I saw my new surgeon for the second time today. Here's where I stand. Still draining profusely into the ostomy bag. The good news about that is... the umbilical stump is still 'attached' which is apparently what keeps the drainage site open so they don't want to mess with that tissue at all and that means no deep removal of necrotic tissue because every layer they remove leaves that much less tissue connecting to that stump. He says if they debride (remove) the necrotic tissue the stump will let go, the hole will close up and I have no more drainage site. Then bigger problems. The main risk factor is whether the tissue on the inside will heal he said, and he told me this could take literally MONTHS to resolve. He said there's not a thing to do but let it take its own time. Can't rush it. Can't change it. It's also become evident the original surgeon didn't sew me back together straight. My midline, is no longer midline so my belly is being pulled off to the left, pulls my pubic area with it and I end up with a swelling the size of a baseball in by groin by the end of the day because tissue is being pulled so hard to the side. He left WAY more tissue on the right side of my abdomen so I feel like a total freak. Now that I can finally SEE my genitals, I'm all lopsided.
I'm also not able to have a bowel movement and not even passing gass without senna (Senakot would be the name brand but really its senna leaf). So every night I have to take this now just so I can have a BM. Its like the peristalsis has stopped in my intestines.
My legs are having problems with swelling, as are my feet obviously. That is potentially very threatening too and he want's me to change my surgical garment and said I should have had one down to my knees from the get go. Of course, I haven't been able to even wear the one I got after the surgery because my belly swelled up so much with the drainage before I 'busted a gut' lol. hahaha. K. Those are the medical issues in a nutshell.
Legally, I sent a three page letter to the first surgeon cancelling my follow-up appointment with him and explaining WHY in detail. Blatantly. Cc'd the Insurance Co. Medical Services Committee Chair. Well all of a sudden doesn't he become oh so interested in my care. The emails and phone calls all but pleading with me to talk to them so they could 'explain' were coming to me faster than I could respond. When I made it clear trust had already been broken and the time to show concern was when I contacted them the first week and told them I'd spent 5 days in Emergency and that I wasn't willing to just have a little 'kiss and make up' chat on the phone the next move they made was to contact my new surgeon. Without my consent of course. And wrote me saying doctor A had spoken to doctor B and was satisfied with doctor B supervising my care on their behalf but wanted to remain primary care and very actively involved. So then I got REALLY pissed off because 1) I didn't authorize them contacting him, 2) They were nowhere to be found when the new doctor who is very, very senior in terms of respect in the field agreed to take on my care, and 3) This now made me wonder if doctor B was really going to stay focused on my care or would now be worried about protecting his buddy since doctor A claimed he knew 'Peter' ***** well.
So I contacted the new doctor's office and stated these concerns and they reassured me that doctor B was his own man, that they had been given the impression I was going BACK to doctor A (by doctor A of course), that they had agreed to take on my care and that meant putting MY needs first and from their perspective if doctor A is pissing his pants with worry right now that's his own problem.
So when I saw doctor B today, I was watching very carefully for his reaction to me and he was still quite, quite clear about the fact that I'm a mess but all we can do now is focus on helping me to heal and stay ok.
K, last but not least. I decided that rather than writing doctor A with my comments about how I didn't recall authorizing him contacting doctor A, or saying anything further about ANYTHING, it was time to talk to a lawyer. I put out feelers for doctors with an interest in medical malpractice and in the process got a surprise email from a founding partner in a well respected older law firm asking me three questions. What is the doctor's name. What procedure was done. Do I have clear medical evidence.
So I forwarded him a copy of the letter I wrote to doctor A, as well as a copy of the subsequent emails and decided at the least it would be interesting to hear what he would say. He contacted me an hour later and said he believed my case should be reviewed by their senior litigation partner and had taken the liberty to pass on my information and asked the senior partner to contact me directly.
hubs - you're gonna make it - in every sense of the word!!!! what's happened to you is absolutely appalling, disgraceful, willful misconduct, and on and on and on.
if there's ANYTHING we can do, just holler - and i mean that!
I feel so bad for you and your situation. I have been trying to catch up here and was reading about your horrible situation. I did read where you wanted energy (reiki) and the such sent your way. I am a reiki master and conduct a weekly healing session and would love to put you on our distance list. Is that ok with you?
Again, I feel so bad and wish you all the wellness and blessings.
Lindy, thanks so much for the respectful offer and yes, absolutely I accept.
I'm having some tweaky drainage stuff and I'm not feeling too patient with this process but it appears that I'm healing on the inside so I'll try to be gracious about this.
Work. Well, this is a difficult issue right now too. I'm so, so low on energy and I just have trouble faking that. I have to make a major trip across the country in a couple of weeks and be in Toronto for the week of Sept. 6 - 11. I'm driving because my ears blow out when I fly, but its going to be a LONG drive there and back and I just don't know how I'll cope.
Legal stuff. Spoke to the lawyer. Here's the thing. He wants a retainer of $2500 to determine if I have a case. That's if I can deliver him a letter from my current treating physician that CLEARLY commits to stating the damage done. He said in his experience no matter what a physician is prepared to say across you at his desk, it very seldom materializes when they have to put it in writing. Not a news flash and I'm not holding my breath. If I can't deliver that letter and he has to find a specialist to examine me and be willing to write and expert letter he wants a $7500 retainer. After that, if we're good to go it goes on contingency. But I don't have that kind of money on account of because I just spent it on the surgery. Imagine that.
So my current plan is to ask the surgeon who did the deed flat out to give me back my cash. If he does, I'll let it go without prejudice. If he doesn't, I'll start raising crap and escalating the reporting process through the College of Physician's and Surgeons. I do believe he's most anxious to preserve his name. That may motivate some gesture.
But I'm not holding my breath.
Like my son said to me the other night, 'Mom, you got shafted.'
DH and I finally took another round of photos and you know, if I took these to a new surgeon and asked to have a panniculectomy covered on the basis of what is STILL THERE my insurance would cover it all over again. I am going to post pics on my personal site later so anyone who is interested can see the hack job I was left with.
But that's not my news.
So here's the thing. As it happens, the charge to our VISA (in DH's name) was made without any authorizing signature and a close friend of mine suggested that when VISA is charged for a service that isn't actually provided they will reverse the charge. So DH and I discussed this whole situation at length last night and agreed we would ask VISA to reverse it on the strength of 1) no signature and 2) no service.
So this morning, I also called the anaesthetics service that billed an additional $465.00 just for their services and the woman working there was so, so wonderful. She confirmed that they had booked the OR for 2 hours less than they would have required to do my procedure properly and when I explained to her what was done and what I was left with (turns out she has personally had a massive weight loss and has been precisely through the abdominoplasty process) she was horrified and encouraged me to do everything I could to escalate this and defend my interests. She totally 'got it' and agreed I'd been negligently treated. She also said, off the record, that my surgeon is the most arrogant man she knows.
So I contacted VISA and have initiated the process. He said without a signature it could be reversed on that basis alone, and then beyond that there is a dispute over the service being provided. I know they won't WANT to do this reversal, but really without that signature they don't have much choice.
This means that legal action will then be up to the Dr. and he would have to PROVE he delivered what he promised. And when I get those pics up, you'll see how likely that is.
Woo hoo! You go get them girl! My personal experience with fighting over credit card mischarges is that they're going to fight tooth and nail, but hopefully they don't have a leg to stand on. Keep plugging away at it.
How great that you were able to talk to a woman who understood what you had gone through. You sound stronger every time you post, Hubs.
Hey Hubs.. You do indeed sound stronger! I haven't been on for a while, but you were definetly on my mind!! I can't quiet imagine the damage that has been done, but I do have a question, aside from the emotional damage, can the physical damage be fixed? I know it'll probably be a while, but can it be done? Of course the priority now is your health, do take good care of yourself!
Week 3 post op update
what can I say except stay strong... 
