Re: What's in a stone? (X-post)

[Guest guest]

Steve: Am so glad that your doc seems to be getting to

the source of the problem with your stone formation.

This is one medical problem I've never encountered

(knock on wood) and I consider myself fortunate. I

did have gall stones several years ago and have had 3

babies and those were about equally painful so I'll

pass on the kidney stones.

You have probably already shared your story many times

but I'm fairly new to this site. I may be self-pay or,

if I'm lucky, may be able to obtain an out-of-network

referral for the DS. Dr Elariny is within driving

distance for me and I'd like your opinion/experience

with him. Were you self-pay? Is he very experienced?

Would appreciate anything you can share. Thanks much.

> After going through the probable causes, we came to

> a tentative

> conclusion that the excess uric acid in my system

=====

+Doris in PA+

Hoping for DS

BMI 54

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

At 12:38 PM -0700 9/28/01, Ms Doris Bridges wrote:

>... Dr Elariny is within driving

>distance for me and I'd like your opinion/experience

>with him. Were you self-pay? Is he very experienced?

>Would appreciate anything you can share. Thanks much.

>

Thanks for your kind note, Doris. Dr. Elariny it a SUPERB surgeon.

By now, he must have done well over 100 DS's. My experience with

him, in a nutshell, was that while he is top-notch, his office was

not well-organized, though this is changing for the better. At least

EVERYBODY in his office did his/her level best to help, and all were

kind. It's just that they were overworked because of the rising

popularity of the surgery, and they were somewhat disorganized. To

give you an example of his skill, when he was doing a lap DS on Jeffi

two days ago, he found that she had a tear in her diaphragm, and he

sewed that up, laparoscopically, while he was inside. On Sept. 12th,

I woke up with terrible pains in my lower right quadrant, where a

good deal of the surgery took place (in May). I thought it was a

kidney stone (it was), but I was also afraid lest it might have

something to do with the surgery. So, I had him paged at 5 AM,

thinking that he would be up and getting ready for hospital rounds by

then. Well, I roused him from sleep, but he called back within five

minutes. So, I would have absolutely no qualms about going to him

for surgery and putting my life in his hands.

I was not self-pay. Fortunately, I had Federal GEHA/Alliance. They

paid all but about $3000 of my total bills. My total bills were well

over $30,000, when everything was counted. $20,500 for the hospital

stay alone, and about $7800 for Dr. Elariny, $2000 for the

anesthesiologist, etc., etc., etc.

So, if you cannot get any insurance, and if you are not independently

wealthy, you might be thinking of Spain and Dr. Baltasar.

Good luck,

Steve

--

Steve Goldstein, age 61

Lap BPD/DS on May 2, 2001

Dr. Elariny, INOVA Fairfax Hospital, Virginia

Starting (05/02/01) BMI = 51

BMI on 09/27 = 41 (-66 lb.)