Am I being too picky...?

gentlespirit · January 28, 2006

I had my surgery on 1/24 in Sioux Falls and was really surprised about a couple of things that happened. The surgeon was fine and everyone I met pre-op was great and very nice. But I didn't get my regular medications until I asked about them just before I was discharged after staying about 30 hours (I take a couple of antidepressants and use an inhaler for asthma). And then they were supposed to make the appointment with the docs office for a one-week followup and never did. I finally called the doc's office today and made it myself...it's a good thing I checked.

The hospital is part of the Univ. of South Dakota, and I guess I expected the staff to be more on top of things than that. The followup appt. is pretty important and his schedule fills up fast. I guess I was disappointed about the follow through on the part of the hospital staff. But I should probably count my blessings because everything went fine and they were nice.

Emily

Lavisa · February 1, 2006

I also had my surgery in Sioux Falls, at Sioux Valley. My only bad experience was a snotty little nurses helper. She had a chip on her shoulder, my husband was going to knock her down a peg but I begged him not to. SV Hospital was great about getting my meds. I ran a fever and had to spend an extra day. Dr. O checked on me quite a bit. Sorry you had an experience you were not sure about. Yes it should have been in your charts about the meds, but never hurts to remind, depression meds are nothing to mess with. They crushed my Migraine meds and put in sherbert. OH my GOODNESS it was sooo nasty. I had to fill out a survey after a couple or few weeks, make sure you let them know. Always room for improvement.

Best wishes!

L

dawg · February 1, 2006

I can certainly empathize. I'm more than a little disenchanted with the medical profession as a whole. The onus is on the patient and family to keep ontop of medical staff anymore.

Picky? no. Apparantely (and sadly) you had 'unrealistic' expectations. Like... to get the medical care you payed for.

PhotoNut · February 1, 2006

*pushes her way to the front of the crowd*

Oh boy, let me at this one!

My first time to get out of bed involved two nurses who got me standing, (my god that hurt - I had hernia repair also - open surgery on my stomach) then.. then! they decided they had to do something else real quick, so they sat me on the edge of the bed, drugged and in pain and left me for 20 minutes! Then came back and expected me to walk?? I took one small step and said, "Put me back in bed"

Then.. oh youre not going to believe this one. In the middle of the night, the Gastapo arrived and she was an army of one. "You need to learn how to get up on your own. Here's how you disconnect yourself from the oxygen monitor. Take the IV stand with you.. you MUST PEE! And when you come back and get in bed, here's how you hook yourself to the monitors again" Yeah, right nursie.

And the topper? The nurse who could barely function. Ever seen a slow talking, slow blinking, unstable drunk who couldnt speak clearly or walk without stumbling over themselves? Well she was the shining example. We couldnt decide if she was drunk or what. She quickly informed us that she was a floater nurse and had never taken care of lapband patients before, so she had no idea what to do before my release. She got me up to go to the bathroom and then left me.. didnt come back for three hours! My husband rescued me. But the topper of them all? She brought me my first liquid pain medicine, and after I drank it I mentioned it tasted like cough medicine. So she ran her finger around in the cup and sucked the medicine off her finger!!!

This was only part of my horrid experience there. I wont go into more here because it might make Dr. Cahn look bad and truly, he is wonderul. This was all the hospital and hospital staff that Im complaining about now.

I found out today that the "drunk nurse" was fired. Seems my cup wasnt the only one she was tasting. So yeah, I can sympathize with you 100%.

dawg · February 1, 2006

And as an echo "Floater" was a splendid word to use.

gentlespirit · February 4, 2006

Maybe it was just an off day, as Lavisa suggested. I was glad that they only have nurses trained for lap band patients work with them...I think that's great. That way none of the bandsters have to deal with "floaters".

Emily