And of *course* the answer is ...

[sparkofcreation]

The person who called me on Friday and told me someone would be setting me up within the next 48 hours had absolutely no idea what she was talking about and there are still no loaner AutoPAP machines IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING STATE OF NEW MEXICO

Comments

Re: Growr!

[palliddreamer]

You're blaming the system for one physician. Clearly this was not an emergency otherwise it wouldn't have been solved by a warm soak. Yes the surgeon should have addressed his concerns sooner and doing so would have made him a better physician. But that doesn't relate in any way to the American system, however flawed it is

Re: Growr!

[sparkofcreation]

While I agree with you on this (really), we were in fact assured repeatedly (at the initial consult, during pre-op, when the doctor spoke to me while G was in recovery, and during the discharge process) that there would be no pain ("only very minimal discomfort, all you'll need is ice"), no chance of anything non-straightforward, complete healing by last night and no need for Gareth to take off work today. I mean, they completely failed to tell us anything to do to treat anything that went wrong. It's only because I kept asking questions that we know what little we know. The doctor also completely failed to tell me the problems G. was having as soon as he was out of surgery--G. (who was still coming out of the anesthesia) had to tell me what problems he was having because the doctor had just told me (immediately after seeing G.) that he was "absolutely fine and would have no problems." Yeah, absolutely fine except that he was unable to walk or sit up or down on his own. I mean, the doctor basically told me that we'd be able to walk

Re: Growr!

[sparkofcreation]

Trying to sum up my rant here:

It just seemed like the entire philosophy of all the medical personnel involved was to insist that nothing could possibly be wrong when something clearly is. I mean, getting any information about what to do if anything went wrong was like pulling teeth. "So if he still has pain after the T-3, can he take anything else?" "Oh, no, the Tylenol 3 should take care of anything, there should be no reason to take anything else,... but if he really has to, I guess he could take some ibuprofen." "So should he be wearing some sort of support?" "Oh, the doctor didn't say that so I suppose it's not really necessary,... but if you really want one, I suppose I could give you one just in case." I mean, the doctor outright said that he'd be able to shower Friday, go to work today and have sex by Wednesday. We're 0 for 2 so far, and I'm not betting on the third.

Re: Growr!

[palliddreamer]

I do understand the frustaion, and you're both right to be upset and concerned. I suspect that you're dealing with a competent surgeon who just doesn't relate to people. Or it could be his office staff aren't giving him good messages. If he's in surgery, he won't be able to call back until he's done and would rely on the front desk to relay stuff. It took me a while to figure out that the reasons patients couldn't get in to see me was because of a secretary out front who would let them add to my schedule.

Clearly you won't be going back to this guy once things are done, and he's an example of why the least likely docs to get sued are those who have good bedside manner and whose patients like them. You probably already have, but let him know how hard you've been trying to get hold of him.

Sorry NM docs seem to suck. I wasn't impressed with their peds program to tell the truth, but that's for other reasons...

Re: Growr!

[sparkofcreation]

Yeah, when Gareth finally got a hold of the nurse at 2pm yesterday (after having left messages since 9:30) she said she hadn't checked her voicemail all day. And that's the number that they give out to patients to call if they're having complications