I only considered doctors that were in the clinical trials and were conveniently located. I'm in Atlanta so it was between Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and Dr. Smith in Albany. I was able to get quotes over the phone and made an appt. with Dr. Smith based on price. It turned out to be a fortunate decision because when I met with him he explained that there were only two community doctors in the clinical trials as opposed to large university type hospitals. He said the wheels of large institution hospitals move slowly so the approval process during the clinical trials was slow for them. Not the case with community type doctors so Dr. Smith and the other community doctor (I can't remember his name but I think he's in Minnesota or somewhere up north) did double the number of implants as the hospitals in the trial.
Dr. Smith specializes in fundoplications and gastric bypass and now specializes in Linx. He also does general surgery. In fact, it seems that the hospital in the small town of Albany, Georgia's claim to fame has become the Linx surgery. There is a billboard in the middle of downtown advertising it. We all laughed when we saw it.
It was only a three hour drive for me and I spent one night in the hospital. I only lost five pounds which I gained back months ago. The weight loss was an important issue for me because I'm not a big guy and the weight loss that people report with the Nissen as well as the slow process to get back to normal eating was a serious concern. There are no visible external signs that I had the surgery. There were four very small incisions that have all virtually disappeared. It's like I never had the GERD condition. Truly an amazing device.
Post Edited (fishguy) : 5/8/2014 8:51:25 PM (GMT-6)