A couple more comments subsequent to my last posting. First of all is to Sandy. Hey girl, if you are the Sandy from the area of the Windy city, we have talked and I actually visited with you following your surgery at DSI. If it's you, think back....my wife also was there.
I really think the differences between these two excellent surgeons pretty much boils down to this.
Which is nearer to you for possible followups. The need for this, will, in all likelihood be needed. A member of my support group had the surgery since Teresa's and mine. Her's was with Marci. And she had excellent results....for a while, but then complications arose. She sent pictures, etc. to Marci, got recommendations of things to try with her local GYN, but ended up by visiting Dr. McGinn to address her problem. Much cheaper and convenient for her to drive the 6 hrs or so than to fly to Trinidad, I guess. Dr. McGinn pretty much redid the surgery to correct the problem. Of course, Dr. McGinn charged for this, Dr. Bowers might not have, but this girl felt that Dr. McGinn was highly qualified based on Teresa's and my recommendations, I presume. At any rate, this being major, major surgery, it's always a good policy to be able to have follow-up, if needed. In my case, living on the East coast, I was very reluctant to visit Colorado or Arizona. I first met Christine in Philadelphia at a TG conference in April, 2007. This was before she actually finished her plastic surgery residency. We probably met three or four times over that weekend along with her partner, Lisa, who at that time was performing the electrolysis for the surgery. After my first visit with her, I had decided she was to be my surgeon. Teresa was with me at the time. She wasn't necessarily planning to meet with Christine. Teresa was very sceptical about going with a new surgeon. But after Teresa met with Christine, she was also convinced. Since Teresa had been living as a woman some 15 years, she was able to arrange to be Christine's first. I would have simply loved to have that distinction, but I had just started the Real Life Test 1/1/2007. So my therapist was comfortable with my August, 2007 date, but wasn't prepared to allow my surgery earlier. We first three McGinn women know we were the ginny pigs, so to speak. But all has turned out fantastically.
One of the other things that convinced me was that Christine is a general surgeon and a plastic surgeon. Marci is a GYN. Of course, Marci is vastly qualified to do this surgery, but still, having someone familiar with all aspects of surgery appealed to me.
As has been mentioned in an earlier post, Marci is very busy, with several surgeries a week. While Dr. McGinn is getting more and more business, I believe she still allows more time and energy to each individual surgery.
I don't know that age would be a factor at this point, but Dr. McGinn is much younger. At any rate, this is a long surgery, especially if you add Breast Augmentation, as some of us do, stamina is very important.
This item I'm not sure of, but how easy is Trinidad to get to, versus Philly. On the surface, it seems, Philly would be much easier, regardless of your location, unless you are close enough to drive to Trinidad, or Scottsdale(I believe that's where Meltzer is).
Well, anyway, these are just a few more of my thoughts. Personally, I'm just so happy with my surgery that after 17 months, I still find myself crying with joy at finally being me. While I don't imagine Dr. McGinn does any surgeries in Doylestown anymore, but if you can, if you have the surgery with Dr. McGinn at DSI in Bensalem, it would definitely be worth the drive north to upper Bucks county and visit the Doylestown area. I certainly consider that my new birthplace.
Hug to all,
Dani
