"3/22/01 I have an appointment with Dr. Shina on April 3rd, 2001. I will update after my appointment.
4/4/01 I had my consultation appointment with Dr. Shina yesterday. I really liked him. He is very direct and what I consider a straight shooter. He answered questions very honestly and will not hestitate to send you to a specialist if necessary. I feel he wants your surgery experience to be as successful and positive as possible. Now all I have to do is wait for the info to be submitted to my insurance companies and receive approval. Will let you know when there are changes.
5/13/01 I have a surgery date!!!! It is July 5th at 9:30 am. It took my insurance company one day to approve the surgery. It took three weeks for the insurance company to work out details with Dr. Shina's office.
8/19/01 I had surgery six weeks ago. Dr. Shina apparently did a good job. Along with the gastric bypass surgery, Dr. Shina repaired a large abdominal hernia I had. He is very blunt when he talks to you. I have read from other patients that his bedside manner improves after you have surgery. I find him rushed, overworked and he does not seem to listen. I will say this in defense of him, I think he is tremendously overworked and he is providing a great service to the morbidly obese. He has a good aftercare program. Dr. Shina's office staff is fantastic; they take time with me every time I call and always try to find an answer to my questions.
10/11/01 I had my three month follow-up on Tuesday. I had lost 68 pounds. I had a really good visit with Dr. Shina. He was rushed as usual, but then I told him I needed to discuss a few things with him. He sit down and spent some time talking with me.
He really listened and was caring in his responses. I will see his nurse in December to weigh in. I will update at that time.
12/08/01 I met with Dr. Shina's nurse Tuesday and I had lost 88 pounds. We went over my medications. We discussed my weight loss and she thinks I am doing good with the program. I have an appointment with Dr. Shina in February and I will having labs done. I am anxious to know if I am doing okay with the program medically. I will update after that appointment.
2/12/02 I saw Dr. Shina today and my weight loss is now 115 pounds. He was extremely pleased with my progress. We discussed my goal weight and what to do as I approach it. I will see Dr. Shina again in May and he thinks that I may reach my goal weight before the appointment. Dr. Shina said normally he sees patients in two months as they approach their goal weight but he apparently is taking some time off in April so he will see me in May. We had a really good visit, he took plenty of time with me. He did not seem rushed. We discussed some of my anxieties, like I am sure most of us have, like regaining the weight. He was so reassuring. Thank you God for Dr. Shina. I have needed someone to care enough to make a difference in my life. What is really strange is that I did not like Dr. Shina at first, I needed a service and he could provide it. I felt I had to go to him because of him and the hospital being in-network with both my and my husband's insurance. Now I am so happy with my decision to have Dr. Shina do my surgery. Yes, I would definitely rate him a "10". I will upate after my next appointment.
5/16/02 I saw Dr. Shina on Tuesday and I have lost 142 pounds. WOW, I have a hard time believing it. Just 26 more pounds to goal. Dr. Shina is so proud of me. I had to wear a dress to show off a little. The dress was an A-line and the length was just above the knee (a little risque for me). Dr. Shina and I discussed further surgery. I have developed another abdominal hernia and I did not freak out about it. His advice was to to wait until I reach goal weight and then repair the hernia when I have my tummy tuck. That is as long as the hernia is not bothering me, which it isn't right now. Dr. Shina spent several minutes talking with me about my success and reinforcing me and praising me. You know we all need that. As great as the last ten months have been, it has not been all easy. The times you eat something you ate the day but today it hurts your stomach, the times you forget to chew chew chew your food and that hurt your stomach, the times you want to drink while you are eating but you know you can't, the times everyone around is eating some delicious dessert and you pass on it knowing how bad you would like just a little. Yeah, it feels good for your surgeon to praise you and tell you what a good job you've done and how proud he is of you. Once again, THANK YOU GOD! for putting DR. SHINA in my life. He is still a 10 to me. Dr. Shina has an excellent aftercare program. He is concerned about his patients as long as they are concerned about themselves. I have an appointment in August and will update at that time.
9/01/02 I saw Dr. Shina on August 20th. Everything went great. I have now lost 160 pounds and he wants me to stop on the weight loss. My labs were down a little and he thinks I should stop dieting and start maintaining. My husband is happy about that, he is starting to worry about me getting too thin (ha-ha). Dr. Shina is right about the weight loss, by time I have a tummy tuck and they remove 10-12 pounds, I will have lost enough weight. I am not supposed to see Dr. Shina for another year and that scares me. I've seen him every three months and I guess it's seems like any other diet and I am being turned loose to manage on my own. I told Dr. Shina I am scared and he said I could call for an appointment if I felt the need to see him. For those considering surgery and reading this, Dr. Shina is the best and I would highly recommend him. He has the best aftercare program of any surgeon in this area. I feel a little sad, this surgery has been such a focus of my life and now is it time to move on. Don't get me wrong, because my life is so much better. I just need to move on to another focus. Good luck to those of you starting your journey. I will continue to update my profile.
02/03/03 Well I didn't have to wait a full year to see Dr. Shina again. I saw him in October after developing mysterious intense lower abdominal pain. He referred me to a gatroenterologist for a workup. He did not find anything in the area where I am complaining of pain, he thinks I have adhesions which do not show up on any test. He did however find gallstones. I have developed another hernia, my second since surgery and my third hernia. The first hernia after gastric bypass surgery, I had repaired by a surgeon in Harrodsburg. When I saw Dr. Shina in October I think he might have been a little miffed that I had another surgeon repair the hernia. I don't know who is a bigger control freak, Dr. Shina or me. He wants control of his patient's abdomens and I want to determine and control my own plans. The surgeon who did the hernia repair last summer, did it on a Saturday and let me go back to work on Monday. I have a desk job. I saw Dr. Shina last Wednesday as a follow-up to the referral to the gastroenterologist. I took my husband with me and it was a good thing. I probably would have walked out on Dr. Shina and it would not have been Dr. Shina's fault. I already had a surgery plan worked out in my mind. How I could have laproscopic surgery on a Thursday or Friday and I could return to work the next week. Well, Dr. Shina had a different plan and boy I did not like it at all. It seems that I am going to have a open gallbladder surgery along with a hernia repair and exploratory lap. Dr. Shina sure did have to do some talking, I told I could not take off work, I did not want an open procedure, any excuse I could come up with. He looked at my husband and asked if I was into control. My husband was kind and said I am really dedicated to my job. I said again I could not take off work and Dr. Shina asked my husband if it was financial, I have plenty of paid time off. I am the only person who does my job and it is a required postition (I am a discharge planner in a small rural hospital). Dr. Shina ended up saying I could go back to work part-time after two weeks. I know now that he was telling me what I wanted to hear. I know when I left his office, he had to laugh a little at me and my reaction. Boy, I am a control freak. Dr. Shina spent 45 minutes with me and my husband, he answered questions, discussed different possibilities and was extremely patient with me. I will have all this surgery done on March 17th. The reason I am writing this is because anybody out there trying to decide on a surgeon, I want them to know what a great surgeon Dr. Shina is and how he really does care about his patients. I have been able to maintain my weight loss, I had actually lost 1 pound from October, I had labs done on Monday before I saw Dr. Shina and they could not have been better. I continue to work-out and three to four times a week. Life is good. Definitely, gastric bypass surgery continues to be one of the better decisions of my life. I'll try to update after my next surgery. My life is so busy these days.
4/21/03 Just an update after my last surgery, I had surgery on March 17th. Dr. Shina removed my gallbladder, repaired three hernias and released three adhesions. My lower abdominal pain is now gone (thank you Lord). I took four weeks off from work. I needed it. Everything worked out fine at work, I found someone to fill for me. I just wanted to update and let people know what a great surgeon Dr. Shina is and how caring he is. I now know why Dr. Shina wants control over his patient's abdomen's after gastric bypass surgery. He is so skilled in taking care of abdomens and if you should have any problems with your gastric bypass, he needs to be the one to operate on you. He has been so patient and understanding with me and I am hard to deal with at times. I am a nurse and I want to control my healthcare. You know that is what nurses do for their patients, help control the patient's healthcare. I had a few complications, nothing to do with Dr. Shina's expertise. It has to do with my body's reaction to surgery. I have seen Dr. Shina every week since surgery and we are getting to know each other quite well. For those considering weight loss surgery, Dr. Shina is the best choice. I continue to lose a few pounds here and there. I will try to update after my annual visit which will be in August."
"The nursing staff was extremely helpful and considerate. They brought an extra hospital bed into my room for my family to use. The staff was responsive to my requests. My only negative thought about my hospitalization is my last morning I was having extreme abdominal pain before my next dose of pain medication was due and the nurse was trying convince me to wait until the next dose was due. My sister came in and insisted that the surgeon was contacted and he was and he ordered another pain med for breakthrough pain. I don' think I could have asked for better care."
