St. Francis Hospital

I am scheduled for my rny on April 28th at St. Francis. I was wondering if any of you who have had your surgery done there can tell me what to expect. How is the staff? Private rooms? Can they accommodate an exhausted husband who doesn't want to stay in a hotel? And the big question.....are the hospital gowns big enough? Thanks is advance for your help!!

Hello, "yakimom" (I checked your profile but couldn't find your real name to call you by),

I had surgery at St Francis and I'm afraid I wasn't terribly impressed.

I was first on the list, so I didn't have to wait around for very long, which was a good thing. Yes, the gowns were big enough, and I did get a blanket to keep warm etc.

When I woke up in my "room", I found it was tiny - and I mean TINY (our little downstairs bathroom is about the same size). There is enough room for the bed plus one recliner and a person to walk on ONE side between the bed and the wall, and that's about it. Worse still, it had NO DOOR - only a bit of a curtain.

There were plenty of other little holes in the wall just like mine, and the whole place was noisy.
Hospitals are never a good place to get any sleep, but without door, plus all the usual interruptions, I got almost NO sleep at all. I am so glad I had brought along earplugs, they helped a little bit.

The care I received was so-so. The first nurse on duty was rather good, even though she had a pretty busy shift. It went downhill after that.

I was having problems with my IV drip, which I pointed out to them, but nobody seem to care. I am actually a very good patient, only asking for something when I really really need to, but my buzzing (as well as when a machine started beeping) went ignored for very long periods - I am so glad I didn't have a serious emergency!
When my bruising and the pain got way too bad from the IV, I got myself out of bed and went looking for someone and insist they fix it. Had to do that several times, because they needed to move it 5 times.

It was quiet during night shift, but the nurse still acted like she had NO time.

I don't mean to scare you with all this, but it helps to be prepared. So if they are still like that, you'll know to start asking for something to happen BEFORE it becomes rather urgent (like a bathroom trip). If you have questions, make sure to ask them. Chances are they will be answered, but don't wait for them to volunteer information.
The place was clean, and for the most part they did what they absolutely had to do, just don't expect anything beyond that.

I hope you'll get a real room, only the best nurses, and that you'll breeze through it as easily as I did.

Hi! Thanks for the insight!! Now I'm really nervous, but it is better to be prepared! I'm sorry your stay was so bad. I would think that a hospital that has such high ratings received them from the patients, but I guess not. I heard that the nurses wake you up several times at night to walk. I thought this was strange, but maybe it's a blessing!! How was your care with Dr. Srikanth? He's my surgeon, but I've only met him twice. He seems very professional and caring. I love his "trumpet"!

WOW that was quite eye opening. My surgery is next Tuesday at St Frances and Hopefully they will let my Mom stay in the room cause she will make sure that if I'm not taken care of she will raise HELL. She is 5' Tiny little woman and most of the time really quite but when it comes to hospitals and my care she doesn't tolerate anything. So "yakimom" if they let your husband come in and stay the night then he can be the one to advocate for you. Also if he can't stay, there is a hotel right down the street that gives you a discount if your family member is having surgery at St Frances. You just have to ask the hospital about this discount and what Hotel it is.

Good luck next Tuesday!! Let me know (when you're up to it) how your experience was! Thanks for the hotel info!!

Yes you are strongly encouraged to walk. It isn't fun at first, but every WLS patient will tell you how important it is.
I made a point of standing up straight right away. Hunched over felt more comfortable, but I didn't want to give in to that position. I'm glad I didn't.

Srikanth is great. I am sure he is an excellent surgeon, and you can't help but laugh when HE laughs, right? Again, have your questions ready, he is a busy man, but he will most certainly answer your questions and take great care of you.

My story about the hospital shouldn't make you nervous, it is really only little stuff. The stuff that counts is taken very good care of - Dr Srikanth will make sure of that!

I have every intention of walking as soon as they let me! I will walk as much as they allow! Did you have to do 80 one ounce "shots" of water? Sounds like alot, but it probably isn't!

I don't know how many there were, but yes, I got to do the "shots".
Pretty amazing how much of a chore such a small amount of water can be at first!

I soon learned (once I got home) that I did much better with warm/hot liquids than with cool/cold ones.

I was told by my Nutrician class 50 1oz cups of water and at least 7 times around the nurses station.

Hello!

My experience was much like Karin's...

The early evening nurse was wonderful and very sweet and helpful. When I had enough 'shots' of water I was allowed a popsicle, which tasted wonderful. And she was great about getting me one as often as I could.

The night nurse was a different story!! Karin's experience was dead-on - if she didn't need to do it, it was hard to get her around to help. Additionally, she decided that I was taking 'too much' pain medication and so she turned OFF the pain IV thing!!! I tried to tell her that I had special instructions for that (I had been on pain medication for nearly 6 months for a knee injury and had built up a tolerance which Dr. S knew about and it was in my chart) but she wouldn't listen to me. The end result was that when she went off duty in the morning, and the morning nurse tried to help me get my pain back under control, it was nearly 2 more hours before the pain medication took effect.

I wish I hadn't sent my family home, but I wanted them to try to get some sleep! They had been with me since 0530 that morning, and were more tired than I was... but I wish I hadn't - my sister would have given that night nurse what-for... I was too weak and in too much pain to have that power.

Dr. S is the BEST. He was VERY mad at the night nurse the next day when he was told what had happened. He had written in my chart that I was to be given additional pain medication (confirmed by my Primary Care doctor). So I hope the nurse was told that she is NOT a doctor and had no right altering my medication!!!

Sorry to share the scary stuff, but to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed! If they let a family member stay with you, that would be great! They will make you walk, you won't get any sleep, and they insist you drink the water(!!) but it all helped me feel better faster!

Best of luck!