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Testimonies and Referrals from members of Blessed Arrows
for
Dr. Gary Berger
Tubal
Ligation Reversals
From: Dawn Irons gratefulwife2brad@sbcglobal.net
Reversal
date: November 19, 1998
I would highly reccommend Dr Berger to ANYONE!! He
is a very skilled surgeon. I have never regretted my decision to have my
surgery with him. In fact, I felt God led me specifically to Dr. Berger
for this purpose. I found Dr Berger to be a very personable man who was
deeply understanding of our desire to return my body to the way God created
it. His staff is exceptional!! I had many phone calls from his staff
prior to my surgery letting me know what I needed to do and how all my paperwork
and lab results were going. I was made to feel very welcome and quite
special by his staff! Especially LISSA!! This woman deserves a
double raise!
My surgery took about 45 minutes. I
was up and moving around fairly soon after surgery (using the bathroom and
getting something to drink.) I was waiting in the waiting room when my
husband returned from picking up the kids from the sitter! He was
shocked! I won't sugar-coat the experience....It was a bit uncomfortable
at times, but it was a far cry better than the pain I had after my c-sections!!!
(By a LONG shot!) The TENS unit is wonderful in dealing with the post-op
pain! Within a few days of the surgery I was only taking advil for the
discomfort.
You may see pictures of my surgical experience (Dr Berger, the recovery room,
the clinic, etc...) online at www.blessedarrows.org/irons.htm
Blessings,
Dawn Irons
From: cheezer@bellatlantic.net
My husband and 3 kids drove down with me on june 14, 1999. We picked a
hotel in Durham instead of Chapel Hill. Durham was cheaper. The
drive took 8 hours following I-95 and I-85. We arrived at our hotel/best
western skyland. Rate was $50 a night. Alot cheaper then the ones in
Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill is a big city and it is about 19 minutes from
Durham. So many emotions ran through my mind. I kept on thinking I
was crazy. My husband was so nervous. That night I couldnt
sleep.
Tuesday june 15, 1999 I had my initial
appointment at 1:45 with Dr. Berger. My whole family walked into the
center with me. His nurse took a polaroid picture of us. I then paid
her the remaining money we owed. I couldnt help but notice how the staff worked
so well in harmony. I then went into Dr. Bergers office and we
talked. He wanted to know why I wanted the reversal. He also asked
how I found out about him. I told him the internet and Blessed
Arrows. That is when I found out that Dawn Irons was the founder of
Blessed Arrows. His whole face lit up as he talked about the ministry to
his nurse who was in the same room as us. Not once did this man judge me or call
me weird. After that we went into a room for an ultrasound. My
uterus looked good, my ovaries looked like I wasn't ovulating. Dr. Berger
then asked me to shave my
private hair down a little past the pubic bone so
he can conceal the scar. I then was showed a tour of downstairs where the
surgery takes place. I met Dr. Fry and his wife. Real nice
people. I was told to be there at 8:00 am on wednesday for surgery.
As usual it was a hectic morning and I was late. I showed up at 8:45 am
instead. Not once did his staff yell at me. I undressed and put a
rob on. I then walked into the operating room. There was a pillow
and a blanket waiting for me.
It was so warm. When I got the tubal it
was on a stainless steal table and it was very cold. Dr. Fry put the IV in
my hand. He even shot some pain killer in my hand first. I have
never had anyone care like that before. I then had ekg probes placed on
me. I think on my finger to measure oxygen. Then a shot of something
was placed in my IV and I dont remember nothing else except waking up in the
recovery. My voice was horse and my throat felt thirsty. I didnt
feel no pain just mild
menstraul cramping. I was given water. I
also was given this electronic device that is worn at the incision site for pain
control. I think it worked at I didnt have to take narcotics. An
hour later I was able to go to the hotel with my husband and 3 children.
Once in a while I would hurt if I tried to get into our truck. I ended up
taking one motrin. The scar is about 4 inches and seems to be concealed
with pubic hair.
Thursday june 17 we checked out of the
hotel and went to Dr. Bergers office. My abdoman was a little
swelled. Dr. Berger and I talked for a while. I told him how easy it
was to get tubal ligations but impossible to get a doctor to do a
reversal. He said that there was this one doctor that told him that what
he/Dr. Berger was doing was immoral. Dr. Berger said he doesnt think what
he is doing is immoral. He said I am simply restoring fertility to women who
have already had
children. He said he doesnt see anything wrong with
that. We talked about other doctors/peoples attitudes. He said the
only reason he does this kind of surgery is for couples like us. He feels
good about what
he is doing. He likes to see smiles on our
faces. He also asked us to call him when we got home. He was
concerned and knew we lived prety far out of town. I e-mailed him that we
got home 10 hours later because we went to Norfolk and took the bridge to bypass
I-95.
To me Dr. Berger is a God-send. A
miracle doctor.
Charlene
From: kengland@wrv.com
Okay,
Hi all! I am finally going to sit down and write
out my testimony.....should have done it a long time ago, but better late than
never ;o) I had my surgery thru Dr. Berger in NC on
9/8/99. The road to get to the surgery seemed to be very long, but in
retrospect, once things started to come together it all happened very fast.
I had had my tubes tied in June 1990, about 5 weeks
after my second son was born. My older son, Michael, had been born with a
bi-lateral cleft lip and palate and we were still dealing with his surgeries
when Jacob was born just 13 months later. I felt ovewhelmed, two small babies,
surgeries, bills, it just seemd to be sooooo much!! Everyone kept telling me,
two is
enough, and after having had a rough delivery with Jacob( my placenta
got stuck and the doctor had to manually remove it), and my husband at the time
encouraging it , I got my tubes tied.
It was not
long until I started regretting the ligation, probably after the first year,
when life calmed down and I realized no more babies. But then I would think,no,
I have two healthy children be happy. Plus my marriage was slowly but surely
falling apart, and after 9 1/2 years of marriage, I left my ex because of his
drug habit, abuse, and for fear for the boys and I's safety. I soon met a guy
thru work, who was so different than my ex, and we began dating when my divorce
was final. We were married March 21, 1998. Even tho my life was so much better
now, I still felt like I was missing something...............
Then a few freinds of mine had babies this past year.
After going to the first baby shower I had been to in at least 5 years, I
realized that what was missing was a baby!!!! I started crying when I was in the
store buying stuff for the shower and I realized how strong this need was in me.
It had been there for a long time, but with the divorce, and then getting
re-married, it had been put on the back burner......but it was still there,
matter of fact, it was much stronger now.
When I first
told my dh, Ken, he thought I was kidding...I mean, the boys were 9 and 10, what
was I thinking??? But then he realized that I was serious and the idea started
to bump around in his head. When I first mentioned it to the boys, well, they
did not take it as well, they were pretty upset at first. But as we talked more
and more about it, they warmed up to the idea.
I told Ken
and the boys that all I wanted for my birthday(August 20th) was to have the
surgery. I had first told Ken on 6/8/99. Two days before my birthday, all the
details came together....surgery appt, plane tickets, hotel, everything just
fell into place. We had refinaced our house to get the money, something we
needed to do anyway to help consolidate a bunch of
bills. Suddenly, it was a
reality, I was going to get the reversal!!
Some people
thought we were flat out nuts, others thought it was a neat idea, but I knew in
my heart it was meant to be. We left on 9/6/99, Ken, the boys, and I, flying
from Yakima, WA to NC. Ken and the boys had never been on a plane, so for them
it was an adventure. I met with Dr. Berger and his staff on 9/7/99 for the
pre-op, which included a vaginal u/s and a
quick check up to make sure my
health was fine.
The next morning. 9/8/99, we were there
at 7:00 a.m., I was first in line for surgery at 8:00a.m. Everybody was so nice
and polite, not only to me but my family as well. Next thing I knew, it was time
to go back to the hotel. Dr. Berger had told me I had a 90% chance for success
in concieving, even tho I only had one tube to re-connect due to having lost
most of my
left tube to an etopic pg. in 1986. My right tube was in good
shape and 9cm long. I am 31, my dh just turned 32 this past Jan. 2000, so we
were optimistic.
The pain was bearable, I felt a little
nauseaous, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. We flew back the next
day,9/9/99, and were home by 11:30 P.M. that night after a 6 1/2 hour flight and
a 2 1/2 hour drive
home. I was so happy to be back, I really don't like
flying that much!!!
I went back to work 1 week later, still a
little sore, but every day was getting better. On Oct. 27, 1999 I found out I
was pg!!!! The second cycle after surgery, and I was pg!! My dh was shocked, the
boys were estatic, and
I was so happy but kinda scared too!! I am due 7/8/00
and we are hoping for a girl!!! ;o) Things have gone fairly well with this pg,
and I am eagerly awaiting our new blessing!!!!
Kimmy England
"May faith sustain you when you are weary!"
From: Anita Sanders
Okay, it's been two weeks since my surgery. Time I sat down and gave an
account! What a joy it has been since then, and I am already feeling
different. A very heavy burden has been lifted off of me and I feel
spiritually and emotionally healed. I know time is all that's needed for
the physical healing that has started already. Ric shared our testimony to
our whole church body last Sunday. It was awesome and I cried and we did
not have any negative feedback! My mother in law says she can even tell
the
difference in our voices on the phone and my family physician just
laughed when I went in for a post-op checkup, read the surgical report, and
prescribed prenatal vitamins (just in case). But before I get any longer
in this, here's my story:
We took off from Oroville on August 22nd to get to Seattle the night before
we flew out. Caught a 6:45 am flight out of Seattle to Raleigh-Durham
airport with a transfer in Minneapolis. Both flights went wonderful--very
smooth and quiet time. Had some delay getting a shuttle to the rental car
place, Alamo shuttle was not equipped for w/c's and disabled, but Ric muscled
through it lifting Matt on board and we got a 4 dr Pontiac Bonneville for the
duration.
We stayed at the new Days Inn (which is closest to the Medical Center) and
found the rooms to be very nice and clean and the beds were really
comfortable. For my last night before surgery, we went to the Red Hot
& Blue Steak House for BBQ. I don't know why they call it a steak
house. There was no steak on the menu BUT some of the best BBQ I had in a
LOONNGGG
time. We recommend it highly to anyone going to Chapel Hill.
Dr Fry (anesthesiologist) called that night to get acquainted and I
appreciated that since I was having an allergic reaction to something at the
Minneapolis airport (cleaning chemicals?). Sneezing fits and sinuses
inflamed. He gave me permission to go ahead and take my Benadryl, said it would
actually help to use LESS anesthesia.
Aug 24th, Woke up at 6:30 am. Went to Pre-Op at 8am. Met some of
the staff. We didn't get to have a conference with Dr Berger since he was
already in surgery, but we did get to talk briefly with him before I went
in. I had already been given sedation so I was pretty fuzzy by this time.
I found most of my questions, though, were covered by the video they sent well
in advance. We were both very comfortable with him and the whole
staff. I would recommend, though, if anyone plans to go to Dr Berger and
is nervous about the procedure to allow enough time for a pre-op appt the day
before surgery. The office tries it's best to accomodate this and will
work with you. They are very sensitive to their patients' needs.
Going in for surgery itself was really great. They had me on a warm
blanket on the table with pillows under my knees and 3 warm blankets over me:
chest, abdomen, legs. Hooked me up with EEG's, monitors, IV, etc.
Last thing I remember is Dr Fry telling me about the shot he was putting into my
IV to put me under. I woke up in recovery very groggy with minimal
discomfort.
My throat was hoarse, but didn't hurt. The Tens unit was
already working. My strongest feeling was just very tired and very relieved that
it was done. Dr Berger came down when I was more alert (yeah right!) and
explained to us what he had found. Right tube was 7 cm long and was reattached
easily. However, the left tube was 8 cm long, but there was no end on the uterus
to
attach to. Dr Berger made a new opening to the uterus and did a
tuboimplantation.. He told us that my ovaries looked very healthy and like
I am ovulating still. I never did have any nausea and felt pretty good--a
little crampy and twinges at the incision site.
They had us call when I felt like coming in for a follow up on Friday.
We made it in about 11am, met with Dr Berger again and was able to clarify some
of what he told me when I was still a little dopey. This man is one of the
kindest, most sensitive dr's I have met (and with Matthew, believe me, I have
met alot!). We also were able to talk about Blessed Arrows and Dawn, I passed on
your greeting and challenge!! He was really genuine with respect for this
group and the ministry that comes out of it. He has also said that he
would work with BA to assist in making reversals affordable, giving any
financial discounts he could to help. Julia would be a good contact for
this. He then asked when we were flying out and we told him Saturday
afternoon. He took our room # down and said he would swing by to check on
me before we left. He came the next morning (before we were even dressed),
but we had him come in anyway and were able to ck on last minute
instructions. I asked him to please wait so I could throw some clothes on
(how embarrassing, still in my nightgown), and then he was sweet enough to take
pictures together. The whole experience was absolutely wonderful!
After I got home, I got calls 3 days in a row just checking on me, then a
follow up questionaire and 3 emails from Julia (the nurse that helped me get the
ball rolling). I felt very cared for and supported through each and every
step. I am being honest when I say that this care was as good as it
gets. I haven't found better anywhere, not even at Children's Hospitals
where they strive for the best for the young patients they treat. I would
have no qualms with recommending anyone to Dr Berger & staff. Please
remember to keep them on your prayer lists because, like Dawn, I am believing
that the Lord is calling these special people to Himself for His Glory and
Honor!
Thank you all for your prayers during this time. I will continue to
pray for all here as well.
Love, Anita
Because of God's Grace
Micah
6:8
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