My dad has heart surgery on Wednesday. I had to leave the room to refrain from YELLING at the surgeon!

[FaithManor]

So, the heart surgery that dad has needed since the end of February has been scheduled for Wednesday morning. When the "suspicious nodes" in his lungs were found (2 nodes - 1 cm x 1 cm each) on the chest x-ray, the surgeon refused to operate even though dad is a walking, ticking, time bomb with that heart.

 

No amount of reasoning changed his mind. Then medicare said it wouldn't pay for heart surgery until the lung issue was treated. He turned out to have stage 1a adenomas and the pathology indicates they are completely non-aggressive at this point. Still wouldn't budge. I tried appealling with medicare and got no where. A state legislator was going to help us this week if we still hadn't gotten anywhere on the appeal.

 

Out of the blue, we received a phone call from the cardio-thoracic surgeon Friday afternoon asking everyone to come in for a consult. I thought he would be scheduling dad's lung surgery. No, he decided that dad might have a heart attack if we wait any longer (DUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!!!! YA THINK!!!!!) It only took him one phone call and five minutes to get medicare to approve payment for the heart surgery. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

 

I could have smacked him. It did not take a medical degree nor a rocket scientist to know that all bets were off if dad did not get heart surgery ASAP. This could have been done 7 weeks ago. As it is, the time frame between the heart surgery recovery and then the lung surgery now means in all likelihood, dad will not be able to attend dd's wedding if sticks with the surgeon's plan. He is so crushed he can hardly bear it. I think it's entirely possible he's going to get mad and say no to the lung surgery until after the wedding so he will be in good enough shape to see her married. The surgeon told him that if he delays treatment, he'll have to find another doctor and start all over again with this approval process because he went against his medical advice and waited two weeks for his lung surgery. At the present time, dad is acting like he's going to go along with everything Mr. Ego says, and then very likely, as soon as it gets close to lung surgery time, fire the guy and get someone else. I do worry about that because I don't know how fast he can get in with a new cardio-thoracic. I'd like him to have his lung surgery ASAP after the wedding.

 

At any rate, if he makes it to Wednesday morning and the surgery goes well, one health crisis conquered. Then we'll have to tackle the next one.

 

I left the room at one point because I seriously could have gone balistic which would not have done anything to improve the situation. The guy does have an excellent success rate for this procedure so since it's finally scheduled, the best thing to do is get on with it and get it over. But, oh my how I'd like to tell him what I think.

 

Sigh,

 

Prayers and positive thoughts are covetted at this point! Not just for dad, but also for me so I don't lose my mind all over people. The doctor already hates me because after dad's biopsy, when he came into the room to check dad's wound, he didn't stop and wash his hands or use the purell dispenser by the door. When I asked him if he had just come from another patient's room and he said yes, I asked him why he didn't wash. He was not amused and started to bend over dad to pull back the gauze, and I demanded he wash his hands as well as take an alcohol prep to his stethoscope. He got mad! He did it, but he was seriously ticked. In contrast, a nurse came in to check up on him and grabbed some purell for her stethoscope and then washed her hands without blinking, just a totally automatic, routine, procedure. I told her to give the doc lessons! So, as you can see, me hanging around the hospital for several days is going to throw the whole place in a tizzy, probably far worse than having a state health inspector poking around!

 

Thanks everyone! I'll try to post an update on the weekend.

Faith

[Tiramisu]

:grouphug:

 

I'm curious what was behind the surgeon's change of heart. I think sometimes these guys are so unbelievably busy that they don't have time to think. Sounds scary, and I don't exactly mean it the way it sounds. I wonder if someone else, another doctor maybe, brought something to his attention.

 

I've been told surgeons generally don't have the best bedside manner, and you should choose one who is a good surgeon not necessarily a great guy. But it is very nice when you can get both.

 

I hope everything works out well with your dad and he can be at the wedding and feel so well as to really enjoy it. Prayers for all of you!

 

FWIW, one hospital where we attend sends out surveys to assess physician quality and they specifically ask about handwashing.

[Harriet Vane]

:grouphug:

[Tammyla]

:grouphug:

[RoughCollie]

:grouphug: and prayers.

[Dana]

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[umsami]

:grouphug:

 

I agree a lot with what Tiramisu wrote. There is a stereotypical surgeon personality, and it sounds like this guy might have it in spades. Still, it his reputation as a surgeon is stellar, than he's probably the guy you want. Nurses usually know who is good, who is bad. You might think to ask one of the nurses "if you needed the procedure my Dad needed, who would you want to do your surgery?" See what they say.

 

You do have to be the guardian for yourself/loved ones with regards to hand washing and everything else. If he gives you a look, just say, "I'm sure doctor if it was your loved one, you'd be just as vigilant."

 

Lots of prayers for you and your Dad. Don't be so sure about your Dad not being able to attend DD's wedding. Sometimes having an event like that to look forward, can be a powerful motivating force in healing. :)

[itsheresomewhere]

I would report the lack of basic patient safety to the hospital. Get to know the Nurse Manager for the floor. Surgeons aren't known for their bedside manner but ego needs to have a reality check. I would look for another if he said if you don't do what I want, find another. That would tell me that mister cocky may not see outside his box. Along, with forgetting/disregarding basic patient safety would make me wonder what else he might miss. When I worked, we would report the basic patient safety issues. We had one surgeon who might have had the rep for being top but with his lack of regard and ego, we would not recommend him. Their were better ones who had the skills and followed basic patient safety protocol.

[Kim in Appalachia]

:grouphug: It's hard to navigate our crazy health care system. And yes, I'll chime in with,surgeons are not known for the best bed side manner. It's frustrating, but they do have to cross every t and dot every i, but all that time real people's lives are in the balance.

[catz]

:grouphug: I would totally report that hand washing incident. That is really not ok. Especially given his reaction. That said, the ego thing seems to run rampant in doctors and especially high end specialists. I'm so glad the heart surgery is scheduled for Wednesday. I want to say my dad had a 5 way bypass about 13-14 years ago. He is doing AMAZINGLY well. He had a full, in depth scan last summer that showed everything was holding up great. My MIL had one probably going on 20 years ago. She's 80+ and doing well for age too.

 

I would start looking at options in case he cannot attend the wedding. Setting up skype, having the couple visit, making mention of him at the ceremony and reception, etc. Brainstorming as a family might be good, because I would not be comfortable delaying that surgery for very long. Especially given he's already delaying it for heart surgery. I'm so glad his cancer is so low grade.

 

:grouphug:

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

:grouphug:

I agree with the hand washing. :cursing:

[Twigs]

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[mamajudy]

:grouphug: Navigating the health care system is a nightmare. Try to take it one step at a time. Let's pray for a successful surgery on Wednesday and a speedy recovery. You can deal with the lung issue and the wedding once he gets through this hurdle. :grouphug:

[*********]

Oh Faith, first of all, I'm SO glad your dad is getting his surgery! What a answer to prayer!

 

Next, the hand washing thing. Oh boy did we struggle with that with my dad. Dad ended up in contact isolation because he acquired several different infections. You know, the kinds of crazy, heavy duty *hospital acquired* infections that one only acquires from hospital stays. So anyway, contact isolation means that *on top of* the wash in/wash out procedure that is to be followed for EVERY patient, that every single staff member who entered dad's room should be wearing a clean gown and gloves.

 

I cannot tell you, between my mother and I, just how many staff members we reported for not following that basic procedure. Good grief people! My father was ON A VENTILATOR, fighting off a hospital grade infection with big gun iv antibiotics, and you STILL can't be bothered to gown and glove before entering his room?!

 

I had one interaction with a particularly snotty respiratory therapist. I was sitting at dad's bedside when she came into the room. It had been a particularly hard dad for dad, and I was feeling it. The gal didn't bother to gown or glove before entering his room. So I said, "You need a gown and gloves, my dad is in contact isolation". You know, in case she missed the big signs or the cart of gowns and gloves outside his room. :glare: She said, "Oh, I'm not going to *touch* anything, and then she proceeded to try and walk around by dad's bed and look at his respiratory machines. Uh, yeah. Bad move. So I believe I said something like, "Yeah, you STILL need to gown and glove, my DAD IS IN CONTACT ISOLATION." She gave me a snotty look and left the room. Dude. Do you NOT realize you're wearing a name tag? LOL.

 

My mom comes back into the room (remember, my mother *works* at that same hospital). I told her what happened and the gal's name. I'm pretty sure the report was filed within the hour, LOL.

 

All that to say, it's not *just* the surgeon you have to watch out for, unfortunately. And I'm so glad your dad has you there watching out for him. Keeping everyone following sanitation protocols will lessen your dad's chances of getting one of those nasty hospital infections in the first place.

 

My mom had a particularly nasty encounter with dad's cardiologist one day. It was witnessed by a nurse. Mom didn't file the report on that one because, while the nurses all said that Dr. Nasty had an awful beside manner, he was the *best* doctor there to care for dad. So, pick your battles, of course. Remember, this guy is going to operate on you dad. You want him to like you until that's over at least, you know?

 

Keep us updated. I'll keep you in my prayers.

[celticmom]

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[gaillardia]

You are a wonderful daughter! I can feel the love you have for your family.

More prayers for you all. :grouphug:

[happyhomemaker25]

:grouphug:

 

I'm curious what was behind the surgeon's change of heart. I think sometimes these guys are so unbelievably busy that they don't have time to think. Sounds scary, and I don't exactly mean it the way it sounds. I wonder if someone else, another doctor maybe, brought something to his attention.

 

I've been told surgeons generally don't have the best bedside manner, and you should choose one who is a good surgeon not necessarily a great guy. But it is very nice when you can get both.

 

I hope everything works out well with your dad and he can be at the wedding and feel so well as to really enjoy it. Prayers for all of you!

 

FWIW, one hospital where we attend sends out surveys to assess physician quality and they specifically ask about handwashing.

 

OMGosh this is so very true! When my mom was in the hospital at Christmas time 2012 with a stomach that was dying the surgeon came in one day (we'd never ever met him) and said, "We have to do surgery right now or you will die." At this point they'd done some xrays and stuff, but we had not been told anything about why she was so sick. Talk about freaking out. Then he said, "It's a complicated surgery and you might not survive." I was ready to punch this guy in the nose. Mom and I were just staring at him. We asked him to explain some, and he did, but it was still very... I don't know really bad bed side manner. In the next few minutes they were prepping her for surgery and I was calling our family. I've never been more scared in my life. When the surgeon came out a few hours later the first thing he said was he was optimistic. Then he went on to detail the surgery and some of the stuff he was a little worried about. My mom's sisters were all beside themselves hearing the "bad" stuff, all I heard was mister, "You might die" from a few hours ago, say he was optimistic. I tried to explain it to them, but they just did not get it. She had to have another surgery later that week because more of her stomach was dying, but he was a little nicer. By the time we were seeing him for follow ups he was the nicest, most considerate guy ever. I think he was just all business with the surgery thing. LOL, he was never really nice to anyone, but my mom and me and I wonder if it was because he felt bad about our initial meeting. I remember after the first surgery any time anyone asked me who the surgeon was and I told them their face would light up and they would say, "Oh good, he's the best!"

Of course like I said, he improved and I never caught him not washing his hands. UGH! I don't understand why he can't wait two weeks for the lung thing so your dad can go to your daughter's wedding. That seems a bit harsh. Can't he just schedule the lung thing a bit later? It's not like he wants to go to a birthday party or something, its his granddaughters wedding.

[happyhomemaker25]

Oh my, and kudos for all you've done for your dad! Many prayers for all of you through this!

[Susan C.]

Faithe it is good news that he is getting the surgery! Just go with it if you can...... if you have to bring him to the wedding in a wheelchair, so be it. He will be alive! That is the most important.

 

Hang in there!

[Lizzie in Ma]

That is why Family Rule #1 is NEVER leave anyone alone at a hospital. :grouphug: :grouphug: