Barix Clinics - Michigan Hospital

I felt the BTC (Forest Hills) met all my medical needs to prepare me for before and after the surgery. The only complaint that I had was not related to the hospital itself but the roomate that I had. She had visitors(older parents) there from open to close of visiting without any consideration to my need for rest or quiet time. As for the staff of the hospital I felt that they were very helpful and always cheery. The guys that would come in for my breathing treatments were always in joking moods and trying to keep you upbeet.

EVERY ASPECT IS AWESOME! WE LOVED EVERY PERSON WE CAME IN CONTACT WITH. IT WAS A TOTALLY POSITIVE EXPERIENCE.

My first impression was that he was very relaxed and had time to spend listening to me talk about my situation.
It has only been 3 weeks from my first appt. so I don't have a different opinion yet.
The staff was very nice and helpful, the Corp. office and the Dr.'s office I went for an appt at.
I liked everything about my surgeon.
Alot, he stresses to call his office any time with questions and concerns on food and a dietician can assist me.
The aftercare seems to be structured.
He said no one has ever died that he has done this surgery on.
I rate Dr. Poplawski a perfect 9, my husband being my perfect 10!!!
And I prefer surgical competence over bedside manner, but the two together would be best.

My stay at BTC….

I arrived for my surgery on August 8th at 11:30 am. My surgery was scheduled for approximately 1:30pm with Dr. Rogers. Upon arrival, I was taken to the back to have blood drawn. (Please forgive me for I have no recollection of names just descriptions) This was my second experience getting my blood drawn by an Asian woman. She was very friendly but being frank I have to say the way she takes blood hurts more than getting an IV. I have never had it hurt so much.

After this was over, my husband and I were taken upstairs to the pre-op room. My nurse here was wonderful. Talking about putting IVs in, she was the best, I didn’t even feel it. Her personality was very upbeat but at the same time soothing. She efficiently explained what she was doing and why. The only thing I could have asked for was that my husband be allowed in the curtain with us. He was there for my support and to keep me calm before surgery and not having him there was very difficult.

Next thing I know I was waking up with a tube down my throat. Oh, my gosh how horrible. When I had my gall bladder taken out they took the tube out before I woke up, I basically never knew it was there. I understand the reason for maintaining the airway but I thought I was suffocating at the time. Although, I do have to say that was a short lived event and shortly forgotten.

Upon arriving in my room, I am pretty sure my nurse was good. I don’t have much recollection of that time. I do however, wish my loved one would have administered the main meds for the first hour or so because I kept falling asleep and waking up in horrible pain. I think if my loved one could have been told to keep pushing the button as soon as it would allow I would have felt much better. Again, I do admit the need for the patient to wake up and respond, but those two hours were nasty. I would never want to repeat them again.

I was basically out of it that whole day and felt like I had some control the following morning. This is where I had my first incident with whom I believe was an aid. She was an African American woman who seemed to have a good rapport with my roommate who was to go home the next day (I think). I asked the aid if I could get up (if she would help me) she told me quite roughly that the nurses were meeting with the docs and I did not have orders allowing her to unhook me from the machines. In my morphine haze all I could think about was how everyone else was telling me how important it was for me to walk; so I asked her twice more, I have no idea how long it was between each time I asked. Finally, the last time she got infuriated and said something to the affect of, “fine whatever you want”. She began harshly pulling off electrodes practically hitting me in the face with the ones that stayed attached. Once I was sitting up, I had to specifically ask her to put my urine bag up, which she did in a huff. She was storming out of the room when I asked her to tie my gown, which she did while telling me I was a pain in the ass (whispering so my roommate couldn’t hear). Needless to say I was upset. I needed to walk so bad, I was so stiff, it was almost as uncontrollable an urge as having to push when giving birth. I walked around twice crying the whole way…basically my way of dealing with things.

When I got back to my room I was met with the BEST nurse. She was sympathetic and encouraged me to talk about what was bothering me. Between my hysterics I told her the best I could. This woman was my nurse the following day as well and even came up to me on Sunday as I was going home and said she tried to get me that day but she had to many patients and had to give me up to another. She asked me to stop by to see her sometime. I am sure this is a standard thing to say but she really made me feel like she cared about me. I would have to say she was the best nurse I had during my stay at the BTC.

A couple of hours later I had another incident with the same aid. I believe my nurse spoke with her so she was very abrupt, but feeling much better I was able to handle her with more control. She swiped up my toiletries and took them into the bathroom, telling me she was doing so. Later, (not sure how much later) she came in and asked me if I had “bothered” to clean myself up yet. I told her no and she said whatever if you want to smell that is fine with me. At the next opportunity to speak with my nurse I asked her to tell the woman not to speak to me again. The aid never did, but she did inform my roommate that she wasn’t allowed to speak to me so therefore she was not going to help me with anything. Not that I wanted her help. Throughout the rest of my stay at BTC I saw her a couple of times and each time she would look me straight in the eye and start whistling as she walked by. Her lack of professionalism was disheartening.

My evening and night nurses on Friday were efficient. By this time I was able to take care of myself pretty well and didn’t need the constant care aside from getting out of bed and such. On Saturday evening I ran into another clink in the chain so to speak. My evening nurse, an African American woman, seemed to be so very busy. It appeared this shift was understaffed. When I was blessed with her attention she was very abrupt. I privately wondered if she spoke with the morning aid…who knows. I watched this nurse speak very rudely to another patient in the room next to mine who had her surgery on Friday. I hope this woman complains about her as well. She and I joked in the hall about how “nice and helpful this nurse was” This lady asked when the nurse got off work, when told, the patient said that wasn’t soon enough for her. I have to say I enjoyed this.

Ok, I was getting off the subject. I walked up to the nurse’s station and spoke to an Asian woman who appeared to be answering phones. I asked her if I could have another suppository, I told her I didn’t need an enema because things were moving around, I was just not able to push it out. She told me how wonderful that was that most patients would never ask for one and ended up having to have an enema. So I was under the impression that this was a good thing. An hour or so later a woman came in my room to get my vitals (my nurse, I didn’t realize it at the time because she didn’t tell me who she was). I asked her then about the suppository and she said she didn’t think my doctor ordered one but she’d check. A little irritated because I needed to go to the bathroom and couldn’t, I walked to the nurses station again and asked for my nurse. This is when I found out who she was. I asked her again and her response was that my doctor didn’t order one so I couldn’t have one but I’d be getting an enema soon. I specifically asked her to call someone and ask if I could have one. I told her I didn’t need an enema, that a suppository would do the job. She said very snottily that she would not call the doctor but if one happened to show up she’d ask; otherwise I’m was getting an enema. I am sorry, but I decided then and there I was NOT getting one, especially from her. If the night nurse said I needed one then I might agree otherwise no way. In the next couple of hours I did end up going to the bathroom ( I have to admit I was very proud of myself) but my nurse informed me that I didn’t go enough and that I would be getting an enema anyway. This is when I told her I refused….I never saw her again. Thank goodness.

The rest of my stay was pretty uneventful. Dr. Rogers said that “his patients couldn’t go around telling his staff what to do”, I laughed and told him that his patients should when they know their bodies and his nurses do not listen. After telling him the story, I think I gained his respect for sticking up for myself, and he and the nurse with him said they would take care of it.

Also, I must comment upon the two young aids on the night shift Saturday night. I think I was closer to their age than most of the other patients but they gave me some long needed conversation. I think I probably stood at the nurses station for about half and hour talking to them. They were great company.

Now on to my respiratory therapists…. There were two I remember the most and they were GREAT. The Asian woman in the morning was very friendly. She was knowledgeable and able to talk to me about what was happening to my lungs. Apparently I wasn’t breathing deep enough because the x-rays said I had some parts of my lungs closing. (I believe it was the morphine, it was suppressing everything inside me. Once off of it I was hundreds better.) In the evening a black man whose name I think was Todd or Teddy or something. He was so funny. We were constantly teasing each other. He was the sunshine of my days; he deserves recognition for his happy go lucky personality. I looked forward to seeing him. He is what your patients needed everyday. I can’t imagine the sickest of us would be immune to his humor.

Finally, upon leaving BTC I was given a 24 hour number to call with any questions what so ever. I was practically encouraged to call. I did again and again. About 30% of the time the number was actually answered. When I got through I was directed to someone’s voice mail. After waiting a return call for four hours I called again (4:45 pm) and told the person who answered I had already been waiting. She put my message in an emergency place or something to be called back by my doctor, Dr. Rogers. I was having pain and he said if I’d have called earlier I could have come in…..hmmmm. Anyway, BTC is very hard to get a hold of in EVERY stage I went through. I realize you guys are very busy but I don’t think you should give a number to post-op patients to call for any reason and then have either no one answer or a machine to leave a message. This is very scary when you are having a different pain and the meds are not helping it. Just to speak to someone would have made me feel much better. I ended up contacting my regular doctor because I could not get help through BTC.

Thank you so very much for helping me get through the process of getting this surgery. This was a life changing experience. I will never forget my time spent there at the BTC.

Dr. Stephen Poplawski, Bariatric Treatment Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1st Imp:s/w arrogant.
Over time: Extremly thorough in evaluating my need for the surgery, physically and emotionally: asked questions, listened and evaluated my responses as well as those of my support person. I had been evaluated at another center and because of contract negotiations with my insurance and Bariatric tx Centers I was referred to the Ann Arbor office. At first I was very disappointed, but afterwards more than pleased.
Off. staff: good. Somehow my chart got misplaced after the evaluation and that caused me to have to wait approx 8 weeks longer than the time i had been told to get approval. Hospital Staff: great, except noone told me until the 4th day about GasX-which i now consider a wonder drug.
He strongly encourages after care and is very supportative.
He was extremly honest about surgical risks. Overall on a scale of 1-10= 15. Surgical competence is the most important, by far. I think what I considered arrogance in the beginnning was his way of evaluating my true desire for this major life changing event. His bedside manner in pre-op was extremly relaxing and comforting. Post-op vs have been informative & supportive.
8/18/00
returned for 1 year visit. Dr Poplawski remained very supportive and continued to offer encouragement for future weight loss.
08/21/02 I have not seen Dr. Poplawski for 1 yr now. He discharged after my 2 yr visit. he asked more questions and was apparently doing some research at my last visit. Questions concerning how i felt about myself and how my relationship was with my husband. he asked my husband questions as well. I think this is all info that should be accumulated prior to surgery. Thank God, my relationship with my husband was great prior to and aafter surgery. I do have an acquaintenance that divorced after losing weight. her husband did not wnat her to have the surgery. she is still having problems adjusting to the weight loss. Aftercare was not emphasized as much as it is now.I still have notheing negative to say about Dr. Poplawski

Would recommend the BTC Ypsilanti facility to anyone who is going to have the surgery.

Dr. Steve Poplawski, MD FACS

Very professional, right to the point. Took time to introduce himself and his professional history in bariactrics. Staff was fun and very accomodating. He told me what he expected of his patients and what we could expect of him. The follow through was very regimented and patients are expected to follow everything to the letter from before the surgury and after the surgury. He informed me that he would have little contact with me until the day before the surgery and that his staff would be able to handle anything else that might come up.

My Doctor came into the room with a very warm and friendly attitude. He was focused on me and paid attention to the things I had written on my medical forms. For once I felt like I was actually me and not this structure I live in. Thank you Dr Poplawski, for this dignity. The Doctor told me just how he would take care of his wife if she were to have the surgery and I found that one of the most important statements about taking care of myself afterwards. He was encouraging and mentioned how bountiful life can be and that in fact it was meant to be so. I can't hardly wait to see the bounty! I would have liked to spend even more time with him but all questions were answered and the surgery was described in full, including the fact that there could be some problems with the surgery, depending on the person.

Wonderful! Everyone caring and knew what they were doing.

The staff treated me as if they knew me. I didn't feel I was just another patient. The post-op care was excellent. The nurses and care givers are very compitent and compassionate. They know we hurt, but we still need to get up and walk as well as breathe deeply and cough so we can avoid problems like blood clots and pneumonia.