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Reply to "Cleveland Clinic Aftercare Leaves Much to Be Desired"

Californication posted:

I had surgery almost three weeks ago with Dr Ashburn.  Her colleague Dr Shen diagnosed me with a prolapse and having a failed pouch.  What was supposed to be laparoscopic turned out to be traditional with illeostomy because there was too much scar tissue to work through. Of course this came as a shock to me because no one told me and I found out on my own that they switched course. This explained the significant amount of pain I was experiencing.  However, to be left that way is unacceptable. I awoke from surgery screaming.  The nurse ignored my pleas for more meds to make me comfortable.  The whole time I stayed at the clinic was a fight for pain meds. I could not relax or recover in peace.

How much pain was I in?  I ended up going into tachycardia and a cardiac team was called to administer a shot to slow down my heart.  It was singularly the most terrifying experience of my life.  And this is only one of many incidents. You think you'd get extra care from being in a private room but the nurses were incompetent, the beds left in a filthy state, and the lack of communication and apathy was appalling.  When I went into tachycardia it took about ten to fifteen minutes for a nurse to appear! My boyfriend's pleas at the nurse's station were put on ignore.  If I didn't have him as a witness I would think I was imagining the whole thing.  It was like a clown cart on fire.  No one really gave a damn about me!  (BTW the nurses did not know how to affix whatever you call those things to my chest!)

The incompetence is staggering.  My internet search yields similar stories and the book, "Born With One Foot in the Grave" mirrors my experience. Additionally, here are links to support what happened to me should you think I simply hold some grudge against the facility.

http://kidneytransplantkiller.com/links_1.html

Maybe CC was the gold standard at one time but if so it has gone downhill.  I will never forgive them for making my stay a nightmare and treating me the way they did.  

As for Dr Ashburn, time will tell if my surgery is successful but so far so good.  I plan on being "reconnected" elsewhere.  If she operated outside of CC I would go back to her but otherwise I am too traumatized to ever set foot in that place. Additionally, on the drive home from Ohio, I ended up in an ER in PA where they diagnosed a blockage that was causing me to vomit nonstop.  I had begged for a cat scan at CC because that's what I suspected but was totally ignored and told I just needed to "walk it off."  

Last, some lady came into my room and threatened to call the CC campus police on me because I told them that if they didn't increase my pain meds so I could feel more comfortable, I would take the ones I brought with me on the trip.  After all, what other choice did I have?  So they were going to call the police on someone who has just been cut into from top to bottom.  

And like I said, these are only a few of the events that happened.  The doctors and nurses and pain management team do not communicate effectively and no one knows their heads from their butts.

Be warned.  

PS So far my total bill for all this is about $60,000.  FYI.


I was told by Shen I have a mild prolapse in my redone pouch that was done by Dr Remzi there last year. It has not caused me issues so, have not had to do anything. What was going on with your prolapse that you had to have surgery due to a pouch failure?

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