home after my horrible experience

Hi All, I just wanted to say that the surgery went well for me with no complications so far, and I am sooo happy to be home. However, I had a horrible experience overall in the hospital (HUP-Dr. Williams). My pain was not managed until day 2 so i was in extreme pain for about 24 hours. I told the nurses and when the attending came around the next morning and I told her about my horrible pain, she said that no one told her. The nurses were aweful and took up to 45 minutes to answer the call buttom, I had a panic attack a few hours into recovery and couldn't breathe from the extreme pain, and I requested more pain meds or a breathing treatment. I recieved a breathing treatment about 16 hours later. They didn't hook up my CPAP machine until about 3AM the first night so I barely slept. And, Dr. WIlliams never once saw me before or after the surgery. I was only seen by the attending. Overall, I am very dissappointed with my treatment. I told my homecare nurse and she said never get a surgery on a Friday.

Marcy, It's good to hear that you are home and ok, but ticks me off about the hospital and staff treatment. I'm sorry to hear about the treatment. I would definately file a letter with someone in the hospital. I had all the pain killer I wanted but didn't want to continue sleeping. The nursing staff was ok for most of the venture, but there were a few nurses that needed to be kick out of nursing. I hope you will feel better at home. Cathy D

Oh Marcy, that is awful!! I am so sorry that you had such a bad experience. WHat floor were you on? I am curious because my surgery (Dr. Williams/HUP) is next Friday 4/22. Do you think your stay was worse being on a Friday and having the weekend shifts of nurses? I am a nurse (never worked at that hospital) and am a big baby when it comes to pain, so they won't like me for a patient! Take care and keep us posted. HUGS, Krista

I was on the 12th floor - Surgical. Yes, I think it was because it was a Friday. It may have been a "unique weekend". If it is important to you that you see Dr. WIlliams......my advice would be to demand to speak with Dr. WIlliams before the surgery. Instead, I asked "will I see Dr. Williams?". I will say that I already emailed a letter of complaint to the HUP website address a few days ago. Also, my homecare nurse said another woman who she saw complained about the same issues who also got the surgery done by WIlliams last Friday. So, my homecare nurse alerted HUP that the concerns need to be addressed. Hopefully, this may get back to the surgery nursing staff before your sugery. Another tip....if you have any special needs such as setting up a CPAP machine, etc..tell the nurse as early as possible and don't be afraid to bug them. It can take hours to recieve a request. If you are having lap R&Y like me, by Sunday you should be able to drink some tea & broth...be sure to ask for it in the morning because I had to remind the nurses by noon when I didn't recieve anything and they then had to get approval from the doctor which took some time. Also, you may want to bring a towel because one day they had run out and I had nothing to bath or dry off with. Lastly, make sure they send you home with gauze and dressings. They forgot to give me some and I had nothing to change my wound bandages. I had never gotten surgery before this one. I would never do it on a Friday again just because of my bad experience. But hopefully, it was just one of those weekends. I heard of others getting the surgery on Friday who had good experiences. But, this is an important day for you coming up so there is not much you can worry about now. Just be sure you are prepared and make a list of the tips I gave above. I will say that the anestesiologist was very great and spent alot of time with me before the surgery explaining each step which I did appreciate. And, on my last night my roommate was cleaning her bowels out for surgerical prep and couldn't make the bathroom. So, the room smelled extremely horrible. I got myself out of bed and went up to a doctor on the floor and basically demanded I be moved to another room because the smell was making me very sick. I already knew they had empty rooms available because the room next door was empty. They did move me which I appreciated. Good luck. Let me know how it goes. Wish you the best!

Marcy, Thanks for the info. I will make sure to take your advice. Did Dr. Williams speak with your family afterward? He didn't even see you in Recovery Room? I am so disappointed in what happened to you. I can't do anything about havig my surgery on a Friday--as you know it takes a long time there to wait for a date. I've mde so many arrangements now I don't want to postpone--I will just have to take my chances. I am so glad I read your post so I can be better prepared. Thanks for sharing. Please e-mail me if you ever want to talk. Take care, Krista

Yes. Dr. Williams did see my family after the surgery and told them that everything went well. However, my parents were frustrated and dissappointed with the communication up until that point. At one point my parents were told I was in recovery while my boyfriend was told something else. So, it seems that depending on who they asked, they got different stories. I will be seeing Dr. WIlliams on Monday so I plan to tell him about my dissapointments.

Hi Marcy... My hospital stay was just like yours... I ended up begging for pain relief!... the worse part of it all is my husband works on the floor which I was staying... and I was still treated like I didn't exist. I sure was happy to get home... feeling great.. looking forward to mushies next week.... Take Care Kathy

Marcy.. Glad to hear you are on the losing side now and I am sorry that you experienced such a horrible nightmare in hospital. I will have to disagree wth the homecare nurse as I have been in the nursing field for many years. I had my surgery on March 18th and only one month post op. I had great care and fast response from the nursing staff Friday and Saturday and was discharged Sunday Morning. There are good health care workers dedicated to the field and then there are those who are not there for patient care. I can understand your disappointment in your treatment and hope you have a speedy recovery now that you are home. God Bless and keep you! Linda

welcome home! glad your ok. well i am just horrified of your experience at that hospital. i wouldnt take that lying down. when you get a bit better i would call or find somewhere i could go to complain and i would spread the word for the doc and hospital so that everyone knows not to go there. when you go back to the doc for checkups i would let him no that you are disappointed in the way you were treated. i dont think i would of made it through the surg if i wouldnt of had a wonderful doc and his staff. i was in terrible pain after and they gave me pain meds until they worked. i ended up having to have 3 different kinds until they found the one that would work on me but it was great there after. i had a problem with one night nurse and i said something to the day nurse about him and she told me i had the right to request another nurse. so i did and then i didnt have any problems. so just remember you are there to get care and they have NO right what so ever to treat you that way. i would go to the board or somewhere i could report that treatment. but that is just me. you take care of yourself and rest well. take care, Dede Lap RNY -28 pounds