"Well, lets start from the begining. Due to construction parking is horrible but we arrived early to check in. Admissions went well and I was taken to the pre-op area right on time. After waiting about 15 Min in the pre-op waiting room I was taken back and given an IV, started on meds and was seen by anastesia. After that my husband was allowed in and allowed to stay until they wheeled me back. The next thing I remember was the usual confusing jumble of sights and sounds normal to someone just waking up for surgery. I was held in recovery for about 3 hours longer than I should due to them not having a bed available on the surgery floor. I finally got into a private room about 9:00 PM after staring all this at 10:00 AM that morning. Total time in surgery was 4 hours. On the floor you can tell that VUMC is suffering from the nationwide shortage of nurses. When you need to call one it may take a long time for them to get to you. They were nice enough and the "Care partners" (non nurse aides) did as much as they could but you could tell they could have really used about double the staff they had on shift. One small but important (to me anyway at the time) example was when my Surgeon wrote the dischage orders at 1:00 PM. They finally got all the papers together, did my teaching (Nutrition took an hour and a half to get to me) and by then it was about 3:00 PM. The really annoying part is it then took about an hour for them to find a wheelchair just to get me out! (The nurse called Pt transport after about 30 min of waiting and was told that I was not a priority, and it would be another 45 min to an hour and a half). Finally my care partner went out on his own and found an abandoned one, finally getting we out of there at around 5:00 PM, The peak of Nashville rush hour! I wound up spending 4 days total at Vandy and except for the shortage of personel, it was a good experiance"
"Guess I will write this up as I am in the medical field and tend to notice things more than my wife. I will start from the very beginning. Vandy is going through renovation and the driving/parking situation there is terrible. The clinic was a bit difficult to find but the check in was smooth. We waited in the waiting room about 30 min past our appointment time. After we were called back we waited about another 30 min until his resident came in and did the basic H&P (history and physical) The resident was a typical resident, complete in his exam but a bit rushed. After he left Dr Wright came in about 15 min later. He is a unremarkable looking man with a professional air about him. He took his time with us, explained all the risks, what he expects from the Pt afterwards, and it seems he tries to get a feel for if the patient really needs this or just wants a "quick fix" to a obese condition. He made it clear that this is a life altering process, and requires a lifelong commitment from the patient. After he found out how much we understood the process and associated risks he stated that Cheryl was an excellent candidate for the surgery and he would start the insurance process. At no time did we feel rushed and his credentials are very impressive. Both my wife and I feel very comfortable having him as our surgeon."
