Meeting Dr Wittenberg For the First time

[larkyn]

I'm flying up to SFO on Friday to meet with Dr. Wittenberg for the first time (http://brownsteincrane.com/dr-heidi-wittenberg/)...

Not a lot of info out there about her right now.. I'll be sure to share any useful tidbits here in hopes that it helps someone else in the same boat that I'm in now.

I'd also love any tips... Were there any questions that you wished you asked during a consult that might be easy to forget? I want to make sure I conduct a good interview in deciding if I actually go with her or not..

Thanks!

[larkyn]

So.. I flew up to SFO and met with Dr. Wittenberg and she was very nice.

I had not wholly anticipated how awkward of a conversation it would be trying to discuss this with her. It was really dumb, actually, because I don't feel like I voiced all of the concerns or questions I had.

It was a very short appointment overall. The office in Greenbrae was nice. It was rather unassuming from the outside, but I was pleasantly surprised by the interior. Staff were also very nice and I was called back promptly at my appointment time.

I got to see some additional photos to what she has online, but all fell into the immediate post op category. She doesn't have any photos that are largely healed, etc. Despite all my trolling around for photos, it's still a bit hard to swallow only being able to go off of immediate post op photos. I don't have the experience there to really decipher if what I saw was good or bad.

We went over complications.. there was more emphasis on incision separation than I anticipated. My partner had a C-Section and her incision was separated for 5 weeks... it was pretty rough. But it's now healed and a tiny scar...

It was difficult to decipher between what was a reality of the surgery and what might be a reality of her being new to GCS.

Really, the appointment was a wake up call to the reality of what I'm trying to get into. She was the first surgeon I've met with and I didn't feel like I was sold after our consultation had ended. I still wasn't sure if I was confident in her being so new (Solo since August) but I am resolved to continue looking to make the best choice for such a major life decision. 

Next on my list is Dr. Alexander Sinclair in Los Angeles... I actually hadn't looked into him until after this appointment. I am seeing him in a few weeks and if his results are as good as what I've read I may go with him. His scheduling is about on par with Wittenberg now and he is only a 2 hour drive from my house. Means better access during my recovery and more support from my partners during recovery...

Wish me luck x.x

[SadieBlake]

Good luck!!!! :-)

If I were close to a doc with Sinclair's reputation I'd probably be opting for him.

I talked with Dr Wittenberg last night and amusingly she's used a lot of devices from a company I worked at for 15 years. I felt we bonded over this and we talked a lot about details of the procedure and specific complications and why they may happen.

[sara130]

Hey! I have a consult with Dr. Wittenberg coming up and was curious to see if anyone has had any updates. Her background seems pretty solid but it is scary thinking about going to someone so green. Thanks for the input!

[sara130]

Hey Sadie!

Thanks for the reply! What kind of questions did you ask during the consult? Would you pick her over Dr. Satterwhite, if given the choice? I am having a hard time finding really anything about Dr. Wittenberg, from what I have seen she has not even really published that much. Was there any third party sources you used to help you gain confidence in her? Super stressful decision, so I really appreciate all the help!

[SadieBlake]

Yw!

I didn't do a lit search, took her qualifications from her CV on the brownsteine & Crane  site. I found her work impressive.

I honestly don't feel like writing it all up and many of the questions were of a more personal nature. Please PM me if you'd like. Easiest for me would be to chat on the 'phone, I can give you my #

[Edit] oh and I am most likely choosing her over Dr S, I found her experience as a uro-gynecologic surgeon compelling and yes there's also hopefully scheduling 4 months earlier.

Hey Sadie!

Thanks for the reply! What kind of questions did you ask during the consult? Would you pick her over Dr. Satterwhite, if given the choice? I am having a hard time finding really anything about Dr. Wittenberg, from what I have seen she has not even really published that much. Was there any third party sources you used to help you gain confidence in her? Super stressful decision, so I really appreciate all the help!

[sara130]

If you wouldn't mind that would be fantastic! I would really love to hear more about what you have to say about her. This is going to be my first consultation for SRS, so I am also really trying to make sure I cover my bases. For some reason the site is not allowing my to send you a PM, would you mind sending me one? I really can't thank you enough for the help!

[Dena]

Welcome to Susan's Place sara130. You have managed to evade us so you haven't received a copy of the greeting links. They contain the explanation for why you can't PM but the reason is because you haven't accumulated 15 quality posts. There is others useful information in them as well so here they are.

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