"I ended up with the VIP suite on the med/surg floor because when I was to be sent to the floor there was no other room available. It was great--huge and private. I definitely lucked out on that one. One thing that bothered me was that the recovery folks were not on the same page as the doc's orders, apparently, because immediately after surgery I was allowed to chew and swallow ice chips, but found out later I wasn't supposed to have done that. They were supposed to have made me spit it out after chewing. Of course, I was happy about the ice at the time, it was only later I found that I wasn't supposed to have had them. The rest of the stay was good, though the night shift staff could use a lesson or two in soft skills. The phlebotomist from the lab may have actually been a robot and a couple of the night nurses were just not very personable. The rest of the staff was great, though, although my primary nurse did seem to have some personal issue with my wanting nausea medication to counteract that side effect of the morphine. Weird, huh?"
"First impression was that he was a typical surgeon--not very personable, a bit gruff, but--hey--if he gets the job done, I'm all over him. Who needs all the silly small-talk anyway? He seemed to loosen up quite a bit in the hospital, though. My mom REALLY liked him, and a good family friend pointed out that his engineering degree (undergrad) very likely helps out with problem solving in his now-medical context. Anyway, I was (and continue to be) extremely confident in this surgeon. There has, however, been some recent personnel turnover in his office, and so I have been having some pretty serious difficulty scheduling my first post-op appointment (supposed to be 2 weeks after discharge). His NP has been assisting with this and I will be able to work it out, though."
