# of Surgical Reports I Should Expect?

Ladies,

I have a question I may never find the answer to....


When I scheduled my surgery, had my pre-op and signed into the surgical unit, I signed consents and legal froms, yada-yada. When I was in the pre-op waiting area and was getting hooked to the blood pressure cuffs, IV, was having an allerci reaction to the antibiotics the injected in, I signed a consent that Dr. X was doing a LAVH & RSO. I remember say a Salpinooperwhat? (It sounded like something from a Dr. Suess book.) and Dr. X was the only doctor I signed off on. When I was in my room following surgery, an associate doctor who works with my docotr came in and told me she assisted Dr. X during my surgery. I was like "what...?" I thought that I would have had been told a doctor (I have had poor experiences with in the past) besides the doctor who I had my pre-op appts with was going into my body? Then Dr. X didn't come to see me until I asked 3 times (they attempted to discharge me 3 times before he came) to see Dr. X. All my appts with this surgery have been moved and today I was supposed to go for my 2 wk Post-Op and they called a couple of hours before my appt. to cancel ! Then I caught them (the office) lying to me today. Last week they called on Fri. to change my time today, stating that he was going to be in surgery this morning. When the office called to cancel my appointment today they stated he wasn't scheduled for surgery today but an emergency came up this morning. (They have said that about moving my pre=op appt around, they used it as an excuse to displace me during my hospital stay..putting me on a floor where none of the nurses had ever cared for a hysterectomy patient before (Dr.X was in surgery for 2 days straight, apparently. All the OB/GYN rooms were conviently filled up when my surgery had ended. (Even though the Friday before they told me I would be on the OB/GYN floor and asked if I minded, under the circumstances. I assured they that I preffered the third floor because of the experience of the staff with my surgery, should I have questions)(Boy, did I have questions, all went unanswered or answered with "Not sure, I have never cared for post op hysterectomy patients before.)****Caught myslef rambling ----> Going back to topic ***

All my appointments get chenged around and today canceled. So I was looking forward to getting my pathology reports and surgical reports and some face time with Dr. X to get my post-op questions answered since when I call the office I get a call back saying whatever the problem I called about "Is normal".

So when I go Fri @ 3:30pm ("Only" time they had this week) I should expect 2 surgical reports, right? Since 2 different doctors operated on my? Does anyone know if this is a law or anything? My surgery was done in Massachusetts. Sigh...

Sorry for ranting I am just so clueless as to why I have been treated this way, from the pre-op visit to today...

the hospital i used was a teaching hospital -- so I was told other doctors or students could be in there watching or possibly assisting --
might want to see if your hospital is also a teaching hospital.

also ask why there was another dr there -- did they anticipate problems ?

never be afraid to ask the questions -- it is so much better to be informed.

I could be wrong, but I think there will only be one surgical report. While I did not ask for copies for myself, I did have a copy sent to my GP and there was only had one surgical report and my doctor did have another doctor assist with surgery. I never met the assistant surgeon and to this day don't even know his/her name and my doctor did not tell me prior to surgery that someone would be assisting -- but I assumed so based on prior knowledge.

Almost every surgery is done by the lead surgeon, the doctor you meet in the office, and at least one other doctor who assists. At a teaching facility there could be not only an assistant but others watching but you are generally told this up front with a teaching hospital.

The assistant surgeon can be someone in practice with your doctor, someone who is an assistant surgeon employed by the hospital who is not in private practice, someone your doctor thinks is needed for your surgery, etc. Many of us never even meet the assistant surgeon or are aware that there is another doctor present during surgery.

I hope your appoitment goes well on Friday and your doctor is able to answer all of your questions. If you are not happy with your doctor's office, I would suggest you start looking for a new GYN.

My hospital is not a teaching hospital. What does that mean? What if he acts annoyed with my questions? Should I be afraid to ask? I was never given the impression that anyone would be assisting. Is this common for hysterectomy and not for tubal, laperscopy, pelviscopy?

A teaching hospital is a facility where not only are doctors often top notch, they are also teaching new doctors. So often a person has several medical personnel checking on them so they can learn as they go. When you are using a teaching facility, you know it is a teaching facility and that there are going to be mulitple doctors involved.

If a doctor acts annoyed by your questions than s/he is not the right doctor for you. You need a doctor that you can sit down and talk to about any questions you have regarding your care. It is your body.

It is common to have an assistant surgeon with any major surgery and there may be assistants during many other procedures and we just don't realize it. As I mentioned, often we never even see the assistant and in my case the assistant surgeons fee was part of my hospital bill, I was not billed seperately.

If you ever need surgery in the future and it concerns you, ask about who will assist and what the assistant will do. And if you are bothered by the fact that there was an assistant involved with your surgery, ask your surgeon what exactly the assistant did.

Sorry -- to hell with him/her if the are annoyed.

You have a right to ask questions to be informed about yourself. If they are annoyed -- acknowledge it to them -- such as " i feel the you are annoyed about me asking questions, but I feel I need a clearer answer to what and why and blah blah blah "

A doctors bedside manner so to speak -- says tons -- they can be the best surgeon around -- but if their bed side manner is horrible -- does not matter how good they are with the knife.

I guess I have friends that are doctors and doctors that are friends -- having that title does not impress me. neither does being a lawyer or anything else --
what matters to me is how do they treat me and eople around me --

I know homeless people that have more compassion than doctors do --

If your doctor does not want to answer your questions -- then find a doctor that will.

We are ourown best doctors. We know what is normal for us and what is not -- sometimes like this we have surgery and -- we are not sure what normal is --
but to get the bruch off from the doctors office is totally UN ACCEPTABLE.

KEEP ASKING QUESTION -- AND WHEN THEY THINK YOU ARE DONE -- ASK SOME MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i would think there would be just one report. i had mine done at a teaching hospital and signed consent forms for students to be in the operating room.

The surgery report should give you most of the answers you are seeking.

I think you should request a copy of the surgery report for yourself. My doctor was glad to give me a copy. At the top of the report it lists Surgeon: Dr. M; Type of Anesthetic: General; Anesthetist: TS; Surgical Assistant: BW

She then goes into very precise detail of every movement that she made from the time I was placed on the OR table. It is very interesting reading. Medical terms, medical procedures. She even describes the point at which she accidentally cut my bladder and gives all the details of how she corrected it. It was very reassuring to me to be able to read this.

It turns out that her surgical assistant also works in the office as the surgery scheduler. I know everyone in my doctors office on a first name basis. I never questioned for one minute that B might not be qualified to assist. I knew from the start that she is the favored assitant of my doctor as well as the senior GYN in the office. Everyone who had anything to do with my surgery came by to see me in the surgery holding area before my surgery including the scrub nurses. My only complaint is that they gave me Versad and it put me out and I don't remember anything so I have to trust them on that.

You have a right to have all your questions answered to your satisfaction. I was surprised to learn that my 1 week post-op, 2 week post-op and my 6 week post-op were all done without an addtional charge. And she talked to me for 45 minutes at my 6 week appointment.

I guess I am lucky that I spent 6 years with this doctor treating my problems before we decided that hysterectomy was our only option.