My wife is now a patient of Dr. Eric Nussbaum for her MM
disease. She is awaiting STA/MCA surgery with him. He is
no longer on staff at the U of Minnesota. He is with the
Health East Neurovascular Institute, which in turn, is
affiliated with Barrow Institute of Phoenix, AZ. The new
clinic that Dr. Nussbaum see patients out of is Minnesota
Neurovascular and Skull-Base Surgery Clinic.

My wife was referred to Dr. Nussbaum by the Director of
Neurology at the U of M, Dr. John Tulloch. She was also
in receipt of a recommendation of his services by the
Neuroradiologist chair at HCMC in Minneapolis. They did
the preliminary cranial-angiogram and work-up for her
at this facility.

In delving into Dr. Eric Nussbaum's background, I find he
is a regular Doogie Howser-type. He graduated from the
university at Johns-Hopkins at 19 or so, med-school at
22 and surgical-residency at 24. He is married to another
neurosurgeon that is in charge of CyberKnife in the
HealthEast system. Two neuros in one family.....

Oh, they have five children under three years of age. One set of twins and then a set of triplets. Imagine
that.....

Dr. N. also operates at St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul and at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park.  He is affiliated with PArk Nicollet Clinic at the Meadobrook Building which is adjacent to Methodist.  Dr. N did all 5 of my surgeries.  [glb]He is a GENIUS![/glb]

ginabean in minnesota ;;D

:) I now work at St. Joseph's Hospital in St  Paul on the Ortho/Neuroscience unit so we receive a lot of Dr. Nussbaum's patients here. He is a WONDERFUL doctor, very caring about his patients and always kind and respectful.
You can contact TESS SIERZANT, RN Neuroscience Clinical Nurse Specialist for more info:

Direct: 651-326-3415
Fax: 651-232-3518
email: tlsierzant@healtheast.org

Hope this helps anyone looking for help in MN!! ;;D ;)

Sharon  :D

Ok, so does anyone here know how many bypas surgeries this Dr. has done?  Dr. Nussbaum and another, Dr. Meyer (mayo) are reasonably close to me and both have done the surgery, but I don't know the extent of their experience.  A few people on here have recommended each of them.  I need to make a decision fairly quickly.  Thanks all!
Glod Bless
Michele

Hi Michele,

This should be information readily available when you call either of these doctor's offices.  (Please don't take my statement as being "snippy" - it's not intended that way at all.)  It's information you should have, though, and a simple phone call should get you the answer you need.

I'm glad you're getting close to a decision.  Best of luck!

Jill

Thanks Jill, I in no way take your comment as being snippy!  Any feedback is good feedback.   :D  The bigger picture is this:  I do not have insurance and have basically begged 3 doctors to do the surgery, hoping someone would help.  These two kind souls contacted me back right away (their representatives).  Of course I have to send them records, both medical and financial.  I am extremely greatful and all at once it appears I may atually HAVE A CHOICE, which is wonderful.  Its basically a charity thing at either institution.  I am over the pride and all that, cause living is more important to me than being too proud to accept charity.  I just didn't want to sound ungreatful by quizing either of them on their experience.  And the truth is that regardles of experience, one of them will be doing the surgery because that is what the good Lord has seen fit to put in my path.  I am thankful to have the dilema of not knowing which one to choose.  

To be truthful, I was also contacted by the third Dr. and have completely ruled him out as it appears he was not very experienced with the bypass surgery, although he had done a couple surgeries.  That decision was also based on feedback from members of this group who said they would NOT recommend that particular Dr. even though someone else on here reported having their surgery done at that institution.

I just think someone on here may have some input that would be helpful.  Several people on here have went to these doctors, and as far as the questions you would under normal circumstances ask your surgeon, someone may already have some of those answers.  I hope that makes sense.  I was able to chat yesterday with one of Dr. Meyer's patients and that was very informational.  He doesn't seem to have alot of followup with his patients, from that ONE report.  Also, I have heard from others they were advised not to take OTC medications, cough syrup, etc.  He apparently does not make that recommendation, etc.  

Just trying to get an idea about these two Drs.  Would appreciate any feedback from patients of either doctor, beyond the usual "he's great."  I really hope this all makes sense!  

I asked my current nuero how many MM patients he has tx, and he said 75.  He also DOES NOT believe in surgery.  I guess I didn't ask him how many of his patients were sill alive.  So, I don't believe it's as simple as making a phone call and asking the doctor.  When I did talk to people at each office (Drs. Meyer and Nussbaum) I was told by both institution they have done "many" surgeries.  Again, I was looking for something a little more concrete that that to base this most important decision.    A 100% success rate may not mean much if they have only tx 3 people (just an example).  I also am not expecting that they have the experience of those surgeons in Boston or at Stanford.
Patient reports on this board seem to indicate they are both (Drs. Meyer and Nussbaum) kind, caring people and great nuerosurgeons.  Those qualities, in and of themselves, do not qualify someone to cut into my brain, or whats left of it.  If I am to end up severly disabled or dead, I can let the MM do that on its own!  

I hope those of your who have had surgeries done by Drs. other than the experts can understand where I am coming from.  If I was going to Stanford, I don't believe I would have these concerns, or at least not to this extent.  When someone on here is scheduled for Stanford, they get MANY others to reassure them that they are in the best hands, pictures of the scars, even information about where to eat while they are there, etc.  Perhaps I am just looking for some of the same reassurances that everyone else desires!     ;)

Thanks to everyone, you guys are all great.    

God Bless You ALL!
Michele