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Sorry for forgetting to say that I'm happy to hear that you got at least some immediate relief from your surgery, and that I hope your progress is stunningly good.

might have been a check on your mental state.

I asked that exact question..no joy.

Well, my surgery is over, a little more pain now than I thought would be, sorry Artie. Still waiting to see if I get feeling back in my foot.

Does anybody ever dance joyously out of the hospital as they expected to do when they went in?

Just take it easy and feel better, and lots of luck!

Yes, at least sometimes.
A couple weeks ago I experienced a "cardiac incident" (something less than a full-fledged heart attack) which produced damage reversible by cardiac R&R (primarily via an ACE inhibitor for a month).
In the diagnostic process an angiogram found that my coronary arteries are in pristine condition. Moreover, my cholesterol panel puts me at a lower than average risk for coronary heart disease/attack over the next 10 years.
(Given my cholesterol-oblivious diet [and probably genes], my deep and scientifically defensible disdain for "killer" statins has been vindicated.)
That's all information I would never have acquired otherwise.
So, yes, I danced out of the hospital joyously and am now back to jogging with aplomb.

As for the annoyance of staff asking for you to spell your name:
For safety's sake (for you and the asker) it provides another check on your identity so that you don't wind up with the wrong meds or the wrong procedures. Annoying, but win-win.

Good for you! (But I really meant after a procedure.)


In that case, I'd think that simply asking me what my name was would have sufficed. (Even if they were actually worried that I slipped a ringer into my bed while they weren't looking, he could have been well prepared.)

But more to the point... Not one single solitary person gave me an acceptable reason when I asked "Why?"

They could have just looked at my wristband, fer cryin' out loud!

I thought it was great that they asked and asked and they asked and asked what I was having done and the surgeon marked the left side of my back and where the cut was going to be made when he spoke to me before the surgery. All these things were concerns. Many things go wrong.

Cardiac catheterization is definitely a procedure (and one not without its risks, especially while being treated with anticoagulants).

In the second case, I would imagine that every institution has its own protocols to continually ID patients. Some will ask names and/or birth dates, others might wish to assess awareness; spelling one's name requires multiple abilities and can be a sensitive (albeit annoying) test, illuminating mental status. Even when getting blood work done, one is asked for name and birth date prior to getting jabbed, just to eliminate error.

If no one could answer why they were doing that, recourse to the ward/service supervisor or manager or to the hospital's patient advocate is always an option. I've always found that "rattling cages" gets results in fairly short order.

I didn't dance before or after I left. I was in pain both times. In fact, when I left I was in more pain than when I went in. But of course that's a misleading statement. I did get better with time.

Whenever something had to be done to me, I was asked my birthday. I must have answered that question 50 times. I assumed it was a security question. Is it really all that secure a question? Anyone can find out my birthday. At this point in time, probably anyone can find out anything about me, including my medical records, despite all attempts to keep the lid sealed. What was really annoying was they often interrupted my sleep, and I slept a lot. They expected me to be immediately responsive, articulate, and lucid. I just wanted them to go away so I could get back to sleep.

I don't remember anybody asking what my procedure was to be, but I was pleased by the surgeon's autographing the finger that was to be fused.

On the other hand...well, I'd almost have preferred that she operate on the other hand and improve the quality of my retirement...wouldn't have been much of a hardship at all.

Seriously, though, with all the wacky stuff you hear about, I guess it's hard to fault a hospital for positive overkill.

Of course, but you didn't dance out of the hospital as a result of your procedure; you left happy because of coincidental good news.

The only reason I could think of for their asking me to spell my name repeatedly was to check on my state of mind, but they said "Nope, yadda, yadda...double-talk."

If they were actually worried that the person wearing my bracelet wasn't me, then I maybe need to rethink my opinion of Hospital For Special Surgery!

In the end, though, you're right... I should have made some noise.

Welcome to modern medicine! Being in a hospital is not fun even in the best of circumstances.

I am married to a hospital chaplain, our son is a Radiologist and I was hospitalized three times last year for three different reasons so I am quite familiar with the drill. According to my son, who spends 10 hours a day reading MRIs, CT scans, etc. there is only so much detail that can be discerned even with the best technology, equipment, and training. In an area such as the spine it is not that unusual to find different conditions, worse or better, than can be seen in the radiological studies. My last cervical fusion was scheduled to take two hours and instead it took six and a half because of scaring that did not show in the MRI. The surgeon is like General Eisenhower said of the D-Day landings, "Before the battle careful planning is everything. After that battle starts it is nothing." Surgeons are not omniscient and have to deal with what they find when they actually see what is there once they get in.

Lots of hospital regulations like spelling your name or giving your date of birth to everyone coming into the room can be annoying (I began to think my d.o.b. was my real name), but mistakes do happen in a busy hospital and what is annoyingly repetitious to the patient serves several purposes, it is a double check on whether you are the right patient and how alert you are which gives an indication of your condition. Always having to call for an attendant when you go to the potty after a surgery is a real pain in the nether regions both psychologically and maybe physically, but the effects anesthesia can be tricky. In our litigious culture the doctor, nurse, and hospital will likely be sued should you slip and fall, even if you did so against medical advice, and their insurance will settle and increase the practitioner's already stratospheric insurance premiums until they are forced to leave medicine. It happens far too often.

It has occurred to me there should be a "writer's cramp" warning in the informed consent before hospitalization. What annoys me is going back to the same hospital eight weeks after being released and having to fill out all the same forms and sign all the same releases and the admissions clerk verifying what you filled out by comparing it to your data that is already in their computer! My wife had a procedure at a hospital where she had to fill out the same forms and sign the same releases in every department! and she was seen in five different departments. Apparently their departmental patient registration systems do not talk to one another. Before computerization you could simply take a photocopy of the information and drop it off at each department.

Anyway, glad you are home and doing better.

I hope you're doing well and your problems are abating.

I didn't really follow the conversation, but I think you may find Image32 ($24/year) useful. (Runs in Snowy)


Hope this helps.

Artie,

Thanks for asking. My right foot is feeling less like it is stuck in a bucket of ice. Let's say it is defrosting, I feel little electrical shocks and a lot of something that feels like tiny rivers flowing. And since the surgeon freed up the compressed S1 on the left, there were a whole lot of things that were happening on the left side I was unaware of and I mean that in a bad way.

It seems very hopeful right now.

Slo

Exactly what should be happening as things get back to 'normal'. Enjoy that part of the experience; it can be quite entertaining, if not exhilarating.

Sounds promising, Slo; best ongoing luck!