Melanoma specialist/surgeon in Kaiser Ca

Hi

We live in the Bay Area and have Kaiser (Fremont). When my son was diagnosed they did send us to Stanford for a second opinion, at my request. But all the surgery and interferon, etc has been done though Kaiser. Luckily, he is still stage 3 and NED so I feel fine having him monitered by a general oncologist, at least for now.

I know there is a melanoma speicalist at Kaiser somewhere in Souterhn Ca, I am not sure where.

Good luck..there are benefits to Kaiser, like no deductables and fully covered for all the surgeries, scans and the year of interferon.

Hi

We live in the Bay Area and have Kaiser (Fremont). When my son was diagnosed they did send us to Stanford for a second opinion, at my request. But all the surgery and interferon, etc has been done though Kaiser. Luckily, he is still stage 3 and NED so I feel fine having him monitered by a general oncologist, at least for now.

I know there is a melanoma speicalist at Kaiser somewhere in Souterhn Ca, I am not sure where.

Good luck..there are benefits to Kaiser, like no deductables and fully covered for all the surgeries, scans and the year of interferon.

Hi

We live in the Bay Area and have Kaiser (Fremont). When my son was diagnosed they did send us to Stanford for a second opinion, at my request. But all the surgery and interferon, etc has been done though Kaiser. Luckily, he is still stage 3 and NED so I feel fine having him monitered by a general oncologist, at least for now.

I know there is a melanoma speicalist at Kaiser somewhere in Souterhn Ca, I am not sure where.

Good luck..there are benefits to Kaiser, like no deductables and fully covered for all the surgeries, scans and the year of interferon.

Congratulations on your husband getting close to 4 years NED.

I was with Kaiser in 2010 when I was diagnosed as stage IV. I had 1 VATS procedure (video assisted thoracic surgery) in Oakland, 4 cycles of IL-2 down south in Riverside, 1 craniotomy in Redwood City, and 1 CyberKnife surgery in South SF. The IL-2 was done by their melanoma specialist in Riverside, CA.

Kaiser is known as a "closed system". Some of the benefits I have gotten after switching from Kaiser to a (high-end) insurance plan, NOT Kaiser, starting in 2011 are:

1) access to a local melanoma specialist in SF for all my follow-up and new treatment plans (Kaiser's closest is Riverside, CA)

2) access to a top-5-in-US neurosurgery program (2nd craniotomy at UCSF)

3) access to Gamma Knife in the hands of UCSF (I feel the combination of UCSF and Gamma Knife perhaps did a better job for a variety of reasons than the combination of Kaiser and their CyberKnife system.)

4) access to other specialists an academic medical centers — reputed to be the best type of hospital to be treated for serious illnesses. 

Benefit #4 is one to think about. I believe it to be true, even though I believe I got some very good treatments at Kaiser.

Congratulations on your husband getting close to 4 years NED.

I was with Kaiser in 2010 when I was diagnosed as stage IV. I had 1 VATS procedure (video assisted thoracic surgery) in Oakland, 4 cycles of IL-2 down south in Riverside, 1 craniotomy in Redwood City, and 1 CyberKnife surgery in South SF. The IL-2 was done by their melanoma specialist in Riverside, CA.

Kaiser is known as a "closed system". Some of the benefits I have gotten after switching from Kaiser to a (high-end) insurance plan, NOT Kaiser, starting in 2011 are:

1) access to a local melanoma specialist in SF for all my follow-up and new treatment plans (Kaiser's closest is Riverside, CA)

2) access to a top-5-in-US neurosurgery program (2nd craniotomy at UCSF)

3) access to Gamma Knife in the hands of UCSF (I feel the combination of UCSF and Gamma Knife perhaps did a better job for a variety of reasons than the combination of Kaiser and their CyberKnife system.)

4) access to other specialists an academic medical centers — reputed to be the best type of hospital to be treated for serious illnesses. 

Benefit #4 is one to think about. I believe it to be true, even though I believe I got some very good treatments at Kaiser.

Congratulations on your husband getting close to 4 years NED.

I was with Kaiser in 2010 when I was diagnosed as stage IV. I had 1 VATS procedure (video assisted thoracic surgery) in Oakland, 4 cycles of IL-2 down south in Riverside, 1 craniotomy in Redwood City, and 1 CyberKnife surgery in South SF. The IL-2 was done by their melanoma specialist in Riverside, CA.

Kaiser is known as a "closed system". Some of the benefits I have gotten after switching from Kaiser to a (high-end) insurance plan, NOT Kaiser, starting in 2011 are:

1) access to a local melanoma specialist in SF for all my follow-up and new treatment plans (Kaiser's closest is Riverside, CA)

2) access to a top-5-in-US neurosurgery program (2nd craniotomy at UCSF)

3) access to Gamma Knife in the hands of UCSF (I feel the combination of UCSF and Gamma Knife perhaps did a better job for a variety of reasons than the combination of Kaiser and their CyberKnife system.)

4) access to other specialists an academic medical centers — reputed to be the best type of hospital to be treated for serious illnesses. 

Benefit #4 is one to think about. I believe it to be true, even though I believe I got some very good treatments at Kaiser.

I am not a Kaiser patient (and also live in the Bay Area)  but do know through my own Drs that the main Kaiser melanoma specialist down in Riverside, CA.    His name is Dr. Fawaz Gailani and I recently spoke with a local Kaiser patient who is going down there for biochemo treatments.

I believe Dr. Gailani deals primarily with stage IV melanoma in terms of referrals from No. CA  . .and of course hoping that your husband will stay NED for a long time to come so he won't have to use his services  🙂

Mary

I am not a Kaiser patient (and also live in the Bay Area)  but do know through my own Drs that the main Kaiser melanoma specialist down in Riverside, CA.    His name is Dr. Fawaz Gailani and I recently spoke with a local Kaiser patient who is going down there for biochemo treatments.

I believe Dr. Gailani deals primarily with stage IV melanoma in terms of referrals from No. CA  . .and of course hoping that your husband will stay NED for a long time to come so he won't have to use his services  🙂

Mary

I am not a Kaiser patient (and also live in the Bay Area)  but do know through my own Drs that the main Kaiser melanoma specialist down in Riverside, CA.    His name is Dr. Fawaz Gailani and I recently spoke with a local Kaiser patient who is going down there for biochemo treatments.

I believe Dr. Gailani deals primarily with stage IV melanoma in terms of referrals from No. CA  . .and of course hoping that your husband will stay NED for a long time to come so he won't have to use his services  🙂

Mary

If you are happy with your doctors, you should try to keep your current insurance.  We are at NorCal Kaiser (stage IV), and our general oncologist said he could not refer us to Kaiser Riverside even though there are no melanoma specialists in NorCal.  Finally we got a different Kaiser physician to refer us south.  We have to pay for non-Kaiser second opinions out of pocket.  I'm not sure what Kaiser's referral policies really are, but the system is difficult to navigate if you are looking for specialists. 

If you are happy with your doctors, you should try to keep your current insurance.  We are at NorCal Kaiser (stage IV), and our general oncologist said he could not refer us to Kaiser Riverside even though there are no melanoma specialists in NorCal.  Finally we got a different Kaiser physician to refer us south.  We have to pay for non-Kaiser second opinions out of pocket.  I'm not sure what Kaiser's referral policies really are, but the system is difficult to navigate if you are looking for specialists. 

If you are happy with your doctors, you should try to keep your current insurance.  We are at NorCal Kaiser (stage IV), and our general oncologist said he could not refer us to Kaiser Riverside even though there are no melanoma specialists in NorCal.  Finally we got a different Kaiser physician to refer us south.  We have to pay for non-Kaiser second opinions out of pocket.  I'm not sure what Kaiser's referral policies really are, but the system is difficult to navigate if you are looking for specialists. 

I am currently with Kaiser in Socal. The melanoma specialist is Dr. Gailani. I am curruntly doing Biochemo(rough) All of the info for melanoma runs through his office. He seems to be pretty agressive when you are stage 4. I have been moved to Dr. Hsu and I do not like that. Dr. Gailani still oversees my treatment. I love my surgeon Dr. Waldold in Fontana. I am currently trying to get him to try and get to tumors his is on the fence about. The Biochemo has slowed my activity but has not shrunk my tumors. If you are with Kaiser see if Gailani can at least look at charts.

I am currently with Kaiser in Socal. The melanoma specialist is Dr. Gailani. I am curruntly doing Biochemo(rough) All of the info for melanoma runs through his office. He seems to be pretty agressive when you are stage 4. I have been moved to Dr. Hsu and I do not like that. Dr. Gailani still oversees my treatment. I love my surgeon Dr. Waldold in Fontana. I am currently trying to get him to try and get to tumors his is on the fence about. The Biochemo has slowed my activity but has not shrunk my tumors. If you are with Kaiser see if Gailani can at least look at charts.

I am currently with Kaiser in Socal. The melanoma specialist is Dr. Gailani. I am curruntly doing Biochemo(rough) All of the info for melanoma runs through his office. He seems to be pretty agressive when you are stage 4. I have been moved to Dr. Hsu and I do not like that. Dr. Gailani still oversees my treatment. I love my surgeon Dr. Waldold in Fontana. I am currently trying to get him to try and get to tumors his is on the fence about. The Biochemo has slowed my activity but has not shrunk my tumors. If you are with Kaiser see if Gailani can at least look at charts.

FYI, the only Kaiser melanoma specialist in CA (Dr Gailani) just went out on indefinite leave, and Kaiser isn't planning to replace him with another mel specialist, to my knowledge.

FYI, the only Kaiser melanoma specialist in CA (Dr Gailani) just went out on indefinite leave, and Kaiser isn't planning to replace him with another mel specialist, to my knowledge.

FYI, the only Kaiser melanoma specialist in CA (Dr Gailani) just went out on indefinite leave, and Kaiser isn't planning to replace him with another mel specialist, to my knowledge.