Surgical style - what difference do it make?

[Lost Sheep]

Dr Kramer's bedside manner may be his Achilles heel. He was VERY kind and helpful to my via emails when I was in the process of choosing a surgeon and struggling with authorizations.

Alas, the best people (in any field of endeavor) can be prone to "burnout".

At that time, some posts on FrankTalk (Note: I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the content of those posts) indicated that he was getting so frustrated with the demands on his time, particularly some difficult patients that he was considering changing his practice.

All this is for me to say that my communications with Dr. Kramer showed him (to me, at least) to be a truly caring humanitarian.

I am compelled to note that Dr. Eid was similarly helpful, caring and generous with his time and advice, as was the (local) surgeon I eventually chose.

How these excellent surgeons keep their aplomb with all the demands on their attention and time, is a wonder.

[oldbeek]

I took a serious look at both surgeons last year when I was shopping doctors. At that time I found several guys on this site that used Kramer and got their pumps installed to high. They had to return to get them relocated. 2 trips to Maryland! I decided on DrEid for that reason. Then I saw Dr Karpman mentioned on here. He is in Mountain View CA. But he does infrapubic. Lots of chatter on here about infrapubic being unsatisfactory also at that time. I called Dr Karpman for an interview and he was very personable, but, he told me that a guy that was as good or better was at USC (90 miles fro me), in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Dr Boyd has since retired as he had been doing IPP since the late 70s.
I would recommend Dr Karpman on the west coast, but at USC an intern named Dr Loh Doyle who specializes in IPP that worked under Dr Boyd for 10 years would be good.
Long story short, I think there are lots of good surgeons out there not mentioned on this site. They should be explored before flying half way across the country on the word of a few on this site.

[Lost Sheep]

(edited for focus)
They should be explored before flying half way across the country on the word of a few on this site.

My chosen surgeon told me, You will be overflying a lot of good surgeons if you go from Alaska to the East Coast for surgery. Dr Shaw was such a surgeon. He was published in Medical Journals (co-authoring with Dr. Garber, who also has a lot of experience) and we had good rapport.

Publication is not necessarily an indicator of a good surgeon, but it does show that the surgeon has interest in the discipline.

[robertm]

Larry, you said "Dr. Eid ONLY uses the Titan". That's what I thought but some of the photos on his website of implanted patients include some AMS patients. Is there another doc in his practice that does AMS?

https://www.urologicalcare.com/patient- ... -implants/

[Larry10625]

Dr Kramer's bedside manner may be his Achilles heel. He was VERY kind and helpful to my via emails when I was in the process of choosing a surgeon and struggling with authorizations.

Alas, the best people (in any field of endeavor) can be prone to "burnout".

At that time, some posts on FrankTalk (Note: I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the content of those posts) indicated that he was getting so frustrated with the demands on his time, particularly some difficult patients that he was considering changing his practice.

All this is for me to say that my communications with Dr. Kramer showed him (to me, at least) to be a truly caring humanitarian.

I am compelled to note that Dr. Eid was similarly helpful, caring and generous with his time and advice, as was the (local) surgeon I eventually chose.

How these excellent surgeons keep their aplomb with all the demands on their attention and time, is a wonder.

Not necessarily saying this about Dr. Kramer but I have been reading more and more that when our members do their homework and go to the doctor and ask questions, they get all defensive and then don't want to see them anymore. DougAnd, is this maybe your issue?

Larry

[Larry10625]

Larry, you said "Dr. Eid ONLY uses the Titan". That's what I thought but some of the photos on his website of implanted patients include some AMS patients. Is there another doc in his practice that does AMS?

https://www.urologicalcare.com/patient- ... -implants/

Oh, I don't know. Maybe he use to and now just uses the Titan... He, himself, told me that he only uses the Titan and for that reason ONLY, I would not recommend him to members even if he was the closest. The Titan is NOT suitable for everybody. Notice that patient #7 with an AMS LGX experienced a 20% gain over the implanted size. Later it mentions the AMS Ultrex, I have never heard of that model.

Larry

[DougAnd]

"Not necessarily saying this about Dr. Kramer but I have been reading more and more that when our members do their homework and go to the doctor and ask questions, they get all defensive and then don't want to see them anymore. DougAnd, is this maybe your issue? "
Larry

In general the really good ones I've talked to have no problems with questions. I have never talked to Dr Kramer but have faxed some concerns. But yes the real assholes do just walk out.
The issue today is that Kramer's move has slowed down the clearing process. I started months in advance knowing that I would fail my EKG. Now I'm down to the wire and no way will I be able to get a stress test in time to get my paperwork in for my June 19th surgery.
Danielle is trying to help but obviously is over taxed. If she cannot get Kramer's nurse to sign off on my cardios approval then I'm done. My wife and I are already talking about touring DC cannot get a refund for my tickets out. We may just let them go and stay home. If Rob turns out good I may use his doctor he does not require me to pass the EKG. Any head of cardio from Cleveland clinic Ohio is gold in my book. I may be looking at another August surgery.

[HomeTeam]

"Not necessarily saying this about Dr. Kramer but I have been reading more and more that when our members do their homework and go to the doctor and ask questions, they get all defensive and then don't want to see them anymore. DougAnd, is this maybe your issue? "
Larry

In general the really good ones I've talked to have no problems with questions. I have never talked to Dr Kramer but have faxed some concerns. But yes the real assholes do just walk out.
The issue today is that Kramer's move has slowed down the clearing process. I started months in advance knowing that I would fail my EKG. Now I'm down to the wire and no way will I be able to get a stress test in time to get my paperwork in for my June 19th surgery.
Danielle is trying to help but obviously is over taxed. If she cannot get Kramer's nurse to sign off on my cardios approval then I'm done. My wife and I are already talking about touring DC cannot get a refund for my tickets out. We may just let them go and stay home. If Rob turns out good I may use his doctor he does not require me to pass the EKG. Any head of cardio from Cleveland clinic Ohio is gold in my book. I may be looking at another August surgery.

DouAnd that sucks! I really hope you can get it done in June!

[newbie443]

These are the two I want the surgery from so scroll past this post if you don’t like it.

I had way less than perfect results from my doc in my signature. Not sure who I will go to for my revision when I am able to afford it. Thing is I was unlucky enough to have some problems. And my doc refused to see me about them until weeks later after I received a partial fix by an AMS rep. If that fix to my second problem had happened 3 weeks earlier things may have been a bit better. My problems involve my pump and my cylinders inflating differently. It is a long story but I have the saved e-mails of this from him plus there is a thread on this site of the second problem where in his e-mail he stated he had no idea what to do as he never had this problem with anyone who lasted as long as mine did. He did call me after that thread was posted and finally offered to see me changing his statement in the e-mail that he could fix it in his office in a very short time. Some damage had already been done and I had already had the partial fix by the AMS rep and did not fly back to see him as I was unable to do so by then.

Thing is I have no one anywhere close to where I live that my insurance will pay that I trust to do anything related to this. So I had to travel to have this done. For me I think I made the right choice to go to a doc with a good reputation for this. I was just unlucky to get a device that does not work properly. I could only afford one attempt at this as I paid out of pocket for this and it will be a few years before I can afford to try again. Even after the problems I still have something that works mostly and feel much better than I did before this surgery. Albeit not the perfect or near perfect outcome I had paid for and expected.

Bottom line to my post is that no one is perfect. It is difficult for follow up over the phone or e-mails. Much easier if you have a very good doc close to you IF problems occur. And much easier to get back in to see your doc. Both of these doc's are very good. Your chances of an as perfect outcome as you can have is very high with each of them. But there are others across the US and the world that are very good also. I would choose a local very good doc for the follow up care if that option was available to me. It was not, and I still think I made a good choice. Just keep in mind that all doc's have revision rates and it is possible that something will go wrong. Last time I checked Eid posted on his web site each of his patients with infection and the date. And devices malfunction and fail. Much better if you have someone local just in case. But if like me you don't then either one would be a good choice. As would be many others across the world.

What problems are you having?

Larry

My intention was to give info on my doc after a post by a member brought attention to posts by other members that had not used either. And to point out that return follow up in the very rare occasion of problems can be problematic. I did not intend to bash either doc just try to provide info to other members who would read this thread.

I would be happy Larry to discuss this in PM, phone call or e-mail and keep this thread centered on other members dealings with these 2 fine doctors.

[DougAnd]

I would still use Kramer hands down. The problem is timing yet again. Could not use him last year because I missed that small window. Now history repeats itself. His move has nothing to do with his expertise. Just sad but life is life . And I cannot wait another year.