Surgical Associates Ltd. Bariatric Center

Dr. Graham has a proven record of success with my kind of surgery. He seems extremely confident. He took a lot of time with us during my first visit and answered all of our questions clearly and honestly. I'm nervous about the surgery but I have the utmost confidence in Dr. Graham. His nurse, Sheryl, is outstanding, too.

Dr. Graham and his nurse Cheryl surpassed my expectations.
Very professional and confident, yet warm and understanding.
Also is very highly respected by other area physicians.
Helped very much in moving insurance approval along for my husband
and hope he does the same for me.

Dr Graham was very informative . The reason I chose him intead of the Dr O`Brien is I have had several surgeries before and will require being opened up rather than the use of the scope. Due to the amount of scar tissue we think that I have. The staff at his office is excellent and very helpful anytime I have called they call right back when I cant reach them. So far I havent encountered anything negative with my visit to his office. Only 1 trip the rest was over the phone. I am pretty familiar with the problems of surgery I have had 3 major surgeries. And from past surgeries I would say both bed side manner and competence are need to be 100%.

he was a very friendly and open person.

He is still friendly but is not very informative.

The staff is nice and quite informative.

My only dislike is that he just is not very informative and rushes his patients through.

To hold him in the office until you have asked every question you can possibly think of.

Dr Graham himself doesn't, his nurse does all of that.

There really wasn't much of an aftercare program. I was scheduled out for a 6 week post-op appointment and that was all.

He really didn't bring up any of the possible risk from the surgery. I had a few quetions and he was o.k. with answering them but otherwise he didn't bring anything up himself.

As a suergon, he is very good. I am very satisfied with the results and minimal post-op problems. But he does need to work on his office skills.

I would have to say that his surgical competence is much better.

Busy but willing to sit and chat and answer questions for 45 minutes non-stop...even drew little pictures of the RNY surgery for me. No nonsense approach and affect but approachable and willing to answer difficult questions - mortality/morbidity, etc....

As to structure of pre-op "program" this I do not yet know....

---UPDATE....DID PRE-OPs at Sioux Valley Hospital in SIoux Falls, S.D. on 09/28/02
and had blood drawn and dietary consult..talked about "fletcherizing (grinding to goo) all food after 8 weeks and the miniscule amounts ...etc...this dietician BELIEVES that all diets should not be "pure" protein but reflect a "normal" balance of proteing, carbs, etc....which was interesting although from what I read high protein IS the way to go early on ...and perhaps necessary. She laughed when I told her that Kellogg (of Corn Flakes fame) and his associate Fletcher (Dietician Theorist/partner to the cereal company) were cultish kooks whose idea of health included group high-colonics...Fletcher died of MALNUTRITION...so go figure.....

I will have an endrocinologist consult as I am a Type I diabetic...that was set up...and I did a 30 min. meeting with Doctor Donald Graham. He is and continues to be concerned, interested in questions, able to say "I dont know", generally a confident and professional doc.

After waiting for over 2 hours, (I'm not a very patient person). I was impressed by his quiet manner. He listened to me and anwered my questions. He also asked my husband what he thought, which impressed him.

Hello:

My journey to WLS started last July, when I happened to run into a friend who had had lap. gastric bypass. Until that point I wasn't aware that a lap procedure available, OR that insurance companies were covering it. I'd been interested in the surgery but thought it was out of the question due to expense. I also stayed away because I was scared of the long and painful recovery I'd heard was associated with the open procedure. Needless to say, my meeting with this friend and our resulting conversation peeked my interest.

I saw Dr. O'Brien at the end of July. I found him to be very informative, patient and kind. He did not try to "sell" me the surgery, but instead made it clear that this is not the magic cure, but a tool to be used to attain the weight loss. The real work would be up to me. He also took the time to answer every question I had (and I had a lot of them!). Fortunately, his office had sent me a packet of info ahead of time and that, combined with research I'd done on the internet, prepared me for our appointment. I left feeling like my questions had been answered, and now it was up to me to make an informed decision.

Dr. O's office sent a letter to my insurance company immediately, and within 2 weeks I had my approval. My surgery date was set for November 21. And no, I didn't chicken out! I'm now 10 days post-op.

I didn't see Dr. O'Brien much while I was in the hospital. It was more like him popping his head in my room and touching base. Fortunately I'd had all of my questions answered when I met him in his office. And even MORE fortunately, the hospital staff was very helpful and knowledgable. One nurse told me they see 2-4 WLS patients a week.


Through the whole process Dr. O'Brien has continued to be supportive and compassionate, as has his staff. I was in the week after my surgery to have my staples taken out by the nurse, and she too took the time to listen to my concerns and answer my questions. Like Dr. O., she emphasized the importance of following their directions carefully and gently warned me that this is NOT a cure, and that I would need to be diligent and make some permanent changes in my eating habits and lifestyle in order to maintain long-term success.

Overall, I would rate Dr. O. and his staff at a 10 out of 10.

Dr. Obrien was great. He is a very good doctor and I have not have any negative experiences with him. He is very helpful in answering any questions I had and helping me in any way that I needed. I would suggest him to anyone that was thinking about having the surgery done. I do have future apts to see the doctor and also my nutritionalist. But I have no complaints what so ever.

Dr. O'brien was professional, courteous and answered all my questions. His nurses and office staff are very friendly and helpful.
I have heard such wonderful things from all people who have had his surgery. They are very loyal and describe him as a brilliant surgeon who is very compassionate. One thing I did not know prior to meeting with him is that he performs the lap mini-gastric bypass surgery (loop bipass), not the lap RNY. I had difficulty finding information on this surgery. He has a well-defined expectations and program. This would be my first surgery of any kind, I would rate him very highly at this stage. I have not had the surgery at this point, I am still battling with the insurance companiesl.

LAP MGB PATIENT: I had no clue as to what Dr. O'Brien was going to be like but my first impression of him was that he's a bit shy. He's a slim, attractive man with nearly all white hair and beard. I only met with him once which was the day just before my surgery as I was an out-of-state patient. Dr. O'Brien and his staff are very understanding as far as the needs of their out-of-town patients and they try to accomidate you as much as they can. Dr. O'Brien also has a toll free number in which people can call his office for questions and he has internet e-mail too. There wasn't anything that I didn't like about Dr. O, but if I "have" to say something negative, then I would say that I found him a little on the quiet side. But I don't think that's a bad thing really. As far as things future Lap MGB people need to know about him is that Dr. O's program as compared with Dr. R's program is far from being the same. The only thing about these two surgeons that is the same is that they do the exact same proceedure (Lap MGB). Things differant is that Dr. O takes insurance, he only requires one post op visit (unless you are having problems), he does not require a 12 step packet with letters and contacts, no pictures, no pre-op meds, only one post op med for 2 months total, and that's it. It's completely hassel free. He does not push patients into 3, 6, 9, 12 month and etc. follow-up appointments. He does tell you to take your vitamin once a day and B-12 tablets every other day. And if you have problems (depending on the particular problem) to see your family doctor or call his office. I would rate him a 9 out of 10 because I do believe that his program could be improved on as far as having a website similar to Dr. R's so people could have access to more information about the Lap MGB and the other types of surgeries he preforms (RNY). As far as I'm concerned, Dr. O is a very competent surgeon and I'm sure he's not as shy had I lived in South Dakota and been able to meet with him more before my surgery. Dr. O'Briens pts. have a free Yahoo support group that I highly recommend at.... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DrOBrienMGBGroup/?yguid=95987796

Good luck to you all!
Peggy