Anyone With GCS Results from Dr. Heidi Wittenberg, Satterwhite Is Already Booked

[Sydney_NYC]

My Health Insurance is through the ACA (aka Obamacare on Horizon BCBS of NJ - Omnia Silver) and for the first time the trans exclusion has been removed from my insurance policy this year. However since ACA is probably going to get repealed, who knows what's going to happen for 2018.

Anyway, I was at Satterwhite's presentation at the Philadelphia Transgender Health Conference in 2015 and really liked his work and today I call Satterwhite's office and I can't get a consultation until late April and they will not schedule a time slot for surgery until a 4-6 weeks after that and they are already booked up for 2017 with 40 people on the waiting list. I'm afraid of surgery not being covered in 2018 so I really want to get it done in 2017. A friend of mine who had hers done with Satterwhite this past summer told me about Dr. Heidi Wittenberg, also and Brownstone & Crane and her credentials are really impressive and I've seen 3 examples of her work and it looks really good. Her wait times are much less and can probably get in for 2017 without an issue.

So I'm trying to decide if I want to chance it for 2018 or take a chance on Wittenberg. I know as of Oct 5th 2016 She assisted 60 GCS and had done 20 on her on and I've sure she has done a lot more by now. I would appreciate any input about her and my situation.

[HappyMoni]

Sydney,
   I think I was at that same presentation you were at by Dr. Satterwhite.  I see you are in New York. Dr. Bluebond Langner has moved from Baltimore up to NYU. She is fairly young. I met with her and she seems very genuine, very caring. It might be worth a consult. With her move, she may not be booked up yet. My understanding is that she wants to start a whole trans program with NYU. I didn't feel she was in it just for the money.
Monica

[Sydney_NYC]

.. I think I was at that same presentation you were at by Dr. Satterwhite.  I see you are in New York. Dr. Bluebond Langner has moved from Baltimore up to NYU. She is fairly young. I met with her and she seems very genuine, very caring.....

Yes, we probably were at the same one, I had asked a question about Kleinfelter's and the position of things being slightly different and how he would approach it.

Wittenberg and Bluebond-Langner both went to the same school and I get a similar vibe from the two. A personal consult (since she is local, but still out of network even though I'm 10 miles away in NJ) is certainly worth a try. Thank you for the info.

[SadieBlake]

I'm scheduled with Heidi April 26 and I'm in a similar boat, I have really good coverage via COBRA that ends in July and so the option of a Satterwhite date in September didn't work well for me. I'm actually happier with Wittenberg, not for particular reasons of outcomes, rather, I like her surgical history better, especially that she has performed vaginoplasties on natal women born without. It happens that she has a background in minimally invasive surgery and I spent 16 years in both development and design/analysis for one of the biggest device firms in that field. Her immediate post-op photos look pretty well the same as Thomas's.

I especially like how she trained for GCS, as I understand it, she assisted Crane and Satterwhite in 30 procedures and then they gave her the ok to "fly solo". The trust of those two docs is for me effectively transitive and when I had my consult with Satterwhite a couple of weeks before I spoke to Wittenberg he specifically mentioned having learned things from her gyn-uro experience as they've worked together, similarly she related that she's learned plastic surgical techniques she's glad to have from him.

So I'm 100% comfortable with her to make me a neo-kitty, I'm glad that we can rely on Crane and Satterwhite for backup and I'm starting to plan my stay in SF. I'm also glad the local doc was clear that they're available if I need any follow-up care after my 3 weeks in CA.

[Sydney_NYC]

..... I like her surgical history better, especially that she has performed vaginoplasties on natal women born without. It happens that she has a background in minimally invasive surgery and I spent 16 years in both development and design/analysis for one of the biggest device firms in that field. Her immediate post-op photos look pretty well the same as Thomas's.

I especially like how she trained for GCS, as I understand it, she assisted Crane and Satterwhite in 30 procedures and then they gave her the ok to "fly solo". The trust of those two docs is for me effectively transitive and when I had my consult with Satterwhite a couple of weeks before I spoke to Wittenberg he specifically mentioned having learned things from her gyn-uro experience as they've worked together, similarly she related that she's learned plastic surgical techniques she's glad to have from him.

So I'm 100% comfortable with her to make me a neo-kitty, I'm glad that we can rely on Crane and Satterwhite for backup and I'm starting to plan my stay in SF. I'm also glad the local doc was clear that they're available if I need any follow-up care after my 3 weeks in CA.

Thank you for your input. I feel very similar about her background and I my gut has nothing but positive feelings towards using her. I called on Friday and got a consult for this Wednesday with her via phone. So I'm excited about this and am feeling very confident about using her.

[Sydney_NYC]

I had my consult with Dr. Heidi Wittenberg today (and my wife was also part of the conversation) at it went very well. We both loved her attitude, energy, and honesty about everything. She explained all of the risks and was very thorough on all of it. I'm definitely going with her and I will be scheduled for surgery in December, but will not have an exact date until 2 weeks or so from now.

[Sydney_NYC]

Sydney,
   I think I was at that same presentation you were at by Dr. Satterwhite.  I see you are in New York. Dr. Bluebond Langner has moved from Baltimore up to NYU. She is fairly young. I met with her and she seems very genuine, very caring. It might be worth a consult. With her move, she may not be booked up yet. My understanding is that she wants to start a whole trans program with NYU. I didn't feel she was in it just for the money.
Monica

I talked with Dr Bluebond-Langner office last week and I was really impressed with the department and going through everything. I have a consult with her in early mid to early April with Dr Zhao (the urologists) who will also be part of that meeting. Dr Bluebond-Langner is booked till December, but they are planning on giving her more operating room time in the next few months and that will open a lot more slots and that will most likely get me schedules for this fall. In the meantime they wanted me to have all my letters done prior to the consult so they can move quickly with getting insurance to approve it. It's going to be a little bit of a fight because my insurance only covers out of network/out of state for emergencies or if there is not a doctor that can perform the procedure in network. There is only one doctor in NJ that can do GCS (Dr John Taylor) and he is not on their network.

I have a friend that just had her bottom surgery a month ago with Dr Bluebond-Langner and I just saw the results tonight and I was really impressed plus she already has lots of sensation and can already orgasm. Being able to take a short Uber ride over sounds a lot better than traveling across the county. Plus they want to document everything and even take pictures during my consult.

[Fara]

I'll also be going to Bluebond-Lanager for a consult in April.  It's been kinda difficult finding reports/reviews of her work.  Hopefully I can over the next 6-12 mths.

-Fara