Kaiser Redwood City vs. Stanford and UCSF

[carolinafreire]

Hi everyone, I'm new here! I was recently diagnosed with AN on my right side. The tumor is 3.2cm and caused severe hearing loss in my right ear. Does anyone have experience with Kaiser in Redwood City? I saw Dr. Prashant at Kaiser and he recommended surgery. I didn't feel much confidence in him, although he answered all my questions and mentioned that his team at Kaiser performs more AN surgeries than Stanford. Due to the size of my tumor, I will need surgery. So I need to decide if I want to stay at Kaiser or move to Stanford or UCSF. I can switch health insurance through my employer and open enrollment is now in November, so this is kind of pressing. I read some comments in this forum about Kaiser (mixed reviews), but would like to hear from folks in California who had more recent experiences with surgeons at Kaiser, Stanford and UCSF. Thank you!

[sg_way]

I recommend you to see Dr. Ben Balough at KP Sacramento, he's a very skillful AN surgeon.

[carolinafreire]

Thanks for the recommendation. I was referred to KP Redwood City Medical Center. I wasn't aware they also have ANA doctors and neurosurgeons at the Sacramento Center. I'll take a look. Does anyone else have experience or info to share about Stanford vs. UCSF vs. Kaiser?

[Derby]

I spoke with Dr. Xu and Dr. Sheridan at KP Redwood City, and I liked them, but my VS was smaller than yours so I ultimately opted for SRS. (I have a thread in the Radiosurgery topic, if you are interested.)

I know this isn't really helpful to your immediate situation, but the best you can do is get consults at UCSF & Stanford, as well as KP, then make a decision based on your comfort level. There is no definitive "This one is the best" answer, so don't do like so many patients do and torture yourself about it.

Best of luck with your decision and treatment! Please come back and let us know.

[DanFouratt]

To add to what Derby said. I wore a few people out (okay 8 doctors, 4 each radiation and surgery).  The best single bit of advice I got was  "No decision is a bad decision, make the decision you are comfortable with and move forward, do not second guess yourself."                 

[skier]

My story. Ultimately, I chose surgery over radiation due to having a fast-growing tumor, even though it was small.

I had been on watch-wait for 2 years, and had talked to a range of doctors, both about surgery and-or radiation.

I always learned something from the consults, and in the end, I understood that the surgery is a very difficult and that I wanted the best regarded doctors/team with the best track record that I could find.

They provided their team's record of outcomes, and it was very reassuring.

Hope you will be able to choose well and don't be shy about asking for information you want to consider.