one night in the hospital????

Ladies! Can this be true? Am scheduled for a TAH on 1/31. Had my pre op visit today. My doctor said insurance only approves one night in the hospital. She was confident she could get a second night if I needed it. When I reminded her I was in 5 days for a myomectomy and 5 for a c-section, she said that was in the olden days(12 years ago).I'm happy to go home but will I be ready in 36 hours??

My insurance approved me for a five night stay in the hospital for my hysterectomy, and my doctor insisted on discharging me after two nights. To add insult to injury, she tried to discharge me with no pain meds. Wanted me to take motrin for the pain. Well, I did get some pain medication, but no more days in the hospital and I had a foley for ten days after I came home. I do not know why they insist on rushing people out of the hospital so soon. I don't want to scare you. I was up walking the halls within a couple of hours of surgery, so I am sure you will be allright going home. Just make sure you take it easy. If your doc can talk the insurance company into an extra day, take it.

That's typical. One surgery I had the doctor told me the insurance company wouldn't let me stay over one night after the surgery. He said I needed to because I was in so much pain. They didn't deny it. If the insurance company kicks you out against doctor's orders, they set themselves up for a law suit.

I agree with my mom when she says to stay in the hospital as long as you can. It gives you time to heal and their is a medical professional available if you have any difficulties at anytime. You pay for your insurance, it's time they provide you with something back for your money.

p.s. I posted a petition to let women stay in the hospital longer than one day following a masectomy. It's in the Petition section of the this site.

My Dr has also said that I will only be in one night. He actually offered to let me go home the same day but I was not comfortable with that. I am just going to make 100% sure my home is ready and that I will have every thing I need with in arms reach when I do come home. Thank God my sweet husband is taking a week off from work to stay with me.

my insurance did the same thing and approved 1 day stay and when i called and questioned it they ended up approving 2 days . i told them my doctor told me 2-3 nights at least . the insurance company didn't realize i was having a TAH/LSO. thank god its straightened out. i'm going in today for my surgery ,and i'm so nervous. mmh

My insurance company originally approved only one day, but that was when I thought I would have a TVH. I talked to my doctor about it because she said for a TVH she wanted me in two nights, minimum. She said that that is standard for most insurance companies to do, but that all she would have to do is tell them I wasn't ready to go home and they would approve it. She said she had never had a problem with it in that situation.

I ended up having a TAH instead and stayed three nights. There is no way I could have only stayed one night. I was so sick that first day. The morphine made me so nauseous that I couldn't even lift my head. Also, my surgery wasn't until 3:00 in the afternoon, and my insurance company would give me an extra day because of that. I think you need to talk in depth with your insurance company and your doctor to make yourself feel better.

Good luck. It's not as bad as I thought.

Lisa

hi,

i'm new here and had my hysterectomy on january 3. the doctor cut me lose after one night - i'm sure it was my crummy insurance. they sent me home on oxygen, but only because the resperatory therapists made an issue of it. i was pretty unhappy.
my saturation rates were dropping to under 80% any time i got out of bed.

my doctor had assured me i could stay two nights if i needed to, but the doctor who released me was her partner. she was fine, but i did not feel very secure coming home under those circumstances.

i think it's a very good thing to have your doctor's assurance you won't be put in that position.

otherwise my surgery was absolutely fine and i'm doing well two weeks out from a vaginal hysterectomy. i'm VERY overweight and was very worried about being under anesthesia, but i've had a really smooth recovery. not much pain just lots of tiredness and sleep.

i hope this is a good place for these comments. overall it was not nearly as bad of an experience as i was prepared for.

take care.
kc

I had a TAH/BSO on Wed 1/12 and my insurance company also only pre-approved one night in the hospital. I mentioned it to my Dr. at the pre-op appointment and he said that's pretty typical these days. He also said he believed he would have me stay two nights since you normally don't even come down from the anestesia (spelling?) until the next day.

In the insurance companies defense they did also state on the letter that additional nights would be approved based on medical necessity and I'm confident my Dr. will be able to justify it.

I wouldn't worry too much if I were you as another sister stated earlier in your post, if the insurance co. kicked you loose before your Dr. recommended, they would be liable if anything goes wrong and I just don't think they want to go there.

As I said, I had my TAH surgery last Wed morning 1/12 and was sent home Friday morning 1/14. They took my staples out that morning and as soon as it was over I was dressing myself and sitting in a chair in the corner when my husband arrived to pick me up. I was very happy!!

One more thought here: I believe several studies have indicated that the less time you spend in the hospital the less likely you are to pick up some god awful hospital-bred infection. So, from that perspective, getting out sooner rather than later is a really good thing.

I don't think they'll kick you out before you can handle it and I, for one, felt about 1000% better once I was home. I spent two nights in the hospital after a TAH/LSO mainly because my bowel goes into really deep sleep from anasthesia, apparently.

BTW, from two surgeries now, I've discoved that you don't have to have a BM before they'll let you leave the hospital. They just have to hear that things are moving around in there when they listen with a stethoscope. Otherwise, I'd have been there three or four days.

From what I have read from Sisters on this board, it seems like one night is typical for vaginal hysterectomies but not for abdominal ones. I had my surgery on Wednesday at noon and did not leave the hospital until Sunday morning, and believe me, my insurance company is as cheap as any in America. After only one night, I still had an IV, a catheter, oxyen and those weird boots on my legs.