Mama don't take my Codeine Away!

Even though I was taking under half the prescribed amount, last night Randy and I decided I should try substituting Tylenol PM for the codeine I was taking.

BAD Choice!

That decision resulted in a night of pain and very little sleep. I text-ed (can you believe this guy!) my plastic surgeon, who assured me I could keep taking codeine for another two weeks. So glad to hear I will not be a codeine junkie for Halloween.

Soon after taking the prescribed pill I was pain free. I was telling my sister who is also a nurse about this. She said studies rarely indicate addiction to codeine. I feel better now that I can have my drug without worries. If you are two weeks out of double mastectomy surgery—Just say No to Tylenol PM!

2 Tubes Down 2 to Go

I am managing with fewer pain meds. The constant soreness has been replaced with a few killer, shooting pains from time to time when I move. Still itching from the antibiotic, but that has lessened as well.

Today I had an appointment with my plastic surgeon. One of the first things he did was unhook my front opening bra, and remove the gauze to look at the scar. Something I hadn’t really done yet. When I looked down at my chest I actually gasped. I had to chuckle at this odd reaction—I had seen the scars of others, and knew quite well what I would look like, but it was somewhat of a surprise—never the less—to look down and see nothing but a line where my breasts used to be. I don’t know what I had expected to see, but it was a bit of a shock.

Dr. Izaddoost said everything looked good and took two of the drains out—Not a comfortable experience. He then reminded me the other two would come out next week. I knew that, but had forgotten. We’ll blame it on the anesthesia. The expansion should start next Friday, and I will have more than a line to look at when I glance down!

He did say the margins were clear—which is good, but to any other questions regarding the cancer he smiled and said, “Oh dear, I am afraid you are getting your plastic surgeon mixed up with your oncologist”. 

Okay, okay, I’ll just have to wait until Nov 2, when I see Dr. Osborne to hear the more about the c word.

Is Hospital Care An Oxymoron????

I know I should focus on the positive, but I think it is important to document this…The worst part of this whole thing was the hospital care. Now, I am not talking about the doctors. My team of doctors, Osborne, Albo and Izaddoost has been wonderful and I will highly recommend them to anyone. But…. from the time I got in the hospital I had to deal with the following: For the most part it took at least 30 minutes, sometimes more, to get a response from the nurses… I had to put up with testy responses from the caregivers… Had to ask repeatedly for ice and water… Drs I had never seen before, walked in without introducing themselves…. Dirty towels and rags left in the room and bathroom—even after repeated request to remove them… My mobile toilet seat with urine in it was left in the room. After repeated request to empty it, my sister had to do it herself …the cups with blood from the drainage tubes were left to stink up the bathroom—even after repeated request to remove them… Nurses and aides trying to measure my blood pressure from my arm—a big no-no for double mastectomy patients, even though a large sign on the wall clearly indicated that was not to be done…. Nurses tried to take blood from my arm—again a big no-no for double mastectomy patients. Remember there was a big sign on the wall with instructions… Caregivers didn’t know how to work the chair where I slept. I had to instruct one night aide each time she came in the room how to get me out of the chair to go to the bathroom. That was every two hours each night. I was in hopes that she would remember how to get me out of the chair, but she never did.  Caregivers repeatedly trying to put me back in bed, even though I said over and over it was against my doctor’s instructions… At one point I looked at my foot and it was swollen quite a bit. My sister said it was infiltrated meaning the contents of the IV were going into my tissue instead of the vein. Starting and having the IV in my foot was extremely painful. A new IV was hung when the existing IV was infiltrated. Really painful… Their was lack of informed consent from an internist, ordering IV meds for slightly low potassium without discussing with me the option of taking that medicine orally. The reasoning was the pills were too big to tolerate. I can tolerate big pills far better than the excruciating pain from the IV in my foot. Taking that medication via iv instead of orally made me stay another day. That meant putting another IV for antibiotics. At that point I broke down in tears threatening to walked out of the hospital if anything else was stuck in my foot.. After much argument and putting in a call to my doctor I got an oral antibiotic. The hospital stay was a nightmare. Don’t, I repeat don’t ever go into a hospital without a friend or family member to help you. I don’t know what I would have done without my sister there to help me.

Pre-op Post

My doctor informed me today that my hospital stay might be 3 days instead of 2. He also said I should take it easy for the first week or two. That will be hard, as I like to be busy. It's genetic—members of my family bore easily. Netflix, here we come! Please send me your favorite movie rental titles to help keep me entertained.

Now for my rant de jour
Today the gal in billing informed me that I had an unpaid balance. I knew that, someone else had told me, but couldn't tell me what that balance was for. I was told to call the billing department. I did. Rather than explain the charges, billing sent me a statement that didn't make sense at all.

A call from billing came yesterday. I told them what my insurance rep advised, that I would like to pay my balance once all the insurance claims have been settled. "No, that is not our policy", was the icy answer. "Why do I have a balance when I have paid the amount I was told I owed at every visit", I asked. Long pause...No answer. The icy woman, finally said, "I will have to get back to you". "Perfect, I said. I will wait for the call". The call never came.

The gal in billing today said, "Oh no, you don't want to wait—billing will report you to collections." She also said the billing file was a mess. Charges were applied incorrectly. She promised to work on it, and advised that I call her in a couple of days. "I will be in surgery in a couple of days", I replied. She assured me she would not let the file go to collections. Should I believe her????

I am beginning to feel like the woman in the Comcast report on Sunday Morning. #$@%!.  Mind you....I have worked very hard to maintain an 800 + credit score, and a billing department who fails to give me a follow-up call is going to jeopardize this score for charges they can't explain. This is just wrong.

I knew this blog would be therapeutic! Thanks for letting me vent. I feel better now!

Now that's what I am talking about!!

I had an appointment with another plastic surgeon. Dr. Izaddoost and he was MUCH better.

Thankfully he familiarized himself with my case and actually knew how many breast I was having removed!!! He didn't have a paternalistic attitude, but explained my options—giving me pros and cons of each.

Ironically, after going to see Dr. Izaddoost, I made the same decision that the former plastic surgeon made for me the other day— to go with implants rather than the DIEP flap procedure. I made this decision knowing the pros and cons of the options before me. What really helped was Dr. Izaddoost's upbeat presentation and positive, compassionate nature.

The other doctor may be a great plastic surgeon. However when I have a procedure that causes physical changes and emotional stress, I need a doctor who cares. May my comments help you choose doctors who are both highly skilled and empathetic.

Dr Dr Gimme the News, I got a bad case of doubting you!

Well, I had a disappointing appointment with my plastic surgeon yesterday. The first words out of his mouth, in a very mono toned voice, were "How can I help you? "—As if I was just another woman having work done! My initial thought was this guy doesn't know why I am here?!?!

Aside from appearing to be clueless and unconcerned about my case he was extremely hard to understand. I guess he couldn't understand me either because after going over what had happened so far, he seemed to think I had cancer in only one breast!

Perhaps I am being too high maintenance. Perhaps he is so good he was too busy to go over my chart before seeing me. Perhaps there was a language barrier. Perhaps I need a new plastic surgeon.