Re: My experience with adhesions and Dr. Redan
From: Fern (Fern777Hill@Yahoo.com)
Sun Jan 31 17:41:40 2010
It seems then That Dr. Redan is a mixed bag. Some do well and some do
not. Sorry to hear about your experience. (About Suzanne)
--
Fern Hill
At Wed, 27 Jan 2010, Suzanne wrote:
>
>My story actually begins just over two years ago. I had a total
>abdominal hysterectomy in July of 2007 due to a large ovarian cyst that
>was possibly cancerous. Thankfully, it was benign, but the surgeon
>perforated my intestine and didn't realize it at the time. When I
>wasn't recovering normally, was weak, and had pain up my side and around
>my back, the nurses and my family who were with me around the clock
>asked my surgeon to do some tests to determine what was wrong. He
>dismissed their concerns, stating that I was suffering from a "post-op
>ileus". Five days after the hysterectomy, it was obvious to everyone
>that I was in distress and was extremely sick. The surgeon finally did
>a CT scan and found I had a perforation. Emergency exploratory surgery
>followed, resulting in a bowel resection. I had peritonitis and was, in
>the surgeon's words, "gravely ill". I ended up with a fistula so the
>staples were ripped out and a wound vac was applied for a few weeks.
>When the wound vac was removed, the wound was left to heal open (end
>result five months later when it finally healed was an 8 by 3 inch scar
>up my abdomen). Eleven days after the second surgery I was still weak
>and sick, my body was swelling (I am on the thin side so this was quite
>obvious) and on oxygen. My surgeon was talking about discharging me at
>the end of the week and this was Wednesday! At two in the morning during
>that night, while in the care of a very astute nurse whom I credit with
>saving my life, I was rushed to the ICU in respiratory failure. They
>told my husband they didn't know if I had brain damage and they were not
>sure if I'd had a heart attack, but that my lungs had collapsed and they
>had called the Chaplain...and I was on a ventilator. My husband was in
>disbelief, obviously, and my children thought they were going to lose
>their mother. Had this surgeon monitored my albumin levels, he would
>have found them to be so low that my body was not able to process all of
>the fluids I was receiving intraveneously, and this situation could have
>easily been averted. I was in the hospital for three weeks, went home
>for a week, was still short of breath and running fevers, and was
>readmitted only to have a chest tube placed to drain more fluid from
>around my lungs for another week. All in all I've had over twenty three
>CT scans and forty chest x-rays. With each CT scan being about the
>equivalent of five hundred chest x-rays, I live in fear that one of
>these days I could be diagnosed with some form of cancer. It took me a
>full year to recover and gain back the twenty pounds I lost as I was TPN
>(no food by mouth) for five weeks and had a difficult time getting my
>appetite back. Those are just the highlights of my hospitalization;
>there were many other things that went wrong.
>
>In the past eighteen months I've been hospitalized three times (at a
>different hospital) with bowel obstructions due to adhesions from my
>abdominal surgeries. They have always resolved with decompression
>treatment in the hospital, but I was told by the surgeons that
>eventually I will likely have one that will not respond to treatment and
>will require emergency surgery. They also told me that every time I
>have a bowel obstruction, the chances of having another one increase,
>and may take longer to resolve. One of these surgeons actually told me
>that he has a patient who is hospitalized with bowel obstructions almost
>monthly. These men are highly respected surgeons in my community. Why
>could they not do something for their patients who are struggling with
>issues due to adhesions? They told me they would not perform surgery on
>me because it would only create more adhesions, so my future was looking
>grim.what a vicious cycle. I believed I had no recourse, but I couldn't
>imagine living this way the rest of my life. It was always stressful on
>my family (I have four children) to have to leave suddenly and be
>hospitalized for an unknown length of time. The psychological issues
>were difficult for me as well, with a huge scar constantly reminding me
>of my traumatic ordeal and the physical discomfort of my distended
>abdomen and my insides pushing up on my ribcage every time I sat down or
>leaned over. The prospect of living the rest of my life like this was
>depressing, to say the least. Also scary for me was the fact that I
>might end up requiring emergency surgery to repair a bowel obstruction.
>Who would perform this surgery, a surgeon on call? I had been through
>too much to allow just any surgeon to operate on me.
>
>This past summer during an appointment with my gynecologist, he
>mentioned the CAPPS program and although he didn't know the specifics of
>the program nor Dr. Redan, he knew a woman who had a successful
>experience a few years ago, and he suggested I look into it. I
>immediately went home and researched Florida Hospital at Celebration,
>Dr. Redan, and the CAPPS program. I couldn't believe I was actually
>considering having surgery again as I had lost so much faith in the
>medical community. I wondered how this surgeon could help me when no
>other surgeon I spoke with would consider me for surgery. I had a
>consultation with Dr. Redan in September of 2009 and immediately felt
>hopeful about my future. I found Dr. Redan to be not only
>compassionate and kind, but empathetic regarding the trauma I endured
>and the psychological issues that went along with it. After examining
>my abdomen, he stated that he felt he could help me, but that I was not
>a candidate for laparoscopic surgery due to the damage to my abdominal
>wall and the large scar. This was disappointing to me as I was fearful
>of open surgery after my previous experience, but already I felt that
>Dr. Redan was the surgeon who would restore my faith. He explained the
>surgical procedure that he would perform if I chose to go ahead with the
>surgery, and answered every one of my questions, making me feel as if he
>had all the time in the world to spend with me. When I left, he told me
>to call him with any further questions and encouraged my husband to call
>as well as he could not accompany me to the appointment. Leaving Dr.
>Redan's office, I felt wonderfully optimistic.finally! Dr. Redan had a
>plan for me, and his plan included a plastic surgeon to reconstruct my
>abdominal wall, repair the incisional hernia, and remove forever the
>horrific scar that prevents me from forgetting the trauma I endured.
>
>The following week I had an appointment with Dr. John Louis, the
>plastic surgeon who would work with Dr. Redan. They had discussed my
>case during the week, and Dr. Louis shared his plan for my care with
>me. Once again, I knew I was in good hands, and this meeting convinced
>me that making the decision to have this surgery was the right one for
>me. Like Dr. Redan, Dr. Louis is kind and compassionate, and spent a
>great deal of time answering all of my questions. I left his office
>with a date for my surgery!
>
>On December 10, 2009, Dr. Redan removed my gallbladder due to
>gallstones and also because it was affected by the peritonitis. He also
>removed my appendix and the adhesions. Dr. Louis did a fantastic job
>reconstructing my abdominal wall.and I can't say enough about not having
>to look at the dreadful scar anymore! I am optimistic that the days of
>being in and out of the hospital are over for me, thanks to these two
>amazing surgeons. I am now almost seven weeks post-op, and I am
>extremely grateful to both Dr. Redan and Dr. Louis. Thanks to their
>teamwork, the surgery went very well and I am feeling good both
>physically and psychologically. I was impressed with the care I
>received by the staff over the course of the five days I was
>hospitalized, and with the follow up care I have received from both
>surgeons. The office staff of both Dr. Louis and Dr. Redan is helpful
>and considerate, and whenever I had questions or concerns prior to or
>following my surgery, Dr. Redan always returned my phone calls the same
>day. Dr. Louis assured me that if I was unhappy with anything during
>my hospital stay, to call his office and he would make things right. I
>have never met more personable surgeons than Dr. Louis and Dr. Redan.
>
>I strongly encourage anyone who is suffering from adhesions or ARD to
>seek the help of Dr. Redan and his colleagues at the CAPPS program in
>Celebration, Florida. Dr. Redan's knowledge, competence, concern, and
>compassion have changed my life and given me back the peace of mind and
>the quality of life that had been missing for too long.