1 in 200. He has performed over 800 Distal Gastric Bypass / Duodenal Switch procedures. He has performed 185 of those lap, including a 600 pound patient. He has had some minimal number of complications and no deaths in his patients. Refer to www.pacificsurgery.com for more stats.
I know that Dr. Rabkin is the most experienced Surgeon around in the field of laproscopic DS procedures. He is an EXCELLENT surgeon....the anesthesia time for a lap patient is nearly the same as for most other surgeons doing the procedure open.
I think that Dr. Rabkin's surgical competence is his best asset. It is difficult to get questions answered or phone calls returned by his staff.
In stark contrast, I spent nearly one hour on the phone today with a Surgeon's office who is much closer to my home, and also performs the Duodenal Switch. His name is Ara Keshishian and he has been doing the DS since October of 2000. Prior to that he did the RNY. His nurse, Dee Tinkle is just the absolute best. She gave candid answers to all my questions. I liked her very much. Patient input on his site, show a very warm and caring Doctor with an excellent bed side manner. He does not have the experience of Dr. Rabkin, but he has a structured after care program which he stressed pre operatively. I am seriously considering having my surgery with Dr. Keshishian in Delano, California. I will update you when I decide. Either way my surgery is nearly here.
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