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Hi everyone Smiler
I've spent the weekend lurking your site. I've come over from the healing well forum as I feel I'm at the end of my rope and want to at least start consulting surgeons. I've read several threads from a search on where to go. I am currently in Austin, TX and given the quality of our gi doctors (I'm not impressed),I'm not counting on finding a top notch colorectal surgeon here. Houston and Dallas no doubt have some people, but I question if they are the caliber of, say, Cleveland Clinic. For those of you who travelled for surgeries--was the comfort of having the best operate on you worth being away from home/having to travel back for recovery? Or is it better to stick close to home? I found so many posts of "best surgeon near ---" but I'm scared enough to do this at all, let alone be stuck with whoever happens to live close. Feel free to throw out names or places, as I'm currently leaning towards travel to the best possible place that will have me!

As a little background, I began showing UC symptoms during my first pregnancy in early 2009, and was diagnosed in early 2010. I've had brief periods of remission (like a month here and there) since, but have fallen into a flare/recurring cdiff hell that no meds even pretend to touch. I'm working towards getting rid of the cdiff, but mentally and as far as med options I am just done with the UC. It may be a year before I fully commit to the jpouch surgery but in the next few months I'd at least like to meet with surgeons before I find myself in an emergency situation.

Thanks all Smiler
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Hi and welcome!

I live in NJ so I can't offer names of surgeons but if you have to by all means travel to get a good one. The j pouch procedure is very complex so you need a surgeon that's done tons of them. My surgeon is about an hour from me but if I had to I would have went further. Hopefully someone in your area will come along and give you some names. Good luck!
Benched,
I've met with patients who came from great distances to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to have surgery. Most often they do 2-step j-pouches here (I have one myself). Patients often go home in as few as a few days. I fought my UC for pver a year, I lost 100 lbs, and if I had it to do over again, I would have had the surgery long before I decided to do it. I can recommend many great surgerons at Mayo. Mine was Dr David W Larson. I've had my pouch since 2006 and doing well.

Good Luck to You,

Mark
Wonderful-I will look into the guy at Mayo. I have heard great things about their gi department so surely their cr surgeons are top notch as well

Assuming that you travelled for the good doctors at CC, what makes you want to stay closer to home rather than use one of his colleagues?

I think once I decided I could live if the pouch gets infected, I'm now excited to get the ball rolling with surgery. I'm definitely over feeling trapped every single day.

Thanks Smiler
Phillip Huber and Warren Lichliter in Dallas, TX (Warren is out of Baylor and Huber out of Medical City) are in the top 1% in the nation for colorectal. Huber was voted most compassionate colorectal surgeon by USA Today Health as well. I would have been ok if they even told me I would die in surgery, that is how great they made me feel about surgery in general. I consulted with MDA even and hated the people there.

I would meet with both of them. You won't be disappointed. The only reason I didn't go with them is I had a BCIR done and they do not do those pouches.

Lichliter was the only one that went in to test my polyps and tumors when everyone else wanted to just give me a jpouch. If he didn't do that I would have had stage 3 rectal cancer by now if not worse.

If you ever want a GOOD GI and won't mind traveling to Dallas for her. Check out Elizabeth Odstricil. She was trained by my geneticist/GI and good with IBD, FAP, etc.
There is another guy that I hated but he did 1k jpouches at his residency at Cleveland Clinic. He is in Dallas but I hated his bedside manner that I crossed him off the list. If you google robotic jpouch Plano, TX you might find him. If I saw his name i might recognize it. He is in a Texas colorectal group.

Lichliter is very good. Huber is also but that is a call you can make. I loved Huber and went back to him for final decision before having the BCIR done and he talked to me as if I was his daughter and suggested I get the BCIR.

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