Dear Edwin: What a story of the surgery experiences? It is one of those
stories where a number of things go wrong, and the system cannot figure out
how to listen to you. I had an experience about 15 years ago in our local
Catholic hospital where I had surgery for a hernia repair. At that time,
they assigned a nurse to me who was a patient advocate and she came to me
and interviewed me prior to the surgery. And then checked in on me daily
while I was in the hospital. Something like that might have helped you get
"the messages" through to the medical personnel. I am apalled that you got
so ignored. There is an arrogance in the system that is based on the belief
that they know what to do, and you do not.
I guess that the other lesson I take from your experience, is that I
should make sure that the neurologist is part of the treatment picture before
beginning the procedures. One would expect that the surgeons would have
done that; but here, at least, they did not.
All the best. I hope that you are recovering decently. And that you
can avoid that kind of thing when the next surgery is done.
Sincerely, Bob Newbrough
