I came across a review of Dr Darel Benvenuti, my husband cardiologist, it was so unfair that I…read morewanted to correct some of her POV, I had never written a review for Dr Benvenuti bc my husband is his patient, I'm his wife. As it turns out Yelp allows a wife or any relative to write a review on behalf of the patient. I sat down to write a review of Dr DB but all of a sudden it crossed my mind whether anybody wrote a review of a Cardiac surgeon who saved my husband life, so here I am writing a review of a HERO, DR TUAN LAM. Pl come back for a review of Dr DB, I have changed our health plan and now we belong to the Hoag hospital. I just realized I need to go thank Dr Lam again for saving my husband life, he deserves more recognition than 2 short reviews and I plan to endorse him on his LinkedIn bio.
My husband smoked like a chimney and drank like a drunken sailor, bc of his German DNA (they drink 24/7!!), he's still alive, I tell it like it is so anybody out there doing the above, it just was not worth it, It's better to drink in moderation so you can live to see your grand kids. In 2003, on his birthday we were home when my husband had a heart attack, it took me all of 5 min to say no to Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) bc he was still young, a CABG was too invasive, my brother was a surgeon and radiologist, he taught me to read XRay. I agreed to a stent which kept my husband alive for 16 years.
On 5-3-2019 he clutched his chest in pain, I drove him to the OC Memorial to see his cardiologist which gave us the bad news, his stent had failed and getting a new one might not save his life as he had a 99% blockage, death would be imminent, it also took me 5 min to agree on an open heart surgery. We were introduced to Dr Tuan Lam and I was immediately impressed by his kindness written all over his face, while my husband spoke to him, I ran a quick check and found out he had impeccable credentials from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Stanford University School of Medicine, postdoctoral Fellowship in heart Transplantation, he also had a compelling life story having escaping communist VN on a boat, I knew that instant he would be a God sent surgeon to save my husband life. I had watched many YT videos and saw the scary details of the operation, you literally died but kept alive by an artificial heart lung machine, I wanted to cry but I could not I had to be brave so my husband could feel relaxed to get a better outcome.
I had no sleep for 24 hrs and went home to sleep, Dr Lam called me at home to give me the good news my husband was alive and well. Most Doctors never returned phone calls, went AWOL after surgery, imagine how kind Dr Lam was to call me as he knew I was a nervous wreck. My husband chest was cut from the neck to his belly, cut open like a chicken! His chest was sown and clipped closed by a huge metal like clip. He was advised to sleep downstairs for a month and not to drive but he was doing so well he insisted to walk upstairs to sleep in 24 hrs and drive in 1 week! He now walks 4 miles daily to the beach or the park and lost 30 lbs, stopped drinking hard liquor and Dr Lam said the CABG should last for the rest of his life. In less than a year, his scar disappeared now it's only a faint scar. My 49 yo neighbor had a CABG and was disabled for 6 months, my husband is really a real life TONY STARK, the iron man. Had he stayed in Germany he would probably be 6 ft under already, I never forgot 1 year he went alone home to visit his mom, he had a hypertensive crisis and there was no doctor in the ER!!! I paid for an expensive ticket for him to fly home to get proper care.
To those who complained about how expensive American health care is, I said they should move to Cuba or any country in the world, it's cheaper bc in Canada they let you die, 6 months wait for mastectomy, it's free but you die waiting for it, my own sister died of a heart attack at the young age of 28 in Paris, she was unattended in CCU while the French had to have their long lunch in the bistros, it's cheaper bc you are banned from sueing doctors for negligence or incompetence. God bless America, we live in the best country in the world and God bless Dr Tuan Lam, God gift to mankind.
