St. Francis Hospital

Hi!  I just had my stay at St. Francis last week for my surgery.  I was first on the list.  The nurses in the pre-op area were kinda blah.  Straight to business, not very friendly.

The anastliogist (sp, sorry!) was very nice.  They had a chaplin pray with me prior to surgery.

My surgery took 9 hours, very long, due to some things.  Dr. Srikanth put me in the ICU.  I had a private room there, the nurses were great, and everything was pretty good, except for feeling like junk.  Large bathroom, couch, and chair!  They were even going to let my husband stay the night.

I can't really say what an experience will be in other rooms after surgery.  I have heard that you can request a private room prior to surgery, if your insurance will allow it. 

 Hope all goes well!

WOW!!! 9 hours of surgery!! You poor thing!! I'm glad everything turned out well for you in the end.
Thanks for your input!!

~Namaate~

My medical care at St. Francis exceeded my expections.  I thought that the nursing staff in out-patient/day surgery (which is where 99% of all Srikanths go post-op, unless they're like Terri, whose surgery was the day before Thanksgiving and had to be put in a regular room post-op where the nursing/medical staff really was clueless about her procedure and post-op needs or have a pre-existing condition that would required ICU monitoring like Kendra).  Those nurses (the ones in out-patient/day surgies) know Srikanth's protocol and they will indeed push fluids a sip at a time and you will not be released until you get through 5 rounds of 10 medicine cups each filled wth water.  You are expected to be walking within an hour of return frm the surgical recovery unit ( I was actually allowed a longer grace period due to my extremely adverse reaction to anesthesia and ther drugs reqired for surgery).    The nurses I dealt with were very nice knowledgeable.  My mother stayed with me overnight in my room and it was not only not an issue, it seemed to be expected.  The "rooms" on the day / outpatient surgery are "private in the sense that you don't have a roommate, and not private in the sense that it's really just a curatin that slides acoss the doorway, but there are real walls that seprate the rooms, not just sliding fabric dividers.  It was also very quiet my night on the ward and I know there were at least 2 other Srikanth patients there.  I never rean in to them.  The hospital gowns are plenty big!  I never even took the robe/slippers that I packed out of my bad.  Dr. Srikanth was back at 4:30 AM, looked a my belly, told me "no worries" and that assuming my upper GI swallow and CT were ok, I'd go home that morning.  The orderly from XRay picked me up at 7:30 AM, I was back in my room by 9:00 AM, and at home by 11:00 AM.

In order to ease your fears, you may want to schedule the final pre-op with the hospital as an in-person appointment as opoosed to doing it over the phone.  You can even tour the day surgery area at that time,  Also, if you do the final registration in person, they'll give you a relaxation CD relating to preparing for surgery! 

I hope this helps! 

Amy

Thanks for sharing! I like knowing what to expect before hand. I just scheduled my hospital
pre-op yesterday and was surprised that they would do it over the phone. I told them that I was seeing Dr. S for my final exam at 11 and could go to the hospital for the appt, but she said they would do it over the phone. I think I will call them back and see if I can at least go in for a brief tour! Thanks again!!

OK, I am officially "Freaked Out"!!!!! I have surgery on the 26th ahhhh.... this thurs., and I am a little nervous, I can't imagine a nurse making you sit there in pain or being ignored! HOLY CANOLIE!!
Maybe my DH should stay the night! I know I have learned from Amy to be my own advocate with this surgery deal, but at your most vulnarable????? NOT OK!!!! 

ok ok ok I WILL REMAIN CALM, I really am excited to get this part of the journey underway, this post maybe was a GOD SEND, I need to have some family support at the hospital!!!  I was planning on my hubby staying with the kids @ home, but I know my Mom will be happy to have them overnight with her, so thankyou for your question and thanks to everyone for the expierence.
Jen

Good luck on Thursday!! I'm sure everything will be fine. Let's hope that our experiences are good ones! Take care!

Jen:

You will be ok!!!!  Having a person there who is able and willing to advocate on your behalf is really important!   I was literally puking and in misrable moaning pain for about 4hours post-op, not from the incisions or the procedure itself,  but the meds.  My adverse reaction anasthesia and narcotics  was noted in the file and one of the benefits of doing an in person hospital pre-op was that I was able to  to vefify that Dr. Srikanths's orders regarding my specific issues were written in the chart!  (and yes, I know that they claim there's a new ****tail that prevents that reaction, and I was given that...I was still sicker than a dog).  Even though I saw the written orders in my hospital file, it still took lots of convincing from both me and my Mom to have them disconnect the pain pump, understand that liquid Vicodin wasn't the next step, and that the only pain med I wanted/would be able to tolerate was tylenol suppositories.  I also knew that the standard antiemetic (compazine) wasn't going to work, and an order for Zofram was clearly written in the chart.  I didn't have any problems in that regard.  When Dr. Srikanth came at 4:30 AM and we told him about the issue of attempted forced narcotic pain management despite the fact that the chart indicated extreme sensitivity and I was wearing a red allergy band indicating such, I know he addressed the issues with the nurses.  Unfortunately, you'll see at lease 3 shifts during your stay and there are bad apples in every bunch!  That's true of every profession. 

Do you need me to come up and kick some butt?  I will, you know!

Amy

I had surgery on 2/25/09 at St. Francis. I was Dr. Srikanth's 2nd patient for the day and had to wait until 10:30ish before the pre-op prep started. The only shocker to the prep part was they made me take a pregnancy test... didn't expect that. Because you have to stop drinking fluids at midnight the night prior to surgery, I was slightly dehydrated and the nurse had a difficult time getting my IV in and started... 4 pokes later they finally got a good line in. I was given plenty on warm blankets and hubby was allowed to stay with me. Hubby and I walked to the surgery prep room together where I said "see you later, love ya"and embraced; the nurses showed him the waiting room and I was guided to bed with lots of warm blankets. (they keep it very cold in the surgery areas) A short time later (11:30am) the anesthesiologist spoke with me and I was given something (via my IV) to take the edge off but I wasn't nervous at all I mentioned I had slight pain where my IV was located... it was looked at and was told it looked ok but they would watch it in surgery. Then Dr. S. came by he asked if I had any final questions and made some joke but I was starting to get foggy at this point. Next thing I know I am in a room, hubby looking at me and talking to Dr. S (9:30pm). Later I found out I was in surgery for 6 hours and in recovery for the other few hours but I dint remember any of it. Dr. S. told hubby I needed to be up and walking and sipping... and hubby did that. I couldn't keep the water/ice chips down... it hurt so much to throw them up. I told a nurse that I couldn't sip and she added anti-nausea medication to my IV. I told hubby to go home at about 11:00pm and took a nap. The night shift nurses got me up at about 12:15 to walk and sip. I was still having problems keeping anything down; the nurses looked at my IV and noticed my arm was swollen; my IV had in fact shifted. She moved my IV to my hand and within 15 to 20 minutes I was feeling 100% better. I spent the rest of the night sipping/walking and cat napping. The night shift nurses were so nice and attentive to my every whim. At about 4am the nurses switched my water with the MRI contrast to ensure no leaking (I am gonna be honest it was horrible tasting but I made it thru) Hubby was back at hospital about 8:30 and about 9:00 I was taken for the MRI. Then I just walked/sipped and cat napped the rest of the day. Dr. S couldn't get to the hospital in the morning so about 5ish he came by and discharged me. I took a shower/dressed and by the time I was done my paperwork was almost completed. I think I was home my 7:30.
I had a private room (my insurance required that I stay on the surgical floor of the hospital not the in/out patient area); which was large enough for the bed, TV but I don'****ch TV so I read or played cards with hubby on my awake non walking times, a recliner that hubby could have slept in, a single sink and mirror, there was a closet and a area to keep my luggage, the room was large enough to move around in comfortably. The separate bathroom had a standing shower stall and the toilet. The room had a door but I only closed it when I was dressing to go home. Overall, the floor was very quiet and I hardly noticed the other patients. I even asked at one point if I was the only bypass patient cause I never saw anyone else walking thru the night and the nurses seemed to spent most of the night with me. The night shift nurses told me there were 5 other bypass patients from the various physicians that use the hospital. I was amazed because of how quiet it was. The hospital was well staffed with nurses and I never waited for anything... water, broth, Popsicles, oral pain med. I was highly impressed with my care and treatment, the hospital seemed to be a highly tuned, well oiled machine working flawlessly.... for me.

Hello Teresa,

I had surgery with Dr. Srikanth in December and am very happy with both him and St. Francis Hospital.  I had proximal gastric bypass and was Dr. S. 2nd surgery of the day. (there were 3 of us that day.) My whole process was 5 hours from going to the pre-op area until I was in my room.  I stayed the night in the out patient area and other than the rooms being small I didn't mind it at all.  I was in a little pain coming out of surgery and the nurse hooked me up to the IV pain pump right away.  After a little bit my pain was totally under control.  The rooms are small. I had my husband, my teenage daughter, my sister & my mom all in my room at one time.  The nurses were very nice and were very accomadating and went and got chairs for everyone.  After a little while my sister and my daughter went home and my mom and husband stayed until about 10pm.  The nurses do have you up and walking right away.  The reason for this is to keep the blood pumping through your legs which prevents blood clots so it is very important you get up and walk as much as possible.  When I wasn't walking I was napping, I didn't have any trouble sleeping.  My night nurse did have me sipping water and she told me that Dr. Srikanth will not discharge a patient until they have drank 50-1oz. cups.  They bring them to you in 10-1oz. rounds. I agree with Beetle as warm water seemed to go down alot easier. Now I can drink either but for the first few weeks cold water was uncomfortable.
Overall I had a very positive experience and thought all of my nurses were great.  My morning nurse was so compassionate and understanding of WLS.  She and I talked a while about weight loss and what brought me to my decision.  Although she wasn't even close to needing WLS she shared with me that she too struggles with weight and keeping weight off, so she understood my reasons for wanting WLS.
Please don't be nervous for your stay in the hospital, You will be fine and I think those that have had a bad experience maybe a few isolated cases. I think there are more postive experiences than negative ones.  I am not saying the negative experinces don't happen I just think they are the exception not the norm.
Also one thing to remember is this is an "outpatient" surgery, done in the outpatient surgery center so it's not suppose to be treated like a long term care stay.  Their goal is to get you up on your feet and able to be sent home within 24 hours unless your insurance requires something different. 

My best wishes to you! Please let us all know how it goes.
Take care,

Thanks for sharing your experience!! I feel much better about everything now thanks to all those who shared! I plan on following the plan and doing whatever they ask of me. I do, however, find it interesting that something so drastic and lifechanging is considered an outpatient procedure! I do like the fact that I can go home the next day.

Thanks again!