Prior to my surgery, I had to come in for pre-op labwork and registration, as well as be tested for…read moreCovid-19 as part of their policy. All patients must do so regardless of whether they have symptoms or not. The nurse was very nice and gentle with me, explaining everything as she went, apologizing for any uncomfortableness I felt. She truly tried to make it as easy as possible for me. I got a phone call the next day with my results (negative of course) and was then explained currently policy for visitors and what I needed to do the night before surgery, as well as the morning of.
Surgery day, I arrived. I was called back quickly and got put into my gown and compression socks and put into a bed and nestled under a super neat inflatable warming blanket. All the staff was very friendly and kept checking on me while we waited my turn for surgery. The anesthesiologist (Chris Lambert) was super nice. He cracked jokes to keep me from being nervous, and said he would make sure I had zero nausea when I woke up, because I always do. He kept his word - not one bit of nausea when I woke up after surgery. Good man, thank you!
The surgery itself was done by my own chosen surgeon (Dr. Chris Park) so I'll leave that part of the review on his page, but it's fantastic.
After surgery, I woke up in my own room. I stayed overnight because Dr. Park said he prefers that after what I had done, because he knows my pain is controlled and he is able to pop in and check on me. It seemed like I good idea, and would've been, had it went according to plan. But it didn't.
Dr. Park came in to check on me and tell me surgery went great. At that point, I was in no pain, which was good. He told me to go on and call the nurse to start my pain meds, and I'd get them every 4 hours. I set an alarm on my watch for every 4 hours (something I learned while fighting cancer) to make sure I wake up and take them on time to stay ahead of it. He said one the pain hits, it's 10x harder to get it back under control. I called my nurse for pain meds at 7:51pm. I called again at 8:30 because she never came. She finally showed up at 9:20 with my pills and an attitude. By then I was in tears from the pain. I refused to let my husband FaceTime me because he would see how bad I was doing and I knew it would stress him out. (Hospital has a no visitor policy, so he had to drop me off at the door and leave, and then pick me up the next day when it was time to go home.) I took the pills and thanked her. I reset my alarms since that obviously messed up my schedule. 4 hours later, alarm goes off and I request my pain meds. Nurse doesn't show up til nearly 2 hours later, again. I'm in tears, again. I ask her politely if my chart says every 4 hours or every 6 hours in case I was confused from anesthesia when I talked to Dr. Park, since she was bringing them every 6 hours. She said "Chart says 4, but you're not my only patient, so you get them when you get them." That's how my night went. When Dr. Park arrived bright and early the next morning, he was surprised to see me in pain and asked what happened. I told him, and he left the room immediately. I heard words being exchanged, and he came back in and apologized profusely for the experience I had because that's not how it should've been. He said my entire reason for being there was so that wouldn't happen, and I could tell he was greatly upset by it all. Needless to say, after that, things were different. I had a different nurse until I was discharged. I was immediately given morphine to knock out the pain, then set back on my original schedule of Percocet every 4 hours. Once they saw it was working as it should be (as it should have been last night had it been given correctly) I was able to go home.
My daytime nurse was a gem. Super sweet, very attentive if I needed anything, but I try not to call unless it's necessary. The food was delicious.
Other than that one night time nurse, my entire experience here with everyone was wonderful.
** I will not name the night nurse. I only know her first name and it's a common one, so I don't want to put negative light on innocent people with the same name. I found out later that she was reported for her behavior, so that's all I'll say about that.
