Rest assured there is nothing to fear in "letting Dr. Redan inside your belly." You will be in excellent hands. Dr. Redan is not only a skilled surgeon he really cares about YOU! It is the first time in my life I've ever felt like my doctors were also my friends. Dr. Reich was also my surgeon and he was just as caring and skilled. I did have the opportunity to meet Dr. Gerhart even though he was not one of my doctors and I was very impressed with him also. This has got to be the best surgical team in the world. I just cannot say enough good things about them. And unfortunately I have the experience behind me to make me a good judge! The only pain I am feeling now is a result of the surgery itself and is getting better all the time. The pain I felt from the adhesions is GONE!
Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you or if there are any questions I can answer. I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. Dee
At Sun, 25 Feb 2001, Jim wrote:
>
>First off, a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you wonderful people who have
>been most kind in contacting me with info about my plans for
>adhesiolysis. I can say without a doubt that all of you have been the
>most kind, compassionate, caring individuals that I have ever come
>across. My feelings of hopelessness and terror have quickly been
>replaced by an overwhelming sense of love and hope. I am still scared
>about letting someone back into my belly, but it seems that Dr. Redan
>is definitely the way to go.
>
>I can't began to sing his praises enough, even though I have yet to meet
>him (we'll meet for the first time on March 12th). I thought my last
>option was when I went to Johns Hopkins three weeks ago to meet a
>surgeon there. When he told me that surgery was not an option and that
>there was nothing to do but wait until I obstruct again, I lost it. I
>spent the two hour drive back to my house in tears. I felt like driving
>right off of a bridge to bring this terrible ordeal to closure. But
>something inside me clicked, and I said screw it, I am going to get
>better and I would do everything within my power to find a doctor who
>believes that adhesions cause pain and that they are treatable. Well,
>God pointed me to this website and the last two weeks talking to Dr.
>Redan (and all of you) have been the most positive that I have had in
>years.
>
>The stage that I am at now is that we have a tentative date set for
>April 16th in Manhattan. My insurance company said that I need to send
>them a letter from the surgeon at Hopkins stating that Dr. Redan is my
>only option. (He is a nice guy and does believe that I am in crippling
>pain, so hopefully he'll write it. Keep your fingers crossed!) Then
>their Review Board will make a ruling. Even if they don't pay for it, I
>am still going to go for the surgery. I am even more energized now that
>I just read Dee's most recent post that she just had the surgery and she
>has marked decrease in her pain. God, I can only imagine! I haven't
>been pain free in over three years and can only imagine how good Dee
>feels right now.
>
>Lastly, I want to publicly thank Bev for going above and beyond in her
>support for me. Why can't everyone in the world be as kind as her? I'll
>take one Bev over a 1,000 "expert" healthcare "professionals" any day!
>
>Well, I'm rambling. All my best wishes to you folks out there. I'll
>keep posting here about my experiences leading up to and including the
>surgery with Dr. Redan so that anyone who is contemplating it will get
>a good idea of what to expect from my experiences. Also, I had posted a
>bogus email address in my first posts because I didn't want it out.
>However, I now consider you all my friends and would welcome any
>thoughts/ideas/comments that you would send me. My real email address
>is jlynch@udel.edu.
>
>Good luck, God bless, and way to go Dee!