"Our surgeon of choice followed a somewhat logical progression. I found a short list of docs with great reputations and good number of DS surgeries under their individual belts. rnrnNext step was to try to find one within driving distance. When I started this journey, there were fewer DS surgeons and all of them were at least 8-10 hour drive away. There are some closer now... I think there is one in Dallas. rnrnWe have family in Louisiana, and Dr. Clark Warden had a good reputation here on the DS board. We love to go to southern LA, so it seemed like a good enough reason to go with him.rnrnThat was pre-Katrina.rnrnSomething changed then. It's not that I got scared of being there during another hurricane. Everyone was out of pocket for a while, we were still in an insurance situation where we had an exclusion, and... well, I dunno. rnrnIn conjunction with all of that, the message board was just full of Dr. Anthone's patients who could do nothing but rave rave rave about him. I kept thinking about that...a lot. But...Omaha? I'm not a big heartland fan. Grew up in West Texas and all I could think of was flat and windy. I can't leave that place far enough behind, and I had the impression that Omaha was just the same. Not only that, but they get a lot of cold and snow. I just don't DO cold.rnrnBut hey, goofy preferences aside, we still wanted to go with the best. The truth of the matter is I believe that the change was the Lord's direction. Nothing against Dr. Warden or anything from that practice. Go left or go right isn't about one way being bad, it was about the being in the exact place at the exact time that was God's will for us. In that sense, it's a lot bigger than being about us; it's about working within His plan. At the very bottom of my heart, I believe that, for whatever reason, this direction was God's will for us.rnrnIt took over two years from the time we decided that we want WLS (my dear hubby is also having his ds surgery a day before mine) until our surgical dates. I had to find a job where there was insurance coverage, and get the time in to accomodate all of that. Before that, I had to get mobile enough to even get a job. The obesity was getting to me quickly.rnrnIn that time, Dr. Anthone's office was unfailingly polite and helpful. Then, when everything else was finally in order...man were they johnny on the spot! They have been great to take care of everything! It's so funny... his nurse, Kathy, starts taking care of you physically even before the surgery! Lisa in the office worked with us and our weird timing situation - yes, it's definitely more complicated to try to time it where we could have it together. Christy is an insurance genius and once we finally got coverage at all, she got everything submitted and we got approved on the first try.rnrnThe insurance co was screwed up...they saw two submissions with the same last name on the same day and assumed that they were duplicates. She and DH worked together and fixed that.rnrnNow lemme tell you about Dr. A... he is everything that everyone says he is. He didn't strike me as Dr. Huggy, but his compassion and care for people is obvious. MO has carried a sense of shame for me all of my life, but I got a real sense that he respected us as fellow humans, and truly wants to help redeem us from this cursed weight. His nurses love him...other nurses who are patients notice how he treats the staff and respect him even more for that. He is officially, literally, and legitimately one of the best doctors in America. His statistics are fantastic. Not only does he care for his patients as people, he is highly skilled in a difficult and technical procedure. rnrnI couldn't even begin to explain here the level of peace and comfort I feel going into this thing. It is, without a doubt, the right thing for us. Neither of us is in \"the two week freak\". Sure, we are aware that anything can happen. But hey, it can any time. There are no promises that we will even make it to surgery. But the odds are far better that we WILL, and, in the care of Dr. A and staff, we will come through the surgery and the recovery with flying colors. When we leave Omaha two weeks after getting there, we will be starting the new life we've been dreaming of having for years.rnrnThe question is, do we have anything negative to say. At the bottom of the page here, it says that 100% positive reviews may even be suspect. Well, we've only met Dr. A one time. But I've had a chance to learn a lot here on the DS forum, and there is precious little negative about him from anyone. I know that nothing is perfect, but so far I truly haven't found anything to criticize. Uhm, I don't exactly have the repuataion of being uncritical either, so....rnrnI guess if there's going to be anything negative to say, it'll have to be something later. Oh wait...no...Omaha was even prettier than I anticipated too!rnrnrnrnAll of our pre-op stuff is done. We have surgery dates on March 19 and 20, during spring break so that our grown kids, who are both CNA's can help us out. The older one will have to go back to school just as we get out of the hospital, the younger one will stay with us in the hotel for two weeks after. He will drive us around and help us with the moving around, etc. rnrnNow...at 3 weeks post-op...the only thing I would caution new patients to address is his insistence on a long common channel. Les' is 150cm and mine is 200cm. I was pretty shocked when he told me how long they were. Any reservations I have are concerns that our cc's are so long that they won't give us the long-term tool and benefit that we need. He has good reasons for his thinking that longer cc's are better from a nutritional and bowel standpoint. And I must admit (although at this point we aren't eating all that much) that, after the first week, we haven't had much in the way of gas issues at all. I think the iron in the vitamins is bothering both of us, but it's constipation, not dhr. What little gas we have doesn't seem any more stinky than it was preop.rnrnOf course long term nutritional status is important, but I would have never had this surgery if I were not prepared to deal with gas and some level of dhr. And I have been surely willing to trade those for a healthy weight.rnrnrnrn"
