I had a consultation with Dr. Rumer today. The fee was waived because she did my top surgery 2 years ago. Otherwise I believe it would be $100 and that would be applied to the cost of your procedure. She accepts most major insurance types. As of now Dr. Rumer still only offers a cosmetic version of phallo. It is not free flap therefore there is no UL, implant, vaginectomy or microsurgery involved.

The good news is she is now partnered with Hanhnemann hospitals and wil have a team working with her. This will include a urologist currently at Hanhnemann and a surgeon from overseas that is well versed in phallos. I do not know the name of this surgeon as I did not think to ask (sorry). In about a year's time she will be up and running offering all of the major components of phalloplasty. It sounds as if her preference is MLD. That is not my first choice as I've heard it results in less sensation sexually. However it leaves much less of a scar and the scar that is present is easy to hide. She is not a fan of RFF at all. My guess is ALT will probably be an option through her at some point also.

I can vouch for Dr. Rumer as a surgeon in general. She did a fabulous job with my chest and she referred me to the OB/GYN that would end up doing my hysto for me. Dr. Nala was excellent also. Rumer's office is beautiful in a suburb of Philly which is where I am located. Her practice is booming in general. She recently had to hire another doctor to help with minor procedures because of it. Her clientele is made up of tons of trans folk. In fact I would not be surprised if it were the majority of the surgeries she performs. Just in the waiting room two trans women were leaving appointments and several trans men called about consultations. I wasn't being nosy I just know it when I hear it lol!

Anyway, I have a consultation with Dr. Bluebond-Langner in NY tomorrow but she is out of network for me. I am very much willing to wait for Dr. Rumer's super team to come together. I am looking to schedule a consultation with Dr. Jess Ting in NY soon also. I will report back about both. Feel free to ask questions guys.

Nice! Glad to here even long established surgeons are changing what they do and adding new services to better reflect the direction we're heading in. Sounds like you had a good time even though timeline wise it may result in a bit of a wait.

Did want to add - it may be less convenient in terms of scheduling and minimizing procedures, but everything you listed that Dr. Rumer is currently not doing can technically be done piecemeal after the fact. You can have all of those things done separately by other surgeons if you were so inclined, though obviously there'd be more consultations, more scheduling, more time off, and more anesthesia involved

Good luck with Dr. BL! She is great. Wish she was in network for you, but it may work out better for you that she isn't if you think you'd ultimately prefer Dr. Rumer! My advice would be to get all your consults in and then push on insurance to grant in-network status to whoever you really want to go to. It can absolutely be done. There are enough minor differences in technique and end result that you can easily make the case that an ALT done by Dr. BL would deliver a substantially different result than one done by another doctor. Just don't push on them to make someone count as in network before you've done your comparison and made a decision, otherwise you'll have to fight against whatever logic you used the first time you submitted the request.

Quote from: FTMax on January 09, 2017, 04:12:50 PM
Nice! Glad to here even long established surgeons are changing what they do and adding new services to better reflect the direction we're heading in. Sounds like you had a good time even though timeline wise it may result in a bit of a wait.

Did want to add - it may be less convenient in terms of scheduling and minimizing procedures, but everything you listed that Dr. Rumer is currently not doing can technically be done piecemeal after the fact. You can have all of those things done separately by other surgeons if you were so inclined, though obviously there'd be more consultations, more scheduling, more time off, and more anesthesia involved

Good luck with Dr. BL! She is great. Wish she was in network for you, but it may work out better for you that she isn't if you think you'd ultimately prefer Dr. Rumer! My advice would be to get all your consults in and then push on insurance to grant in-network status to whoever you really want to go to. It can absolutely be done. There are enough minor differences in technique and end result that you can easily make the case that an ALT done by Dr. BL would deliver a substantially different result than one done by another doctor. Just don't push on them to make someone count as in network before you've done your comparison and made a decision, otherwise you'll have to fight against whatever logic you used the first time you submitted the request.

Great advice. I really like the convenience of being able to recover at home with Rumer. In NY I'd have to spend money to stay there for 3 weeks or so. I'm crossing my fingers that Dr. B-L considers 2.5 hours away as "in the area".

Quote from: CMD042414 on January 09, 2017, 04:28:27 PM

Quote from: FTMax on January 09, 2017, 04:12:50 PM
Nice! Glad to here even long established surgeons are changing what they do and adding new services to better reflect the direction we're heading in. Sounds like you had a good time even though timeline wise it may result in a bit of a wait.

Did want to add - it may be less convenient in terms of scheduling and minimizing procedures, but everything you listed that Dr. Rumer is currently not doing can technically be done piecemeal after the fact. You can have all of those things done separately by other surgeons if you were so inclined, though obviously there'd be more consultations, more scheduling, more time off, and more anesthesia involved

Good luck with Dr. BL! She is great. Wish she was in network for you, but it may work out better for you that she isn't if you think you'd ultimately prefer Dr. Rumer! My advice would be to get all your consults in and then push on insurance to grant in-network status to whoever you really want to go to. It can absolutely be done. There are enough minor differences in technique and end result that you can easily make the case that an ALT done by Dr. BL would deliver a substantially different result than one done by another doctor. Just don't push on them to make someone count as in network before you've done your comparison and made a decision, otherwise you'll have to fight against whatever logic you used the first time you submitted the request.

Great advice. I really like the convenience of being able to recover at home with Rumer. In NY I'd have to spend money to stay there for 3 weeks or so. I'm crossing my fingers that Dr. B-L considers 2.5 hours away as "in the area".

I want to say she did? At least when she was in Baltimore and I told her I'd want to go home to recover she was fine with it. Without traffic I'm about an hour away from Baltimore but with it is closer to 2. I think as long as you tell her that you'd be able to get back to her if needed, she'd be fine with it. I told her my roommate works from home and would be happy to drive me back up to see her short notice if something went wrong.

Quote from: FTMax on January 09, 2017, 04:36:06 PM
Great advice. I really like the convenience of being able to recover at home with Rumer. In NY I'd have to spend money to stay there for 3 weeks or so. I'm crossing my fingers that Dr. B-L considers 2.5 hours away as "in the area".


I want to say she did? At least when she was in Baltimore and I told her I'd want to go home to recover she was fine with it. Without traffic I'm about an hour away from Baltimore but with it is closer to 2. I think as long as you tell her that you'd be able to get back to her if needed, she'd be fine with it. I told her my roommate works from home and would be happy to drive me back up to see her short notice if something went wrong.

Oh that's awesome

Quote from: CMD042414 on January 09, 2017, 05:31:59 PM
Oh that's awesome

What did Dr. BL end up telling you about being able to recover at home?

Quote from: Bimmer Guy on January 22, 2017, 09:39:01 AM
What did Dr. BL end up telling you about being able to recover at home?

After stage 1 especially she wants me to stay in the area for at least a week. I'm going to revisit the issue when I go to a second consultation next month. It just makes things so damn easier if I can be at home near Philadelphia. About a 2.5 hour drive so if I have to pick up and go I still can. I have folks to drive me. She's concerned about sitting for that long so soon after the procedure. I'm going to ask about using a donut pillow to sit on.

Quote from: CMD042414 on January 22, 2017, 07:42:53 PM
After stage 1 especially she wants me to stay in the area for at least a week. I'm going to revisit the issue when I go to a second consultation next month. It just makes things so damn easier if I can be at home near Philadelphia. About a 2.5 hour drive so if I have to pick up and go I still can. I have folks to drive me. She's concerned about sitting for that long so soon after the procedure. I'm going to ask about using a donut pillow to sit on.

Another solution would be if the car seats recline enough that you are almost laying flat. I once slept in a car set like that and it would have been comfortable if I wasn't so cold. 

For anyone who comes here looking for updated info I'll add to this thread that I met with Rumer again today about Phallo. She is building a team in Philadelphia for full phalloplasties. I was hoping to be booked for stage 1 in July but unfortunately she is still waiting on the Serbian doctor she will be partnered with to get to the U.S. It has taken longer than expected.