Any Dr. Smith (florida) patients here?

[Mermaid]

I have a few silly questions I would love to ask:

What is the big "pre-op" Wednesday?

How was the hospital stay? How long? Staff?

What was in hospital pain control protocol?

Did they insist on "no taxi alone" at discharge? (I might be going back to hotel alone, not sure.)

How soon post op for first office visit?

Thanks!

 

[Soozn]

Wondering if you have had your Sx. I had an appointment with Dr Smith on 1/3 and am going thru the hoops now.

 

[southernlady]

Did they insist on "no taxi alone" at discharge? (I might be going back to hotel alone, not sure.)

MOST hospitals insist on someone responsible taking you away from the facility. Not sure a taxi qualifies.

 

[Cyndi]

Hi mermaid, sorry I'm so late with a reply in regards to Dr Smith, I just read it today. I had my DS with Dr Smith 3 months ago in just a couple days. I will try to answer your questions. I think the big pre op Wednesday your talkinging about they go over some last minute things but also have someone measure your resting metabolic rate, the diaticians will talk to you again and the Bariatric nurses will meet with you. These last two are in a group forum.
Hospital stay was good. Everyone was nice and attentive. Dr Smith would let me go home the next day however due to my nausea I stayed 3 days. I hardly had any pain, but awful nausea. The pain meds are delivered thru an IV and you push a button and it is delivered. Like I said I hardly needed that.
I can't speak for the taxi question because my husband picked me up.
Last but not least my first follow up visit was 2 weeks after surgery.
The only issue I've had at all has been nausea and that is finally gone. So far I'd have to say Dr Smith did a great job. In 2 weeks i will see how all my labs are. I'm diligent about taking my vitamins( which by the way isn't that big a deal)so I'm crossing my fingers I get good news.
Best of luck!

 

[Mermaid]

Thank you @Cyndi I appreciate your information more than you know. I am feeling very overwhelmed with the travel planning and surgery planning. Concrete details calm me down.
Part of me is glad I have 6 weeks to get all my planning done, part of me wishes surgery was tomorrow so I would quit worrying.
My preop day schedule is 2/15 from 7am-4:30 pm. All the things you listed and a few others because of travel distance/ extra appointments. Ugh, what a long day.

So many more plans to make and decisions on travel arrangements.

Hope your 3 month is great!

 

[galaxygrrl]

What I wish someone told me is that surgery is not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The first day was hard and the first week was not fun, but I made it much worse in my head and it was not as scary as I thought it was going to be.

I had some dental work done a month later and the dental was worse. And the outcome was not nearly as fun at my current 33 BMI and shopping.

 

[Mermaid]

I'm worried about the opposite @galaxygrrl. I have a very low tolerance for abdominal surgery pain. Lapband placement, c-section and lap-band removal...all worse than my rotator cuff surgery.
Rotator is supposed to be horrible, I was up and about the next day. (With meds)
Lap-band removal and I was in bed on dilaudid and oxycodone for 2 full weeks. And uncomfortable a month later.

I am also well medicated for anxiety so I'll probably be ok.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I have a few silly questions I would love to ask:

What is the big "pre-op" Wednesday?

How was the hospital stay? How long? Staff?

What was in hospital pain control protocol?

Did they insist on "no taxi alone" at discharge? (I might be going back to hotel alone, not sure.)

How soon post op for first office visit?

Thanks!

Going "back" to hotel alone? As in...you are going to keep your room the whole time? Or are you taking your stuff to the hospital with you? Is the hotel going to store it for you? Does the hotel have room service and a microwave? You will need to eat/drink post-op. Where is the food coming from? (I remember broth, refried beans, soft boiled egg yolks...all in miniscule quantities.)

Hire a "home health aide" for a 3-4 hour shift? I would consider having someone to be there so I could shower. Someone to get me something to eat and to run my laundry through the hotel laundromat.

Does Smith have a support group page with semi-locals who have BTDT ?

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I have a few silly questions I would love to ask:

What is the big "pre-op" Wednesday?

How was the hospital stay? How long? Staff?

What was in hospital pain control protocol?

Did they insist on "no taxi alone" at discharge? (I might be going back to hotel alone, not sure.)

How soon post op for first office visit?

Thanks!

I think all hospitals want you to be with someone who is more involved than just driving you somewhere...and that IS a good idea. BUT, call the hospital and ask the discharge planner person what a solo patient can do.

 

[Mermaid]

Thanks for asking all the right questions @Spiky Bugger
I am asking myself the same things, and I don't have all the answers yet. For clarity let me lay out the possibilities:

A- My mother goes with me, she stays in hotel from day before surgery through day 4 post op. She would be with me for the first 36 hours out of hospital IF everything goes according to schedule. Then she leaves. Hotel is all suites, with kitchen and room service. Cost $1600...leaving NO money for home health care. .5mi from hospital, transportation costs negligible, 5 days alone in hotel w/o assistant

B-I go alone, same hotel but check out of room and store luggage while in hospital, Taxi alone back to hotel, Room cost:$1250 Leaves enough for 3 days of home health care visits. 5 days alone in hotel w/o assistant.

C- Stay at friends condo guest room. Condo being used by the friends mom, guest room is unattached building. The mom will not be offering assistance of any kind except a key to access the room. Has fridge and microwave, Room cost $0.00 5 miles from hospital, transport costs approx. $200. Daily home health care affordable x 4 hrs/day.

I am still trying to weigh out the pros and cons. A lot of the issue is my mother. She wants to go, but does not want to drive in Orlando. She can't stay the whole 10 days but doesn't want me there alone. She wants to stay in the full service hotel but she is not the one paying the bill. She wants me to hire help, she is still not paying the bill.

I have not found an online group for the surgeons office. I will be meeting with the office staff on 2/15, Maybe they will have some discharge procedure ideas. UGH!

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Thanks for asking all the right questions @Spiky Bugger
I am asking myself the same things, and I don't have all the answers yet. For clarity let me lay out the possibilities:

A- My mother goes with me, she stays in hotel from day before surgery through day 4 post op. She would be with me for the first 36 hours out of hospital IF everything goes according to schedule. Then she leaves. Hotel is all suites, with kitchen and room service. Cost $1600...leaving NO money for home health care. .5mi from hospital, transportation costs negligible, 5 days alone in hotel w/o assistant

B-I go alone, same hotel but check out of room and store luggage while in hospital, Taxi alone back to hotel, Room cost:$1250 Leaves enough for 3 days of home health care visits. 5 days alone in hotel w/o assistant.

C- Stay at friends condo guest room. Condo being used by the friends mom, guest room is unattached building. The mom will not be offering assistance of any kind except a key to access the room. Has fridge and microwave, Room cost $0.00 5 miles from hospital, transport costs approx. $200. Daily home health care affordable x 4 hrs/day.

I am still trying to weigh out the pros and cons. A lot of the issue is my mother. She wants to go, but does not want to drive in Orlando. She can't stay the whole 10 days but doesn't want me there alone. She wants to stay in the full service hotel but she is not the one paying the bill. She wants me to hire help, she is still not paying the bill.

I have not found an online group for the surgeons office. I will be meeting with the office staff on 2/15, Maybe they will have some discharge procedure ideas. UGH!

So...I'm the 70-year-old neurotic, overprotective mother of an only child...(see my post on homeless census-taking)...so I get why Mom wants to be there. But this not about her. If she is ADDING to your worries rather than lessening them, you do not need her presence at all. You need a stranger who can help more than you need a worried mom who just needs to see how you are doing.

How about Plan B-2. Go alone, stay at friend's (or cheaper hotel) pre-op, have the nicer hotel watch your stuff while you are in the hospital (will they do that?), then a home health aide to assist you at discharge and daily. (I would negotiate with the company for maybe 3-hour days with someone who can run to a grocery store for you. Explain that you will be in a hotel room and there won't be a lot of work. I got a place down to 2-hour days, but then didn't use them.)

If Mom wants to visit post-op, at her own expense, and making all her own plans...maybe. But as much as you love each other, she is a burden right now.

I adored my mom and didn't even tell her I was having surgery. She called two days post-op because she hadn't heard from me...said I sounded like hell. I told her I was fine, but on pain meds and I had had a small surgical procedure and we coukd talk about it later.

She still loved me afterward.

 

[Clematis]

I am still shocked that docs release patients the day after DS. I went alone to Esquerra in MX where they keep you 4 nights. By then you're pretty much OK to travel, but my husband flew to San Diego and we stayed in a hotel 2 nights as a precaution. I had no complications. Could I have done it all alone on day 2? Maybe, if I didn't have to travel but I would have been concerned about "what ifs". What if my BP dropped when I got up (common after surgery) and I collapsed? Who would find me? Will you still have a drain? Esquerra's patients still do on day 2 and I can't imagine having to empty it myself.

Esquerra doesn't even allow anything by mouth for two days, then only water on day 3 and their own broth on day 4. His patients are on clear liquids for 10 days so meal prep is moot. (I lived on Unjury chicken soup.) Smith lets you EAT? Forget room service -- they will have nothing suitable.

If it were me I'd get airbnb and have an aide 24/7 through day 4 post-op. (I'd also BEG to be kept in hospital as long as possible if insurance is paying for it. In this state, you cannot be expelled from a hospital if you say you are not well enough just b/c insurance says your time is up. Sending unhealed patients home results in subsequent litigation. Can you get 3 nights?) A single 24-hr-aide who is allowed to sleep if necessary is cheaper than hourly. I'm unclear as to how long you are supposed to stay in FL? Are you free to go 5 days post op? If you can stretch the hospital stay, you may only need 2 days of aides, and maybe only a couple of hours on the last day, just enough to get you washed, packed up and ready for the airport limo.

 

[Clematis]

Oh I agree with spiky - only take someone who is there to HELP, not someone you have to feel responsible for. Ask all the women who made the mistake of taking their husbands who quickly got bored in the hospital and drove them crazy while they were in pain. I had my husband meet me afterwards hoping he would at least be able to call for help if I collapsed. Instead he got on the phone with the office, would wander away from me in public places, 15 minutes later would realize I was gone and look and look and look for me... all the while I was 10 feet from where he was, wearing a bright shirt yet invisible to him. So much for being able to call 911 for me. He did this several times in two days. When I woke very early in the mornings he would already be gone to a far away coffee shop to work "so as not to disturb me" not returning until shortly before lunch, forgetting that his whole raison d'être for being there was to keep an eye on me.

 

[Mermaid]

I will have 3 nights in hospital. (if nothing goes wrong)
I must stay in FL at total of 10 days post op.

Surgery March 9th- in hospital until 12th- depart to home 19th or 20th

I didn't invite my mother, she was not asked, there is NO arguing with her...or I am a terrible person and ungrateful. I am trying to use the home health aide vs. hotel cost to dissuade her from flying down with me. Her attendance will not be a positive addition to my recovery. She is physically unable to help if I were to fall and she is the most likely one to push me into doing too much and therefore falling.

I have to convince her this is her idea. I am leaning toward "mom I'm way too broke to afford the full service hotel. I can barely afford the nurse, and I definitely can't afford a taxi back and forth every day for you from the condo. And I don't want you to spend thousands just to sit around for 10 days."

BTW: I am 45 years old with adult children of my own. My mom is your age @Spiky Bugger ... I think I'd rather travel with you.

@Clematis , best case would be husband going day of surgery through discharge day. (But, he got a new job and doesn't want to push his luck with time off only 6 weeks in.) Then leaving me the F alone for a week. He's great in hospital but that first week home he is useless to me. LOL at him leaving so as not to disturb when he was supposed to be caring for you. Been there. I agree that paid help would be far preferable.

 

[Mermaid]

Mission Failure. I tried the "I'm broke." She is now paying for the hotel.

It's a kind gesture, but.... feeling like crap after surgery with my mother breathing down my neck...thank chemistry! Alprazolam comes in an easy dissolving tablet!