[rant] nhsa sucks at treating their patients right so i had surgery a week and a half ago to remove something called a lipoma from my upper back. you can read about them here. if you take a softball, cut it down the middle, and place it in the center of my upper back... that's what it looked like (not normal). whenever i went to the doctor for a check-up for something (flu, strep, etc), i had them to take a look and i was always told it would never get bigger. this past year is when it grew by about four times. generally someone would get this taken care of early, but when you're busy getting drunk every night in the past like i used to, it doesn't seem as important. anyhow, i was skeptical about the whole surgery process because i had to initiate the call to setup the appointment to get it done (they were supposed to call me back with the time), the were supposed to have a pre-operation appointment that they were supposed to call me on (they didn't), and i kept getting "we'll call you back" or "i don't have your paperwork right now". the only thing that they did contact me about, the day before the surgery, was of course the billing... which was not cheap. i guess you're treated that way unless you a large sum of money to build a new wing in the hospital or something. surgery was ok. however, they only prescribed me a pain medication... no antibiotics. also there was no in-person follow-up. just a piece of paper saying to keep the wound "dry and clean" and we'll call you to check up in two-weeks. this was my first surgery by the way, so i didn't know what to expect or what questions to ask. the last week and a half i've called their office nonstop because it swelled back to it's original size. generally i'd get "the head nurse will call you back" or something to that effect. they told me it was normal, that something had to take it's place because of the loose skin, and that the fluid would absorb back into the body after a month. i've called to tell them about the pain and how the hydrocodone helps only somewhat. they told me it's normal and to keep applying pressure to help the body absorb the fluid. the nurses that answered the phone couldn't even tell me if i had stitches in it or not because they couldn't be bothered with taking a look at my file (they thought it was taped together). they told me it was supposed to fill up with a yellowish fluid that would be absorbed back into my body by applying pressure... as did the surgeon. last night, it started bleeding like crazy... literally pouring out blood. i was able to stop it by applying pressure for a couple of minutes, so i put a gauze on it and went to bed. i woke up with my back covered with dried up blood and huge splotches of it that leaked onto the sheets. i went to the doctor that recommended the surgeon to me today and she told me that the wound filled up with blood causing a hematoma (sp?)... bascially a huge f'ing blood clot underneath the skin instead of that other fluid stuff. she tried paging my surgeon, but fridays are one of the days that they perform surgery. she prescribed me antibiotics (which she said the surgeon should have done) and more pain medication. she put a huge gauze on my back and i left. since then, the wound leaked through the gauze and through the two shirts that i was wearing. as i'm sitting here typing, i can feel the gauze getting soggier. prior to the doctor's visit today, i had already set up an appointment to have the surgeon take another look at my back on tuesday of this upcoming week. we'll see if it can hold off that long. the pic below is of the gauze from the outside. i had to plug the bottom up because it was leaking down my back. (not really graphic) Spoiler all of my back hurts from leaning and giving way to my upper back, my head hurts, and i feel nauseated from the pain meds. thinking about going to the emergency room tonight or tomorrow morning depending on how i feel. it just makes me really effing furious how blahzay (sp?) they were about the whole procedure. i know wasn't a life-threating surgery, but schit man... treat your patients like "patients" and not like a pos. i do not recommend this place... http://houstonsurgeons.net/ /pity party
If you can . .. goto the Hospital this sounds a bit serious Rocket River I'm the guy that drove himself to the emergency after swallowing/throwing up massive amounts of my own blood after the stitches broke after my tonsil surgery . . . . started as a little blood. . .then it felt like i was gulping it NOT GOOD!! So After that . .. better safe than sorry . . . i lost alot of blood that night
F******************* that sucks That would would make for a b****ing Youtube video though, kind of like those bot fly videos. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/23eimVLAQ2c&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/23eimVLAQ2c&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
oh crap..I just clicked on the link, and I realized that I know two of the five doctors listed on that page. More like family friends though.
Doesn't sound like you had an infection... you had a hematoma. What's the big deal about the antibiotics? There's no point in taking them if you had no infection (which would manifest itself as fever, nausea/vomiting, pus around the wound.) As far as the sugery center not giving you a follow-up appointment... that right there should have tipped you off. They clearly are trying to operate as much as possible (and limit the small-case follow-ups). That makes it seem like its all about the $$$$$. Some people rip on academic institutions/hospitals all the time... however, in those situations, you have resident physicians there taking care of all the extra stuff that the surgeon is too busy to get to... the callbacks, the follow-up wound checks, the "calling in prescriptions." Plus, you have a place that is designed to teaching physicians, and won't simply try to "fit you in" the schedule to take out your mass, along with 14 other cases that day, and then not have a follow-up appointment. They do actually put patient care at a premium... as the bottom line there isn't all about the $$$.
antibiotics should not have been prescribed in this type of surgery (you got them intraop but were asleep). pain and bleeding are part of the complications listed when you consented for the surgery. With that said, the office staff has treated you totally unprofessionally. When you talk to the surgeon, let him/her know the run around you were given, as a large percentage of the time, they don't know what is happening behind the scenes.
This is a serious matter being discussed here, please stay on subject. For shame Don't have any experience or knowledge in these kinda matters, just a concerned guy wanting to talk. Could be an issue where its "98% of the time" the procedure takes care of itself and maybe only half the other times people require any followup procedure. And maybe this happened to be the 2% case where things didnt take care of itself. I'm betting thats the facility's type of answer. Should still treat you like a patient though. They might be very sure of themselves but you don't know.
i understand what you're saying and i'm definitely not qualified to say what i need prescribed; however, the doctor that i went to see yesterday asked twice and a friend of mine (a former doctor turned malpractice attorney) both questioned this. i will. i forget why they said i couldn't come in on monday, so it's scheduled for tuesday. was told that they may make a smaller incision to drain it or have some tube put there for it to drain out of. the pain isn't as bad as yesterday... hence me not going to the emergency room (pain pill must have kicked in). the advice i got from the former doc was that it's bleeding a dark red, which is good (bright red... not so much). it's just that it's filled with so much blood that it has to come out somehow. one more pic... Spoiler
Like I said, routine antibiotics are not indicated for this type of procedure. In fact, there is probably a higher chance of having a side effect from the antibiotic than developing a post op infection. With that said, its always a possibility of developing an infection post op with the common symptoms being fever, extreme pain to touch (of the infected site, i.e. incision), redness and heat at the incision site and pus from the incision. Its not easy to tell the difference from a layman perspective and really requires an experienced nurse or doctor to tell the difference, which is why Im appalled at how you were treated by the staff. I think complaining to the surgeon when you see them is very appropriate (as you are unlikely to be the only one treated this way).
as a son of a surgeon and cousin of a lawyer i can tell you this: malpractice. take them to court and have them reimburse all costs plus pain and suffering.
