I started suffering from tremendous abdominal pain. After 2 trips to urgent care and 3 trips to the ER I had been diagnosed with gastritis, so I went and got an endoscopy done. After the endoscopy was done I was told to "Lay off the ibuprofen for a few days" and everything would clear up. The pain came back. Between urgent care and the ER they all then thought I had pancreatitis, even though the blood results proved otherwise. Finally on my 3rd ER visit one of the Dr's decided to give me an ultrasound where it was discovered that I had more gall stones than the ultrasound technician could even count! I went to my PCP, Dr. Rand, the next day with the results, and he suggested that I see Dr. Daniel Marcus for a cholecystectomy (surgical gall bladder removal).
I looked up Dr. Marcus' web site and I must say, it was quite a nice web site. Much nicer than one would expect for a doctor. And then I saw it... The.. ROBOT that he would use to operate on me. Holy smokes! Instead of the normal 3 incision laparoscopic procedure, it was done with 1 incision through the belly button! If you don't know, your gall bladder is located somewhere right behind your lower right rib. Imagine that: He pulled my gall bladder from behind my rib out through my belly button! I had a small hernia in my belly button, which almost gave it the look of an "outtie". Now that the operation is over, I have an "innie." But that robot... that robot! GO SCIENCE!
He was out of network, but he had a plan to see me anyways and promised not to charge me more than $1000, MUCH cheaper than out of network fees. I also had to pay about $950 for the use of the surgical center, La Peer. I believe that price included the anesthesia and the anesthesiologist. Seriously, $2,000 to remove my infected gall bladder? That's it??? Money well spent compared to the severe abdominal pain I was having.
The follow up appointments were fantastic. He was always on time. The longest I had to wait for him was 20 minutes -- but that's because I showed up 20 minutes early! I had this fear of looking at my belly button after the surgery, and when Dr. Marcus told me to look, I was like, "NOPE! I don't wanna see it!" to which he replied, "C'mon man, belly buttons are awesome, you should be out enjoying yours!" Wonderful attitude. Very personable. If he ever quit his day job, I think he'd make a good comedian. I finally got the courage to look at my belly button, and wow, did it heal nicely! I can't even notice a scar!
The morning of the procedure, the OR nurse came in and introduced herself, made me feel very comfortable. Then the anesthesiologist came in, a young man, probably straight outta his residency, which made me and my family VERY comfortable, assuming he had all the latest and greatest training.
If you're nervous about having an operation -- as you should be -- rest assured that you will be in good -- nay, GREAT! -- hands with Dr. Marcus. If I ever end up with appendicitis I'll surely go back to this magnificent surgeon to get the work done. If any of my friends or family ever need any general surgery done, I will recommend them to him, whether he's in-network or not.
Thank you, Dr. Marcus,
Chris S read more
