Donald B. Graham Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

Dr. Graham and his nurse Cheryl surpassed my expectations.
Very professional and confident, yet warm and understanding.
Also is very highly respected by other area physicians.
Helped very much in moving insurance approval along for my husband
and hope he does the same for me.

Dr Graham was very informative . The reason I chose him intead of the Dr O`Brien is I have had several surgeries before and will require being opened up rather than the use of the scope. Due to the amount of scar tissue we think that I have. The staff at his office is excellent and very helpful anytime I have called they call right back when I cant reach them. So far I havent encountered anything negative with my visit to his office. Only 1 trip the rest was over the phone. I am pretty familiar with the problems of surgery I have had 3 major surgeries. And from past surgeries I would say both bed side manner and competence are need to be 100%.

he was a very friendly and open person.

He is still friendly but is not very informative.

The staff is nice and quite informative.

My only dislike is that he just is not very informative and rushes his patients through.

To hold him in the office until you have asked every question you can possibly think of.

Dr Graham himself doesn't, his nurse does all of that.

There really wasn't much of an aftercare program. I was scheduled out for a 6 week post-op appointment and that was all.

He really didn't bring up any of the possible risk from the surgery. I had a few quetions and he was o.k. with answering them but otherwise he didn't bring anything up himself.

As a suergon, he is very good. I am very satisfied with the results and minimal post-op problems. But he does need to work on his office skills.

I would have to say that his surgical competence is much better.

Busy but willing to sit and chat and answer questions for 45 minutes non-stop...even drew little pictures of the RNY surgery for me. No nonsense approach and affect but approachable and willing to answer difficult questions - mortality/morbidity, etc....

As to structure of pre-op "program" this I do not yet know....

---UPDATE....DID PRE-OPs at Sioux Valley Hospital in SIoux Falls, S.D. on 09/28/02
and had blood drawn and dietary consult..talked about "fletcherizing (grinding to goo) all food after 8 weeks and the miniscule amounts ...etc...this dietician BELIEVES that all diets should not be "pure" protein but reflect a "normal" balance of proteing, carbs, etc....which was interesting although from what I read high protein IS the way to go early on ...and perhaps necessary. She laughed when I told her that Kellogg (of Corn Flakes fame) and his associate Fletcher (Dietician Theorist/partner to the cereal company) were cultish kooks whose idea of health included group high-colonics...Fletcher died of MALNUTRITION...so go figure.....

I will have an endrocinologist consult as I am a Type I diabetic...that was set up...and I did a 30 min. meeting with Doctor Donald Graham. He is and continues to be concerned, interested in questions, able to say "I dont know", generally a confident and professional doc.

After waiting for over 2 hours, (I'm not a very patient person). I was impressed by his quiet manner. He listened to me and anwered my questions. He also asked my husband what he thought, which impressed him.

6/14/02 I initially met with Dr. O'Brian in February 2001. He was nice enough but he was not really interested in doing the RNY procedure and that is what I feel is best for me. Over the past year I have heard good things about all 3 surgeons in Sioux Falls, but have decided to go with Dr. Graham because he is covered by my insurance and he does the RNY procedure. I meet him for the first time tomorrow.

Considering where I am from, the choice of doctors were slim. I went to the 1st dr that I found. I didn't have a referral from another dr, I just made the decision to go to Dr Graham because of a friend at work who had him. I have 2 issues as far as Dr Graham is concerned that are negetive, they are #1, (the least of the two) The amount of time he makes his patients wait in the waiting room. On 2 different occasions I waited for my appointments for over 2 hours. I was on time for all of my appointments. #2. I do not feel that I was well enough prepared for the pain I was going to be in after the surgery. This was the 6th surgery that I had which involved my abdomen area. (they include 3 c-sections, tubal, gall bladder removal and gastric bypass) This was by far the worse, an I don't know what anyone could have done to prepare, or be prepared. So maybe this really wasn't even something that he could have prepared me for. But I thought it would have been less painful, or atleast equal to the previous.
As far as after care, I don't think is was sufficient. I have heard of people going in once a month after surgery, and I have seen him 2 times in 10 months. Maybe because I really had no problems.
Overall, I think that most people are satisfied with him. But overall, I am completely satisfied with the results of my surgery, but if I had it to do all over again, I would have researched more.

What a nice man! He has been doing this procedure for over 20 years and is very thorough! My husband works directly with him in surgery and has said he is an excellent surgeon. He can draw you pictures of your procedure, answer any question, and is an all-around wonderful listener! I didn't feel rushed during any of my appts with him either. Sheryl, his nurse, is fab fab fabulous--knows what she's talking about! Dr Graham also attends our gastric bypass meetings and talks about any of our questions with the greatest of ease ~ he really knows his stuff!

Dr. Graham is excellent. He is so detailed and helpful in answering all questions. His staff is also great-each treating you as if you are the only patient they have. Dr. is very good at describing his procedures and is reluctant in doing any types where results are less than stellar. From People that I know and the surgeons in this area that do this procedure, they all think of Graham as THE guy.

I have only met with Dr. Graham once, and we have scheduled my surgery. He was very kind and understanding. He was also willing to take the time to answer all of my questions. I will not see him again until my surgery. I do wish that I could have had a follow-up consultation with him before the surgery. His staff was excellent. He had a sense of competency that made me feel that he knew what he was doing and that I would be in good hands during my surgery.
He mentioned nothing about aftercare. I don't know if he has a structured aftercare program.
He talked very little about the risks after surgery. I think that he is very knowledgeable about this surgery, or I wouldn't let him be operating on me. I think that both his surgical competence and his bedside manner are very good.