That's it. After my year appointment I left my surgeons office in tears. Hell I was crying while talking to the S.O,B. It's time for me to write everything down and see an attorney to see if I have a case. First he sent me out of the hospital despite me begging to stay another day because I couldn't keep down the 4 oz of a fluid an hour that he "demands of all his patients" and I was constantly, I mean nonstop heaving. He also did no leak test which I was ok with because his theory made sense: that soon after surgery the tissue is too inflamed to see if there is a hole or not. Second, one week later I went to their ER with moderate chest pain. I told them I was a patient of his one week out from surgery, they called him with the costocondritis diagnosis and he ok'd it without any scans or tests and they sent me home with some tramadol. Third, about one week after that the chest pain had gotten worse, I was miserable, and was starting to vomit again because he wouldn't refill my zofran. That's when they found the "abscess" in my abdomen and scheduled me for emergency exploratory surgery the following morning. They found nothing but an abscess then, they suctioned it out and put in a JP drain. After they went inside they found MRSA and I am now a carrier. There were several small incidents during my month in the hospital that really need to be written down but it's already on another thread here and I really don't feel like typing it all right now. () After several several tests and about a full week later they finally diagnosed me with a leak and I was on TPN strict NPO for the month to let it heal. The only other option was a stent. He would do nothing else. During my entire month stay I was on a pain pump receiving 1 mg of morphine every six minutes. He unplugged me and sent me home cold turkey with a prescription for antibiotics and 2 days worth of tylox. During my DTs I almost ended up returning to the ER but I refused to go back. After that I developed a mass at my drain site that was warm to the touch and very painful, I called him on the phone (as instructed by his nurses) and while talking to him my drain site popped open and began self draining the MRSA filled fluid that was building up. Almost immediately the pressure was gone and he said, "well there we go. Anything else? No? Good. I guess if it becomes too much for you to control with home bandaging you could come in to the ER goodbye" *click* Fourth- my follow up appointment, I didn't see him, I saw his nurse practitioner. Part of me was relieved because at least she's nice but wouldn't you think a surgeon should see his first sleeve leak patient just a couple weeks out of surgery? Fifth strike- he didn't show up at my 6 month check up either. Yesterday was strike six. My year check up. His attitude again was unbearable. He crossed the line beyond fixing. He said the following: "the reason your fibro is bad is because you're still fat." "Your colon is going to stop functioning if you keep taking these narcotics" "your list of medications is ridiculous I think you have an addiction problem and I recommend you seek treatment and get a different doctor" "you're LYING about your pain as an excuse to not lose weight" I have gone from moderate pain to severe post op. I've had to up my meds (including antidepressants) and have been fighting with my doctors the entire way because they want me to sign up for disability and I'm only 26 and refuse to give up yet. I also have severe osteoarthritis in my hips and plans to start my series of trigger point shots so I can cut back the amount of meds I take. But that doesn't matter. He still said what he said. I'm done. My surgeon is a scumbag.

They charge per page, and that is why you do not want every page. There could be 200 pages+ there. You call the hospital, ask for the Medical Records Dept. You tell them you may be moving and need to take your medical records with you (makes your reason simple for requesting records), and you want to know how much they charge per page for the copies. They might be able to tell you how many pages the total is.

Linda, is there a pocket sized version of you I can buy? Because you're just great! Thank you again!

I think it would be well worth the cost not only for the law purposes but to give to my new follow up surgeon, and keep for myself to reflect. If I have no case at I can look back at the severity on paper and be proud and grateful I'm still alive

Something to consider would be your medical history rather than the full records. The history should be 1-3 pages with just a compiled list of all of your past diagnosis, etc.

Something to consider would be your medical history rather than the full records. The history should be 1-3 pages with just a compiled list of all of your past diagnosis, etc.

Thanks! I'll look into that