EWWW???? GROSS!

Hi Everyone, I'm hoping this was a mistake by the admittance Dept. at St. Francis. (crossing my fingers & toes) The admitter was going over my information and said, "Ok we're all set for the 26th for your colonoscopy"...I was like WHOA WAIT A MINUTE! I replied that I was going in for Bariatric by-pass surgery, not a colonoscopy..she mentioned I was correct with the Bariatric portion.... Am I missing something? I'm having open RNY & not lapro as originally planned...Nothing was mentioned...& now I'm more nervous about an unpleasant surprise prior to surgery than the surgery itself?? I'm hoping this was a miss-communication...For those of you who were open surgery can you shed any light? Thanks everyone, Mickey

I hope she meant ENDOSCOPY, where they put a camera down your throat and look around. I had one there last month (surgery is May 9) and it was easy. I was not told I need a colonoscopy.....

Sounds like Business As Usual with St. Francis. I wouldn't worry too much, Dr. Barba does the surgery, as well as the endoscopy and colonoscopy (he usually does those on Fridays). The 26th is a Thursday, so it sounds like surgery to me, but why not call by admitting and verify it? Be proactive and avoid suprises. Imagine how I felt when after sitting on the toilet for three hours after drinking a gallon of Go-Litely, the day before a scheduled colonoscopy and endoscopy, to get to St. Francis and find out that they had scheduled me for the endoscopy only! There was NO WAY I wanted to do the Go Litely again, luckily Dr. Barba had the time so he did both. Talking to others, it seems this is a common problem at St. Francis. Call them, you will feel better about it when they say "yes, you're scheduled for surgery". Good luck! (hope you get a room on the 5th floor) --Steve

OK Steve, I'll bite. Why is it good to be on the 5th floor? Is it better? Share please Christine Surgery in 17 days and hoping I get the 5th floor I think

Well, you won't get a choice, but the 5th floor seems to be where most of the bariatric surgery patients go, and the 6th floor seems to be an overflow. I don't know for sure, I've only been on the 5th and 6th floors a few times, but because so many bariatric surgery patients go to the 5th floor, the nurses are more familiar with the needs of bariatric surgery patients. I did not find this on the 6th floor, where I often lay with the PCA pump beeping for an hour at a time. No one was ever around to help me out of bed. No one knew how to raise and lower my bed (it was a bed from the ICU). They weren't sure what kind of liquids I could have. My experiences on the 5th floor were so much better. I don't know all of the reasons why, or if things have changed since last October. I have written a journal where I discuss the details of what went right and what went wrong, but have not posted it for fear of putting folks to sleep. --Steve