Question:
Any ideas on how I can manage to have the pre-op procedures if I'm alone?

Hi! I am commuting 3.5 hours to my surgery location, and family will fly here to get me there and home from the actual surgery. But it is too far to ask a friend to go, and family will not be here until the actual surgery. Yet I need grueling endoscopies, and have been told they will not let me go home, even in a cab, without a "responsible adult" with me. It's a good policy, but what to do if you're going alne for the procedure? I thought I might take a commuter flight and cab to and from, or stay the night in a hotel and drive home the next day. But if they won't let me go alone...what to do? Ideas? Angels in the DC area who want to be my responsible adult to ride in the cab with me? (Just a wild possibility, could return the favor). Scheduled 1/16 9am. Thanks for listening.    — Jesse M. (posted on January 13, 2001)

January 13, 2001
Sure wish I could help you out. I understand your dilemma. Do you just need someone to leave the clinic with you, or do you need someone to be with you for 24 hours after leaving? (That's what they required of me on another surgery) If you just need someone with you when you leave the clinic, maybe you could get a home health aide? But, you certainly wouldn't want a stranger staying with you for 24 hours. You might call the clinic or wherever you are having the procedure done. There have been other people with the same problem. At the clinic where I had my procedure done, if you have no one to leave with and be with you for 24 hours afterward, they require you to stay at an on-site hotel. Of course, the clinic I went to was in a major hospital and there is a hotel right across the street for such purposes, as well as for people visiting patients at the hospital, etc. My suggestion is to call the clinic where your procedure is being done, and ask for their advice. There are many people with this same problem. Good luck, and I wish you all the best. ARDIS TARRELL
   — Ardis T.

January 13, 2001
Although my surgeon recommended an endocrinologist, I went to a local doctor and had the endoscopy done by him. I simply faxed the results to my surgeon. I also did my bloodwork locally. Check it out with your surgeon's office!
   — Jeannet