Welk in Seattle? or Casselith or Orringer in CA?

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9lives70
9lives70 Member Posts: 127
edited November 2017 in Breast Reconstruction

I consulted with him and he seems quite good at what he does if not a bit arrogant :-) if anyone has used him and has been happy or unhappy with the with the results please let me know.

I also plan to consult with Dr. Lisa Casselith iif anyone has any input on her?

Last but not least I've heard Dr. Orringer in LA is very good at what he does. ( however the California docs would be out of network for me :)

Looking to do implant -based reconstruction…

Thanks,

marina

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  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited December 2016

    Marina, I have got to tell you my ps was so full of himself. I mentioned in the message I sent you. Talk about an ego, oh boy but he did a good job on me.

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  • SeattleBound
    SeattleBound Member Posts: 48
    edited January 2017

    Any feedback on Welk or Cassileth

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  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited January 2017

    Did you see the people outside Paul Ryan's office and the twitter fury going on? I would love to join them. I don't have twitter but maybe I should get involved. I did hear the were able to shutdown or block the feeds. Not sure how it is possible but I guess you can block and ignore on twitter too.

    He needs to get the message.

    Sorry I think I posted this on wrong thread. But my message is also don't write off a plastic surgeon on ego. You actually want one that is a perfectionist and has extreme confidence.

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  • Raelan
    Raelan Member Posts: 200
    edited January 2017

    I'm a Welk patient. Very, very happy with my outcome. I had a double masectomy, with radiation on one side. He did fat grafting on me prior a Lat flap and implants. Yes, he has a bit of an ego, but I found he was truly dedicated to making sure I was happy with the outcome. A real perfection. You won't regret going with him.

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  • Artista928
    Artista928 Member Posts: 2,753
    edited January 2017

    That's true about ego. Look at his/her work. Go and read reviews like on yelp. I worked for a surgeon who has an ego though it's not too bad, but he is a perfectionist and is proud of his work.

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  • SeattleBound
    SeattleBound Member Posts: 48
    edited January 2017

    Thank you, ladies. Unfortunately, he is in with a group and the website has no photos of his work. Does anyone know about Dr. Baxter in Mountain Lake? I am very impressed with all I have read about him, including blog posts and answers he has written

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  • 9lives70
    9lives70 Member Posts: 127
    edited January 2017

    thank you! So happy to hear this;) Glad things went well for you. This makes me very happy as I'm probably going to go with him

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  • 123meesha
    123meesha Member Posts: 16
    edited August 2017

    Hello. I am in the process of trying to build the best possible team for a nipple sparing BMX and reconstruction. I plan to consult with some of the same surgeons listed here. If any of you have experience with any of these surgeons I would love to hear about how it went.

    I might go with Dr Hakim Said but am nervous about using UW since it is a teaching hospital. It would be great to hear results good or bad. I am also curious about Dr Welk and Dr Schmidek. I really think I need someone who is open to doing the surgery in a way that is individualized to me, rather than just doing it one specific way. I have been researching for a while now, and I have been feeling a bit discouraged.

    I am also considering Dr Lisa Casselith and Dr Orringer, though I still need to confirm my out of network benefits for these doctors, and it would be extremely inconvenient and expensive to have surgery in CA. Dr Casselith displays some amazing pictures on her website, but it almost looks too good to be true.

    Any input would be greatly appreciated!

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  • MsLin
    MsLin Member Posts: 93
    edited August 2017

    Meesha - Don't be afraid of UW Medical. It is the best hospital in the state. I've had multiple surgeries (breast and other) and have had experience at multiple hospitals in the state and by far UW was the single best one. My PS is Ottaway Louie and he's fantastic. He's rather soft spoken, not egotistical and takes time to explain what you need. I'm at TE phase right now, but they look great! Clearly I would rather have the final reconstruction done, but if I have to live with TEs for over a year he did a great job. Dr. Louie took the time to talk with me about my reconstruction options. I am going to go with DIEP flap. He did not push that. He did say own tissue is a better choice for those undergoing radiation (which I am).

    My overall point in responding was to say don't rule out UW. They are fantastic teachers. You want doctors who can help teach the next generation of surgeons

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  • reneeCA
    reneeCA Member Posts: 45
    edited August 2017

    Hi 123 meesha I had a botched BMX with direct-to-implants with an LA doctor - I'm in horrible pain with bilateral frozen shoulder and my armpits were ruined by Dr. Nincompoop. I have met with 10 plastic surgeons to fix me and do a revision and I decided to go with Lisa Cassileth. She is an expert at direct-to-implants and works with Heather Richardson & Leslie Memsic who do great nipple sparing. I have seen a woman that Cassileth did and she looks & feels fantastic. I met with Orringer, too. He has a different approach that I would just call more traditional. PM me if you want me to out you in touch with the Cassileth patient.

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  • 123meesha
    123meesha Member Posts: 16
    edited September 2017

    I am still working on building a surgical team and I'm hoping to get this figured out soon. I had planned to have the surgery in August, but I need to find a team and plant that I am comfortable with first.

    MsLin- Thank you for your reply. I am glad to hear UW was good for you. Dr Louie sounds great! I think UW can be great for lots of people. I talked again with a BS there and I haven't been put at ease by my experience. On the PS side, Dr Hakim Said at UW seems great. I think he is very caring and open minded. Unfortunately he's not able to team up with a BS that I am comfortable with, and I do want immediate reconstruction, so I would need them to coordinate.

    Renee- Thank you again for the PM and for sharing your story. I hope your revision goes great! I'm still considering Casselith and Orringer.

    I have also started looking at Dennis Holmes in L.A. from what I've read he sounds great, but I haven't consulted with him at this point, and I don't yet know which PS he would recommend or be willing to work with.

    I have continued to research this night and day. I am learning more about what I hope to achieve, but also that what I want is is also very hard to find. At this point, I'm thinking I will likely travel for the surgery, and I am willing to consider going anywhere in the US for it. I want an open minded and leading edge team with amazing BS who is focused on minimally invasive surgery, paired up with an experienced/expert reconstructive specialist who is willing to consider a customized personalized reconstruction for me.

    Any suggestions, messages or comments - good or bad - are much appreciated!

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  • macb04
    macb04 Member Posts: 1,433
    edited September 2017

    Hi,

    I had really bad care at UW. They ignored my pain when I was getting the sentinal node biopsy. After the mx when I was up on the med surg floor I had this team of residents treat me like I was deaf, went right outside my room loudly discussing my case. Also, had a horribly incompetent BS named Dr David Byrd put their port in crooked. It barely worked. I had to be poked 2 to 3 times in the chest, PAINFULLY! every week for 5 months. I didn't realize the port was crooked, none of the techs or nurses poking me every week ever mentioned it could be crooked. I found out purely by accident, when I got an xray somewhere else, the xray tech used to do port surveillance, after insertion. He said, "Oh My GOD! Your port is crooked! " What the F*ck!!! That's the care I got at University of Washington. Completely substandard. I am so traumatized by needles, now I can only get dental care when I am gassed with Nitrous up to my eyeballs.

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  • 123meesha
    123meesha Member Posts: 16
    edited October 2017

    HI MacB. I jwanted to thank you for sharing your story. You have been through so much, and I'm sorry to hear about all ot the trauma you have suffered. You have helped a lot of us here by sharing your experience. I have decided against UW Seattle/SCCA care. I think they are way too liberal with letting the residents do the actual surgeries, and they can get too caught up in bureaucracy. I do think that Dr Said is great, but neither Javid or Said could promise that the resident would not be performing major aspects of the surgery. I have also had bad experiences with SCCA and UW Seattle, so I'm trying to cut my losses here.

    I just returned this week from a trip to L.A. to explore options down there. I met about 10 surgeons, and still did not walk away with a clear plan.For Los Angeles, I narrowed the selection to two possible teams down there, either Dennis Holmes and Peter Ashjian or Dr Dinome and Dr Crisera. I would still need to research both teams more before deciding, and now that I'm back I decided to see Dr Hutter in Renton. He seems great, and I will see him again to review photos, and ask more details about his approach. If I go with Dr Hutter, I would probably also go with Dr Tori McFall. From what I gather, Hutter and McFall work together often. I feel a bit strange about leaving Seattle's big proud medical centers to go out toward Renton, which is more of a suburb. I'm trying so hard to find the best team I can, and it would be great if I didn't have to travel out of state to do so. (Just a recap here, I am planning nipple sparing BMX and one big reason I'm looking outside Seattle is that most of the top PS in Seattle insist on a 2-6 week delay after MX, prior to placing expanders, and for me that is just not acceptable.)

    I would be very interested in hearing of any experiences with McFall/Hutter at Valley Medical in Renton, since this is the team I am most strongly considering at this point. I know Valley Medical is another branch of UW but I am told that I can opt out of care from residents at Valley. I don't have any personal experince with the place, so am interested in hearing about that too.

    I am also interested in Drs Dinome/Crisera at UCLA (they use residents, but apparently to a much lesser degree than at SCCA/UW), or Holmes/Ashjian in Glendale. I would like to see more reviews and pictures from ALL of these doctors, but unfortunately reviews and pictures can be hard to come by.

    If anyone has info they don't want to post publicly please feel free to send me a PM. Any input is greatly appreciated as I work on this huge decision which will impact the rest of my life.


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  • 123meesha
    123meesha Member Posts: 16
    edited October 2017

    HI Ladies- I had my follow up with Dr Hutter in Seattle and left his office felling disappointed. When I scheduled the follow up, I had specifically requested to see pictures, but when I arrived, the doc was unable to show me any before and after pics. I was so disappointed because without pictures I was not able to gain the level of trust I need to undergo surgery with him. I offered to schedule another appointment to review pictures, or to review pictures with one of his staff, but he declined on both counts, saying that he wouldn't have time to organize the pictures since he had other patients with active cancers, waiting to get in to see him. I have grade 3 DCIS and some high risk mutations, maybe I'm "lucky" because I get to have nipple sparing surgery, but having to have a a MX doesn't feel that lucky to me. :(

    I am wondering have any of you have had the experience of not being offered pictures to review prior to undergoing reconstructive surgery? I don't get it. Since it is plastic surgery, shouldn't they have pictures for us to review? Am I being too picky? If this is the norm, I think the standard should be raised. Most of these guys have been in practice 10 to 20 years, often saying they do surgeries like this several times per week, it seems they should all have at least one per year that they could show to patients in an office setting. Given that logic, I think it should be reasonable to expect to see at least 10 examples of before and after pics from a surgeon who has been specialized in recon for over 10 years. I'm wondering what you all think of this.

    I'm really feeling down because I'm back to the drawing board, trying to select a surgical team. I want to be done with this, or at least get it going since this whole thing has really taken over my life, plus I worry that the high grade DCIS could progress into something else while I toil over these decisions.

    At this point I am willing to travel, but would prefer to stay in the Seattle area. I am thinking I will likely end up out of state, if I do travel, West Coast would be easier. I mentioned in my post above that i'm considering the following teams in Los Angeles: Dennis Holmes with Peter Ashjian; or Dr Maggie Dinome with Dr Chris Crisera. I am now also planning a consult with Dr Leif Rogers, but he is out of network with all insurance. In state, I am also now considering dr Kimberly Lu in Issaquah. If any of you have experience with these docs I would love to hear your comments. I am going to go back to my list to see which other LA doctors might be able to work with Holmes or Dinome, and I am open to more suggestions if any of you have them.

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  • OrcaPorkka
    OrcaPorkka Member Posts: 61
    edited November 2017

    I hadn't been online in a while, but I will say that both I, and another friend, both used Dr. Lu inIssaquah and are very pleased. Mine was a skin sparing BMX, and hers (smaller breasted) was a nipple sparing BMX, with the incision in the mammary fold. Both of us ended up with lovely symmetrical results

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