Post-Surgical HELP Needed!

[Guest guest]

I had surgery with Dr. Glazer on 3/1 and 3/2. All went well and I left

the hospital today, and was sent to a rehab facility. I am miserable

here. The hospital was great, but the care here isn't nearly as good.

They don't even have all my pain meds here yet!

Am I crazy to go home to where caring for myself will be a bit of a

struggle at first? Or continue here where I will get a bit more

supervision, but be miserable?

[Guest guest]

,

I think everyone is really very different on what they need upon discharge, so I

dont know that any one of us can tell you what is right for you. My experience

was that I was in the hospital for 6 days following my second day of surgery and

I was released to home.

HOWEVER.

I suspect my surgery might have been a tad less invasive as most of my original

hardware was retained, so I had good strength and use of my arms for

maneuvering. My master bedroom is on the first/main floor...so no steps were

necessary for moving through my day. Most improtanly, my dear husband took FMLA

time and was home to do everything. Childcare, home care, shopping, cooking,

laundry, dog care, driving....and of course all the thinking and managing

necessary in modern life. We had only one child and he was 7.5years and able to

manage himself..for the most part.

If you really are miserable and truly think you would be better off at home, my

guess is that they will let you go home, assuming it seems like a safe

environment. Perhaps you can talk to the facilities Discharge Planner about the

possibilities. You might also put in a call to Glazers office and tell them your

wishes and see what they suggest.

Hoping you find a good solution.

Take Care, Cam

[Guest guest]

,I'm sorry you are not happy. These rehab places often seem to be more like nursing homes than hospitals. Make sure you can get all your meds before you go home... Dr.s don't like to call in extra narcotics prescriptions. Remember you won't be able to cook for yourself, or stand over the sink and do dishes. They may not even want you to pick-up anything over a quart of milk. Something as simple as a shower will wipe you out for the next hour. Is you house stocked with food? You can not go shopping. You'll need to make arrangements for occupational therapy as well.Take care,-DyannFrom: Curran <melissacurran530@...>Subject: [ ] Post-Surgical HELP Needed!" " < >Date: Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 10:16 PMI had surgery with Dr. Glazer on 3/1 and 3/2. All went well and I leftthe hospital today, and was sent to a rehab facility. I am miserablehere. The hospital was great, but the care here isn't nearly as good.They don't even have all my pain meds here yet!Am I crazy to go home to where caring for myself will be a bit of astruggle at first? Or continue here where I will get a bit moresupervision, but be miserable?------------------------------------scoliosis veterans * flatback sufferers * revision candidates

[Guest guest]

,

Tough call. Is this a facility you picked or Glazer's office? you may want to

call there and specify how bad the care is and maybe get transferred. If not,

going home, to an empty house, totally depends on your ability to get around and

care for yourself. If you are confident that you can do so without causing

damage then talk to Glazer about it and go home. Misery though however is

conditional after revision. You are more likely to be a mess because your meds

aren't right. I would mention that as well if your calling Glazer's office.

Sometimes....squeaky wheel works.

C

>

> I had surgery with Dr. Glazer on 3/1 and 3/2. All went well and I left

> the hospital today, and was sent to a rehab facility. I am miserable

> here. The hospital was great, but the care here isn't nearly as good.

> They don't even have all my pain meds here yet!

>

> Am I crazy to go home to where caring for myself will be a bit of a

> struggle at first? Or continue here where I will get a bit more

> supervision, but be miserable?

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

I'm sorry to hear this. Going to rehab was a shock for me at first too. In the

hospital, I had a private room, nurses who were compassionate and quick to

answer a call button, instant (or reasonably fast) responses to pain issues,

etc. When I went to rehab, I had a roommate, had nurses (at night mostly) who

were not all that attentive to my needs, the call button would sometimes take 20

minutes or more to be answered (really nice when you had to have a bowel

movement or were in a horribly uncomfortable position and needed to get moved),

and the response time to alter pain meds or anything else was painfully

(literally) slow. It was a huge shock to me and my comfort levels to be moved

there.

As others have said, the squeaky wheel often gets the grease - please call your

surgeon and let him know what is happening. Talk to a patient advocate at the

rehab facility - oftentimes they are incredibly helpful and compassionate

resources. If you feel neglected or unsafe in that environment, then please get

a family member or close friend in there to advocate for you as well. They

might be able to do this better physically and mentally than you at this point

in your recovery. If you have support at home, and there are no extra physical

issues for you to have to stay in rehab, then perhaps you can get released to

continue everything at home. Please be really careful not to overdo things

though. It would be a shame to injure yourself having just gone through these

surgeries and have to go back in and get something tweaked.

Don't forget that you have a huge group of people here who have been though a

very similar situation as you. We're all here to listen and try to help you as

best we can.

>

> I had surgery with Dr. Glazer on 3/1 and 3/2. All went well and I left

> the hospital today, and was sent to a rehab facility. I am miserable

> here. The hospital was great, but the care here isn't nearly as good.

> They don't even have all my pain meds here yet!

>

> Am I crazy to go home to where caring for myself will be a bit of a

> struggle at first? Or continue here where I will get a bit more

> supervision, but be miserable?

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,I had a similar experience with rehab. I was sent to supposedly the best facility covered by insurance and in my area. Getting the meds right is key, and so frustrating when the staff doesn't bring the right meds at the right time. I also had trouble getting help. I found that the only way I was going to get PT and OT was to roam the halls with my walker, and set up something with the therapists. I had to constantly squeak the wheel re the meds. There was constant miscommunication between the ordering doc, how it was written in the records, how it was interpreted by the nurse on any particular shift, and what I understood and knew to be right. We would just get it worked out, and there would be a shift change. The nurses are overworked. They were wonderful when they were available, and sometimes the meds simply weren't delivered by the pharmacy. When I understood more what was going on system wide, it made me less critical of the staff. Hang in there. Squeak the wheel, nicely as you can. Insist on what you need. If you have a family member who can help advocate, all the better. Even the food was a constant negotiation for me. I'm gluten intolerant, and couldn't seem to communicate with the kitchen staff. I would receive pasta, cream of wheat, mac and cheese....I finally had friends bring me food, particularly fresh fruit and protein, that I could use to supplement what I could eat. (One time they brought me a whole bowl of maraschino cherries as my fruit! Gag!)Going home might not be the answer. As said, unless you have a lot of help at home, you could get into trouble. I managed 9 days in rehab, and was ready when I went home. Even then, it was a battle to get the right meds in the right dosage......Just take a deep breath and keep after it. You are your own best advocate. Best wishes, and hang in there! (3 months out from T11 to pelvis fusion)On Mar 9, 2011, at 10:15 AM, rebeccamaas wrote:,

[Guest guest]

>

> I had surgery with Dr. Glazer on 3/1 and 3/2. All went well and I left

> the hospital today, and was sent to a rehab facility. I am miserable

> here. The hospital was great, but the care here isn't nearly as good.

> They don't even have all my pain meds here yet!

>

> Am I crazy to go home to where caring for myself will be a bit of a

> struggle at first? Or continue here where I will get a bit more

> supervision, but be miserable?

>

>

>

- I am about to have surgery myself with Dr. Glazer on 3/21,22 & 23. I

am expecting to go to Spaulding Rehab. Is this where you are writing from?

Obviously, I am a bit nervous hearing about how miserable you are. I will say

this, I will pray daily for you, and remember this is just temporary.

Myers - Syracuse, NY

[Guest guest]

, If you really believe you will be miserable, I think going home might be the right course of action. Keeping your spirits up is crucial to healing and if you think you can manage at home and especially if you can get therapists to come to your home, or rides to PT and OT , what have you to lose? Rehab facilities can be mighty depressing and managing by yourself, empowering. You know what the set up at home is, what music, movies, books etc might be uplifting and have them available to you. Then again if you are having a terrible time getting up and around, it seems better to wait it out. At any rate, I hope by the time this reaches you the meds have arrived, as you will be able to make the best decision if your pain is relieved. I’ll be thinking of you and wish you the best. Kate

PS I just now got home from a simple fusion of C7 T1, done yesterday afternoon, and the lift it has given me to be in my own bed is immeasurable. I fought to get out ASAP because they were messing up my insulin and other meds and I felt I could do better on my own. However there is no comparison between the surgery I had and what you had.

From: chrismyers218

Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 6:28 PM

Subject: [ ] Re: Post-Surgical HELP Needed!

>> I had surgery with Dr. Glazer on 3/1 and 3/2. All went well and I left> the hospital today, and was sent to a rehab facility. I am miserable> here. The hospital was great, but the care here isn't nearly as good.> They don't even have all my pain meds here yet!> > Am I crazy to go home to where caring for myself will be a bit of a> struggle at first? Or continue here where I will get a bit more> supervision, but be miserable?> > > - I am about to have surgery myself with Dr. Glazer on 3/21,22 & 23. I am expecting to go to Spaulding Rehab. Is this where you are writing from? Obviously, I am a bit nervous hearing about how miserable you are. I will say this, I will pray daily for you, and remember this is just temporary.Myers - Syracuse, NY

[Guest guest]

,

 

Oh Rehab, some are fantastic, some aren't, I went to one that wasn't.

 

If you have zero help at home, even some, and not perfect care, is better than none. Do ask if there is a patient advocate there, and express your concerns, and somebody will surely listen. Have your surgeon in on loop too, many times they can shake things up.

 

For me, the place I was in was vastly understaffed as far as nursing care, and many of these places are great for the PT and OT, but lack in the day to day care needed, IE meds and basic care. So since I had tons of family at home, Church support, I left rehab after one day, just told Kumar my family could take better care of me, and I was leaving.

 

Know if I hadn't had anyone at home, I might have worked to make the situation better, but I opted out due to having help. Only you know what you can manage, but probably stay a few days, get a bit stronger, and keep requesting the help you need.

 

I wish I had the perfect answer, do keep us updated.

 

Colorado Springs

On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 8:16 PM, Curran <melissacurran530@...> wrote:

 

I had surgery with Dr. Glazer on 3/1 and 3/2. All went well and I leftthe hospital today, and was sent to a rehab facility. I am miserablehere. The hospital was great, but the care here isn't nearly as good.

They don't even have all my pain meds here yet!Am I crazy to go home to where caring for myself will be a bit of astruggle at first? Or continue here where I will get a bit moresupervision, but be miserable?

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I, too, was in rehab after revision surgery, and had the same problem

there regarding meds as you are having. Two things come to mind.

One, please do not make any decisions about going home until you get

the meds straightened out. That will help you think it through with a

clearer mind. Second, does Dr. Glazer routinely send all his revision

patients to rehab or just the ones who the he and the rest of the

hospital staff think cannot make it by themselves at home? If the

latter, please stay put until you reach the benchmarks that will allow

you to function properly at home. My understanding is that to be at

home and be safe, you need to be able to get in and out of bed easily

without help, manage to get to and from the bathroom and take care of

all your needs there by yourself, and walk a flight of stairs or at

least the number of stairs you will have to navigate at home. There

might be a fourth benchmark that I can't think of right now, so

everyone who knows it, please chime in here. (I'm 14 years post

revision.)

And, when you are home at this stage of your recovery, you need to

rest and should not do any chores lest you wind up hurting yourself.

Besides, you won't feel like doing chores anyway.

Please do not make any hasty decisions and please, please do not leave

rehab against medical advice.

Bonnie

[Guest guest]

> Please excuse the quick reply.

>

> I'm still at rehab but probably leaving tomorrow. In general, I see my

> situation reflected in the many responses I received. I really

> appreciate the support you've provided me with this week.

>

> My husband will be handling all childcare and housework, so I only

> need to worry about basic self care, which I'm doing so much better

> at.

>

> Thanks again,

>

>