Detailed Write Up Of My Surgery Experience

Edit: see profile for surgey info

I think you are OCD .....my recollection of surgery is as follows ( from a Man's perspective: 1. Drove to hospital in early morning 2. They put me under 3. Woke up and felt like **** 4. Pushed pain button when it hurt. 5. Did breathing exercises 6. Took a walk 7. Drank some ****ty stuff 8. Drank some broth 9. Took a pee and a **** 10. Put my clothes on and went home

LMAO.. So funny cause that top 10 was so simple and pretty much covered everything I did. I like your cliff notes version. I would also say we are all a tad bit OCD here and that is what got most of us here in the first place =) OK.. well I know for a fact I am!! I also think women are more detailed oriented then men when it comes to stuff like this. He needs to know what is going on. It might help the next patient passing through. When I write this up for him I will just give him something with bullets under a couple headers- Opportunities for Improvement and Things I liked =)

Yes, I we are all OCD. I just changed compulsion from food to exercise

I think it's a good idea to let him know how your felt about your stay, but honestly, and you know I am just playing devil's advocate here...I think it revolves a little bit too much around your personal experience. There are somethings other people just don't want to hear about...ie Diarrhea caught me right off the bat. Some people are just weirded out about things like that. When you are revolving it around you, and don't make it their personal experience then you devalue and rob them of their personal experience. The best thing you can let Dr. K know, since this is a budding program, is the areas that were really satisfactory as far as your care went, and the things that weren't. Sometimes when you get too detailed, people tend to shut down after the first few paragraphs. Then you have missed your opportunity to really pinpoint what needs to be fixed. I think that will be the best thing you can do to help them. I am sure they will get things up and running just fine, it just takes time and patients being honest about how their experience was. I try to follow the KISS method on this. Remember, docs really don't have tons of time to do a lot of reading. I think the bullets and to the point are the best thing! Val

Thanks so much Val. That is helpful. I've been holding off adding it to my profile as well. Actually I probably should not have posted it on the boards here and emailed a few of you but since we don't have a huge audience here like the rest of the forums I think I'm ok =) A very, very important question for you guys...Need some opinions. I have a lot of people in my state that have been following my profile as well as on the main msg board...many pre-ops. Do you think I should cut out some of the personal detail for that as well? I'm sort of torn as I don't want to scare anyone off and I don't want Dr. Kligman to think I am bad mouthing his program with some of the minor details that probably won't be issues for people that are not as picky as me. Maybe I should keep that simple too.. hmmm Thoughts?

Ok I just updated my profile. I cut it down a bit and gave a bit less info that might cause someone more anxiety prior than necessary. It has a more positive spin on it. Would you mind checking it out and let me know what you think. Thanks gang!

No, that's ok, you needed feedback and this is a good place for it. I am a big feedback person. I like to know what the general consensus is before I make a final decision sometimes. So, don't worry about it. I would rather be honest with someone than bs'ing them when they are asking for my opinion. I tried to keep my profile as simple as possible. Just the basic stuff. There were a lot of little things I didn't put out there, but I did put the good with the bad. Everyone has a different story to tell, I tend to like the Readers Digest Condensed version. Sometimes too much information can be a bad thing. Earl and I had completely different experiences in the same hospital. Same surgeon, same floor, etc. Different as night and day. Use what your experience is as a teaching tool, not a ***** session. And yes, a lot of the docs that do surgery read the boards on this web site. They may not post here, but they read them. I know this for a fact. You can't blame the surgeon for the way the hospital is run. You have to remember he is an employee of the hospital just like you and I. And, I will tell you I give Bariatric Surgeons a special place in my heart. They are giving us a tool to help us accomplish what we alone were unable to do. They are people just like you and I. It would be great for you to let him know areas that need improvement and areas that worked great. We all like constructive criticism, not destructive. I hope this helps. Believe me, I know what it's like to tell someone where you work only to have them start this long tirade about how bad there care was...yadda yadda yadda, it makes you feel like you are responsible for the entire facility, when it isn't your fault at all. Take care, Val

True! True! True! When are you going to become the offical program coordinator over there already! That position is just so perfect for you. My surgeon reads this site for a fact! Although I doubt he gets ot he gets to these boards. Im sure he reads the Maryland ones. He told me he saw my name all over the boards. I do post a ton too. I agree with you. Bariatric Surgeons have given us this wonderful gift! I would never want to take away from that. I would never blame the surgeon for the mishaps on the floor. He was wonderful.. beyond wonderful.. a true patient advocate. His bedside manner was so good too. My profile is long and wordy in general. Has all sorts of even non WLS things in it now. I am starting to feel guilty taking up the OH bandwith. Kind of like a this is the real me page but with tips too. I think at some point I am going to convert it over to a web page with sections. That way if anyone wants to find stuff more easily they can. I like doing web pages as a hobby anyway. Might be a nice little relaxing project when I am home. Anyway, about the surgery day entry in my journal.. I think I did a good job turning it more positive and made it more patient friendly. I'll save the specific detailed constructive criticisim later. It will be constructive too. I promise =) I'll leave out specific names of nurses as well and go with more general observations.

You don't know how bad I want a job like that. If they would offer, I would do it! I am trying so hard to get into OSU it isn't even funny. They know I want one, I have done a LOT of stuff for them, free too, I have made two commercials, speak at different classes and have increased the support group size by 100% +. Maybe I should do my own consulting. I wouldn't even know where to start. I want to write a book too. I swear I wish I had 30 hours in a day! Don't feel guilty or apologize...you are who you are! I think a web page would be so cool. I am just not literate in that area at all. I wish I could do that type of thing, I would love to have a web page. I just wouldh have to learn how to add stuff, and how it all works. Even my 14 year old has her own web page on some site called xanga or something...geez mom get with the program huh? See, now you are thinking in the right direction! The only time to put specific names is when you write to the DON. And basically let them know that maybe they could improve on this or that. Call them out, maybe they don't realize that patients perceive them in that way, or maybe they were having a bad day...we are human too, and sometimes it is hard to be at work when you know your kids are home sick, or there's something else going on in with a different patient, etc. Commend the nurses who did a good job. It's nice to have an ego stroke once in a while too. I know I always enjoy that! OK...go watch tv and take a nappy. It's a sleepy day here in Ohio for sure. We went from 80's to snow and 40's just like that again. ARRGH! Val