We have had to make some unpleasant changes recently. In the past we have been doing in house labs: urinalysis, cholesterol panels, liver tests and a few other CLIA waived tests. The insurance companies have refused to pay us even the cost  of doing the tests so we have reluctantly put the equipment away. In the future almost all tests will have to be sent out to LabCorp or one of the other labs. In almost all cases this means that there will be a 24 hour delay in getting the results, and for many people this will mean making a second visit to adjust medicine dosages or to discuss the results. I am sorry for this. Please feel free to discuss this with your insurance carriers. It is just getting to the point that we cannot do things that the companies won't pay for. Our overhead is going up and the insurance reimbursements are going down. I am sorry for the inconvenience that this may cause to you all. We do have an in office HIV test. This can be done in 20 minutes but we do have to charge for it, not bill to insurance. 

For those of you who haven't been in for the past couple of  years, we have moved to the other end of the hall.  We now have more examining rooms and a larger Urodynamics lab. We have a separate room for the Ultrasound .  The address is the same but we are actually at the other end of the hall, away from the hospital.

I have had several papers published recently. One is  in the International Urogynecology Journal, actually an editorial entitled "A Pilgrim's Progress: My Urogynecological Quest." I also have a case study that is  in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine in the April 2002 issue.  I have written a review of the results of the first fifty laparoscopic colposuspension operations we did and it has been accepted for the July 2002 International Urogynecology Journal.  I have  written  a description of the Laparoscopic Paravaginal repair we are doing and it has been published in the Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, October of 2003.  The research project on Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy compared to other types of hysterectomy has been published. I have added a link to the  the publications on the main page. A case study in waiting for publication in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. 

In June, 2001, I was elected as an Affiliate member of the Society for Urodynamics and Female Urology. The meeting was in Anaheim California. I was not able to attend this years meeting. Last year was in Atlanta and more accessible. I have gone to the American Urogynecology Society in Chicago and the  International Urogynecology Society in Melbourne Australia in December. Kerry is from Melbourne and  used the time to visit her new nephew, Alex, and other relatives. I  also went to the Society of Pelvic Reconstructive Surgeons meeting again in St Louis. I saw several old acquaintance there and we reviewed our experiences with some new techniques. Since the last writing we have gone to the SUFU in Chicago and AUGS in Ft Lauderdale. Both meetings were very educational.  I recently (2007) was elected an Affiliate Member of the AUA, the American Urology Association. 

The members of the staff are as follows:  Christina Woods AND Jamie Hedden are our receptionists.  Erika Jones did an internship with us while she was at ACC and did such a good job that we asked her to join us when she graduated.   I am the doctor and general scapegoat. I hope we can get some new pictures up in the album soon. I have been terribly slack about doing it. 

 On the rare occasions that I am not available or out of town, Lynde Knowles-Jonas of Grace OB-Gyn has agreed to cover for me. 

Kerry has done a beautiful job of decorating the office.   She found some lovely glide rockers for the waiting room and a little table fountain that provides gentle background noise. I hope you all will find it comfy and homey.   As many of you know, I have little artistic taste, so I greatly appreciate my wife's efforts in making the office a pretty and restful place.  I know that very few people really enjoy a trip to the doctor's office.  We have tried to make it as comfortable and friendly as possible.  The rooms now have pictures on the walls and we have gotten cloth gowns as I promised.  I know how cold and uncomfortable the paper was.    

We are set up as a full service office. Many of the insurance plans have decided that we are a "primary care provider" but some consider that we are "only a specialist." We will try to provide whatever help you need when you call.  If there is something that you need that we can't give you, we will try our best to hook you up with a doctor who specializes in the care you need. In our office we can do  cystometrograms and we have the colposcope and cautery for people with problems with their pap smears.  We can do office hysteroscopy  and cystoscopy too for those who need it. We also have the facilities for general medical care for most problems.  EKG's and X-Rays are available in the building or next door at the hospital, or through Burlington Imaging. We have   an ultrasound scanner. The wait for appointments locally was just  getting longer and longer, so we decided  to have a machine installed in the office.  

 We have the Altus Laser for hair removal.This is an amethyst laser and  is designed to work on the hair follicles.  I don't really understand the underlying physics, but it shoots out a pulse of light that is absorbed only by certain colors.  The machine is set up so that the colors that absorb it are found most only in the follicles of growing hairs.  It is like electrolysis except not at all painful.  I tried it at maximum power on my arm and it just felt like a mild electric shock.  At the usual settings for hair, I think it will be imperceptible.  The laser only works on growing hairs, so the treatments will have to be repeated to get the hairs that are in dormant or resting phase.  Unlike other lasers, it will work on all skin colors even black or tanned skin and all hair colors except the lightest white or blond.  It can be used on blue spider "scribble" veins. The up-grade for red veins has arrived is working well. Some of my patients have brought in their husbands for treatment.  We have done backs, necks and beard lines as well as "uni-brows" on men.  The treatment may be a little hard on tattoo's so we have to be careful! The response has been overwhelming but there are still appointments available.  We plan to have special hours for hair removal treatments, with morning and  evening appointments. So far though we are still in the 8:30 to 5:00 mode. But if you have special appointment needs, discuss them with Erika.  It is doubtful that  insurance will have any interest in paying for these treatments but we will work out some sort of payment plan for people who want to.  We have found that our prices are VERY competitive with this service offered in other offices and our equipment is definitely "cutting edge." There is NO charge for the initial consultation. 

Our experience with the minimaly invasive pubovaginal and trans-obturator slings has been good.  This is an operation for incontinence that was developed in Sweden by a Prof. Ulmsten that has since been modified many times. It is a "ribbon" that is inserted around the bladder stem that goes up toward the abdomen or out in the groin. The operation is usually done under light general anesthesia.   Most people are able to void normally within 24 hours or less and usually go home right after surgery, though a couple of people have spent the night. We anticipate a success rate for this operation of around 90-95% and have not been at all disappointed so far.  There are now several competing devices to do the same operation. We are evaluating these to see if one of them has an advantage over the others. 

We have been doing Interstim Procedures in the hospital for a couple of years and have now begun to do the test stimulations in the office. I have added a page about it and there is a link to the Medtronic Interstim page.

I plan to update this page from time to time to let you know what is available from the practice and what changes to expect or just to bring you up to date on new technology as it appears.  So check this page often! And please don't hesitate to send in questions.  I have had several good letters which have lead to ideas for pages on this site.  And Thanks again.