Advice in BC?

[sounder]

So I just got back from the doc's office (not my regular doc, someone who was standing in for him).  He confirmed that it is, in fact gyno that I have (I have pics in the photo forum).  He also said that I would not be covered by BC medical were I to go see doctor Feilding in Toronto.  I got a referal to a local plastic surgeon (a doctor Malpass), who I will see sometime in the next month or two.  I am a little concerned as I live in a pretty small city (Prince George, but I will check it out anyways.  I very much want to get surgery, but I don't want to see a crappy doctor and get crappy results.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

That doctor also seems to think that most of the posters on this board are "agents" of dr.fielding, doing advertising for him.

[Grandpa Bambu]

He also said that I would not be covered by BC medical were I to go see doctor Feilding in Toronto.

Dude...  give JCF's office a call (phone number in Sig below), and ask Leslie (Dr. Fielding's secretary) if BCmed will cover your Excision and hospital fees. Lipo will not be covered. 

That doctor also seems to think that most of the posters on this board are "agents" of dr.fielding, doing advertising for him.

'Agents'?           Naw dude.... just very satisfied patients!!!   

Doc Fielding doesn't need agents to 'advertise' here... 'Proof' of his expertise in GRS speaks volumes. 

John.

[Saanich]

BC Med is covering my excision with Fielding.

First I contacted two Dr's in BC and was quoted a fee of $5000 with one and $5800 with another.

I decided to go with Fielding based on his reputation on this board. He is charging me $1700 for the lipo portion. Since there is such a huge price difference, I also asked him to do my abdomen and flanks for another $1700.

[sounder]

Well I guess first hand experience trumps the opinion of some random doctor.  I will give Dr.Fielding's office a call and get all that information together.  Thanks a lot.

[Grandpa Bambu]

Well I guess first hand experience trumps the opinion of some random doctor.  I will give Dr.Fielding's office a call and get all that information together.  Thanks a lot.

No Probs dude....   

John.

[supaaman]

From BC.  Had surgery in August with Fielding.  He did a pretty good job.  It was $1800 all in.  I have done the research on BC surgeons.  Fielding does more gyne surgeries in a week than any BC surgeon does in a year... nuff said.  Trust me, all these guys are not agents for Fielding.  Fielding doesn't even have a website.  He's so busy, he can't advertise!

[sounder]

Oh awesome, ok well then that straightens things out quite a bit.  Thanks a lot.

[buble]

You know, some of these local surgeons can be REALLY good.  I had my consultation with Fielding as well, but after a good talk with my GP, he convinced me that a local surgeon (to whom he referred me) would do just as good of a job.  I had my surgery done with him and I am VERY pleased with my result.  Next to no bruising, surgery went great, and I got 3 visits from home nursing the week following my surgery, to clean and change my dressings.  All the nurses spoke really highly of my surgeon and told me that all his surgeries are always done so well and clean.  AND the best part was that it was all covered, I didn't have to pay a penny.  I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance to take some. 

I really had my doubts as well about going with this guy, because I had read so much about Fielding, and to be honest, I really liked him after my consultation and I had made up my mind on getting it done with him.  But man it was so much easier to do it here, in a hospital 5 minutes from my house, and not having to take the plane back home the day after the surgery.  Make sure u do some research about local surgeons, and ask your GP to refer you to the ones that are not opted out (i.e won't charge u for your consultation and ur surgery, or at least they may only charge u for the lipo part, because the excision is in fact covered).

Best of luck

[1234567]

Okay, I've got one hell of a decision ahead of me. Buble, the idea of going to a local doc is really appealing, and if they could do as good a job as fielding it would be awesome. On the other hand, supaaman makes a good point, Fielding does such a huge amount of surgery and has many recommendations, and you're experience with Urkani could have been atypical, we just don't have enough accounts to know. I don't know what to do.

[buble]

Well, based on what my own GP and 2 other GPs told me, this is not facial reconstruction, it's actually not that difficult of a procedure and any good surgeon can do a decent job.  Keep in mind though, the feedback here on Dr. Fielding is somewhat biased, not to say that he isn't great, I still believe he's the #1 choice if I were to do it again, but all I'm saying is for u to do some research on local doctors, I'm sure my experience is not atypical as someone said!  It just beats the hell out of having to go to Toronto, and fly back with drains in your chest, feeling the way people do after surgery. 

I've heard some good things about doctor RAI as well, and he's been doing these surgeries for a LONG time, maybe you should consult with him.  BUT, if you've got your mind set on Dr. Fielding and you're ready for the extra expenses tied with it, then you should go ahead and do it, he is very good.  JUST DO IT, stop wasting time thinking about it, like I did for 2 years.  I wish I had done this 2 years ago!  Best of luck to you

[brebguy]

buble is right. the one thing that is not so cool about the forum (and i am partly to blame for that is that patients for everywhere go to Fielding because posters went there (or to Lista). it would be great if that pattern could be broken and we could get some more feed back from local surgeons of everywhere. it is true that the fact that the local surgeons dont practice a lot of these interventions doent mean they will do a bad job. and i think that even if Fielding seems to have a close to perfect record for his gynecomastia surgery, it doesnt mean he wont screw up. maybe he's not the "best" surgeon out there as most people say.

i dont want to encourage anyone to go see a newbie but just to get information from elsewhere, this forum being almost exclusevily about Fielding. now i'm not saying there are fielding agents out there (the guy seems so far away from any type of computer technology that i doubt he uses any of these things (doesnt even have an email address) and i dont recall Leslie even using a computer... but some more information about other doctors than Fielding and Lista would be cool. cause there are MANY surgeons out there....