"Nearly six years after my last review of Dr. Baltasar, I am at a normal BMI and am lovin' my DS and I'm so very thankful for the new chance at life that the DS and Dr. B have given me. I know I would have died by now - my super super morbidly obese body would have definitely bit the dust. That body, it was a hurting then, now I'm just a little on the weird side of normal - at 46 I'm starting to feel the age, but, I still can move pretty quickly - ask my 6 year old students.
Truly, I'd be sunk if anything were to happen to my DS and I didn't have the malabsorption. I am certain I'd start regain at the drop of a hat without the DS fighting obesity for me.
Dr. Baltasar told me the day that he revised my leaking and non-working band to DS that the DS would work much better for me; he was so right! I saw him a few years after my surgery - he was funny, he told me not to lose any more weight! Actually, he was/is right, the remaining extra weight I have is all due to extra skin and I would probably be a little too skinny without the extra skin. He does have a great sense of humor and is a excellent surgeon. He is very interested in still keeping in touch with his patients. I believe he has had fewer Americans fly to Spain in recent years due to the Euro/Dollar rates, but if that has changed, he's wonderful and it's a very beautiful part of the world to visit. His little old hospital is quaint and old fashioned, but the nurses did take very good care of me. Alcoy is near the olive and almond growing region, I believe, and we then stayed on the Meditarranean in Benidorm, a city that reminds me of Waikiki with it's high-rise hotels and beaches. I heard more English and German than Spanish practically. It's the playground of the Brits and others seeking a holiday value.
Check DSFacts and research, research, research if you are looking into the DS. "
"Dr. Baltasar in Spain was everything that everyone has posted about him. My first impression is that he is fairly quiet, and very kind and that impression was substantiated over time - that is who he really is. He really cares about the folks that come from all over the world to be helped by him.
He is absolutely fantastic in both his surgical excellence and his bedside manner, you can't ask for more than that!
His aftercare as far as support meetings is rather impossible, I can't make it to Spain, after all, but he is really, truly, accessible by e-mail to his patients.
I didn't think much of his nutritionist, but, I think that guy just doesn't get it about DS patients - a normal enough scenario. Dr. Rabkin's office has good nutritional support information on their site, and I've learned really all I needed to know through the www.grad-ossg.yahoogroups.com site as well as the www.duodenalswitch.com site. There is a patient site for Dr. Baltasar as well at www.bodybybaltasar.com and there is quite a bit of information there as well as a link to Dr. B's cv and own website which has his statistical information as well as his research studies. "
