I have thought long and hard about writing a negative review about St. Joseph Hospital because the nursing staff is exemplary as are the phlebotomists, NCTs, imaging technicians, unfortunately this is where the good ends.
My orhtopaedic surgeon, Dr. Scott Ackerman, treated me with indifference to my input. Lest you think I am a know-it-all, I am the recipient of four, now five joint replacement surgeries both hips, both knees(a re-do on the first knee joint replacement)and I believe that makes me a patient emeritus. I know exactly which medications are successful for me and which are not and I know this through trial and error, long conversations with my physiatrist(pain specialist M.D), and extensive reading. I am diligent in participating in not only my recovery but the shape I am in preoperatively. I discussed my preferred anesthesiologist, as she was my doctor through the two previous surgeries and believe me when I tell you that not all anesthesiologists are the alike, in point of fact if your anesthesiologist will not allow one to ask questions or request the cocktail of drugs required for surgery and carefully explain why one drug is preferred over the other makes for a scary situation(which I had).
Post-surgically I was in tremendous pain(one cannot heal well if one's pain is not controlled). Ackerman displayed what can only be called arrogance, his response was casual in fact cavalier regarding my intense discomfort. I told him what drug and amount had best tamped down my pain level based on my four previous surgeries. I was in such bad shape due to pain which prevented me from sleeping more than two hours in a row. You cannot heal well if you cannot sleep and I could not sleep due to the pain, which was a fifty on the all-to-familiar 1-10 pain chart.
Even in this current day and age, the one where the media outlets have labelled all opioid use as being in league with the devil. Not even the newspapers, television reporters et al take issue with painkillers post-surgically. If any of you have had joint replacement surgery then you know exactly what I am talking about. It took my nurse, Bridget, to plead my case and get me on the medicine I needed and even then it was done grudgingly by the attending physician.
Additionally there were other complications. One was the swelling on my legs, which had always been controlled in my prior surgeries by wearing compression stockings, which makes ALL the difference in the world which by the way goes a long way for pain management. When I came to my senses I ordered my own heavy duty(standard medically appropriate)compression stockings from Amazon and the overnight shipping charges which by the way was on my dime. Tights such as these have always been the standard gear from every hospital for post-surgical joint replacement. But not anymore as these are expensive and the new company, Amita 'Health', is on an obvious mission to trim the budget fat in any way they can. Another alarming situation occurred, I went into the hospital on Tuesday at 9 a.m., at that time I weighed 114.5 pounds(on the hospital's scale)I was transferred, on the following Friday at 11 a.m., to the sub-acute floor and I was weighed by the nurse and my weight was 131.5 pounds. Alarming isn't it? A seventeen pound weight gain in three days I could not get a straight answer out of anyone that I queried. Is it any wonder I was in so much pain, I can only guess that I was pumped full of a vast quantity of liquid on the operating table. Now one can easily see why it is essential to know EVERYONE on one's surgical team.
Toward the end of my stay I was greatly concerned about an infected area, about one and half centimeters long, at the top of the incision. I repeatedly asked, told, begged the doctors, nurses for a solution. Either lance and drain the infection or at the very least put neosporin on the area, but my concern was completely and rudely ignored. I need a revision on my left hip...and I will go to Rush or North Shore in Evanston.
R.I.P.(the former and excellent)St Joseph Hospital.
