I live in the Phoenix area. But I was ready and willing to travel rather than have surgery done by someone who isn't highly skilled. There is a Facebook Paralyzed Diaphragm support group (private group - you can easily find it, but only members can see the posts - you can request to join). On that group there are many people who have had the plication surgery - most robotic. And the strong agreement is to find a surgeon who has done many of these surgeries, is highly skilled, and has an excellent track record. There are a limited number of hospitals/medical centers around the country I would have considered. The thoracic surgeons even at most larger hospitals in Phoenix would not meet the criteria, so I would have hunted for one at one of the top tier centers for robotic plication surgery.

My surgery went even better than I hoped. Pain was minimal due to advanced techniques used by my surgeon. Definitely was much better outcome than most.