I had my surgery today (11/29/05) with Dr. Leigh in Edina, MN. Day went very well except for one hitch.
I got to the office on a snowy day today around 10 am with surgery scheduled for 11 am. I was on an empty stomach and armed with my checkbook to pay for the procedure. I check in with the receptionist, and she tells me, "we have no record of an appointment for you today."
YIKES!!!
I wait for the scheduling coordinator to get off the phone and I talk to her. She tells me that my appointment had been canceled! The office requires payment 2 weeks in advance, and I was paying today. Needless to say, I was stunned and furious.
I had talked to her two weeks ago and offered to pay Amex, and she said they didnt take that card. I then told her I would work on figuring something else out in the meantime. No threat of cancellation was ever made. She called a couple days later and asked if I could move my op time up an hour to 11, and I said that was fine. No mention of payment or cancellation was made. I figured that if they were going to think about cancelling me, they would at least give me a call to let me know! This is not a hair appointment or an oil change, this is expensive surgery. I had taken the whole week off work, arranged rides, and made plans for weeks for this, and she had cancelled me without even bothering to let me know. I can only wonder how many before me went through this.
We go around for about 5-10 minutes, I was expresssing my disgust, and finally I say that I can pay cash right now and its no biggie, I just want it done now. She finally turns nice on me and goes and switches around the schedules so that I can get things done.
I wind up in the surgery center around 11, get dressed in the gowns and such, and the anesthetist comes in and hooks me up to some IV. I hate needles, but there wasn't hardly any pain.
The doc comes in around 11:30, and confirms my goals for the op, draws on me, and then I wait about 15 minutes. The nurse comes to the door, tells me to come with her, and we walk to the OR. I get on the table, they put the coolest warm blanket thingy on me, and I am joking with the nurses and anesthetist.
Next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room, it was 1:30, and my ride was there, and I was all bandaged up. I was groggy, but there was nothing overwhelming, and very little pain. The surgeon came and told me that everything went well, and gave me a debrief on what to do the next few days. The nurse explained how my drains worked and set a follow up for Friday. I then put on my clothes and was wheeled out to the car. While getting dressed, I felt nauseous and almost puked, but the nurse gave me a shot of something that erased my urge to puke.
I was able to walk into the pharmacy and fill my scripts for Vicodin and some sort of antibiotic. We then drove home, I stopped at Subway and went in to order a sandwich. Suprisingly, I had a very strong appetite this shortly after the surgery, and ate a footlong very easily. I took my Vicodin with the food, and then laid down in my bed around 2:30 at home and slept 5 hours.
When I awoke, I was hungry, so I went to Pizza Hut and grabbed something to munch on, had another Vicodin, and rented a couple video games. Driving and walking are no biggie, just 8 hours post-op.
Biggest surprises of the day had to be the almost complete lack of pain (and of course the near disaster with cancellation). Otherwise I eagerly await being able to see some results on Friday. I will keep updating my journal daily to let you know how things progress. I am excited to post some pics too!
My Before Photos:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fmlackback/detail?.dir=5112&.dnm=93bescd.jpghttp://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fmlackback/detail?.dir=/5112&.dnm=59bescd.jpg&.src=phI am 24, 6'4" 200, gyne since early puberty. No known cause.
Topic: My Surgery Experience (11/29) Dr. Leigh (Read 3690 times)
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