Author: txgemini
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:38 pm
I had a frank conversation w/the doc’s PA, with whom I’ve had a pretty good relationship. She took complete accountability for their mis-management of the acute pain before the surgery. However, she said that after the surgery, it was the hospital staff’s responsibility to page the surgeon when I was having trouble, who would have in turn paged the pain doc based on the prior discussions. They apparently dropped the ball – no calls were made despite my repeated discussions w/the nurses, nice though they were. So I’m mad, but it’s probably best to move forward.
This so reminds me of when I had my son. If his father had not been there to enforce the birth plan we’d made w/the OB/GYN, the nurses would have done whatever they usually did. I was certainly in no condition to say otherwise. So god forbid there’s a next time, but I’ll be sure my husband is my advocate in case the communication between nurses & docs breaks down, as seems common.
So what now? Funny you mention the patch, @Lillyval, because that’s exactly what we decided to do. I’ve just gone from .5 mg/day tablet to the equiv. 200 mcg (that’s microgram, folks) Butrans patch in hopes of continuing the taper, assuming that all my chronic pain stays gone. It’s only been 24 hrs so I have no strong opinion yet.
My surgery results in general are still amazing! I’m back at work part-time and only feel bad if I sit too much.
