Please post about your Shriners Hospital Experience

[nikyergen]

Kris,
Thank you for being so open minded about Shriners. It really bothers me when people get a mind set about Shriners Hospital. I didn't tell you, my husband and I had a Shriners meeting and dinner, hubby is a Shriner. We took Crystal with us so the men could see the fruits of their labors. She got up and told them how much she appreciated their hard work and how it has made a dream come true for her. And, in tears she thanked them all.

I am glad you are going to try to reeducate the clinic that misinformed you. What we find out is that there is so much misinformation given out about Shriners, that people are afraid to us them.

Thanks for listening and considering a wonderful hospital.

'til later,
Nikki

[KRIS ATKINSON]

Nikki, what is so aggravating to me, but I guess shouldn't surprise me any more, is how misinformed staff members are at clinics! I have to admit, I started realising this problem somewhat 14 years ago, when I had my babies (twins). The nurse brought my my pill for whatever, then I asked what it was for. She told me, I think a stool softener. I was already borderline diahreah, so we nixed that pill! I was also asked how my epidural was, which I had not had. That was when I started learning not to just take the nurse's word for it and do what they tell me. I get the impression Dr. Wattenbarger's clinic will quit taking blood from the patient in the near future, after he analyses the recent studies regarding the choices available. We were told that the Carolinas refuse to pay for blood donations and tend to be more eager to donate, while some states like New York cannot get enough blood without paying for it. That means a tendency for cleaner blood her than some places. If you are donating for money, you are less likely to admit you are sick, etc. So, if you have surgery in those states that pay for blood donors, it is probably better to pre-donate. I am so happy, I want to party, if only I didn't have a huge and growing stack of work, bills, etc. I offered Erica a big trip in a year or so, since she is saving us $$$. Ha ha. She turned down Australia, where I want to go. Knowing my luck, she'll want to play basketball for 24 hours straight, and make me stay awake and watch the whole time! Actually, I think our family might start planning a major trip, for more than a week, a year after surgery. After all, our whole family is going to feel the affects of this restrictive lifestyle with her. Thanks again and I hope to encourage others to go to Shriners, as well. I still am aggravated that the professionals, or supposedly professionals, are misinforming peope, I mean a NURSE for a doctor who is one of the only about 8 that are qualified in North and South Carolina! I can see other patients being misinformed, but staff should know better! If it didn't take me 2 days to get messages returned from the clinic, I would tell them now. Take care, Kris

[Mary Lou]

Kris,

I tried responding earlier, but got kicked off half way through my typing, so here goes again.

Did your daughter's doctor mention what degree her Kyphosis is? And also, did he mention why he was doing both anterior and posterior? I'm just curious, as my daughter had sugery 4 1/2 months ago for her Kyphoscoliosis and they only did posterior. Her doctor did not remove any bone from her hip and he didn't remove any ribs either. He did what is called Osteotomies on her and used the bone from that for the fusion. She looks amazing and is doing very well.

Jamie did self-donate two units of blood (they wanted four but she just wasn't able to do that many) and they used both of them in the O.R.

Mary Lou

[KRIS ATKINSON]

Mary Lou, my doctor did not mention the kyphosis degree. He actually said he might have to do anterior, but will know better the day before surgery, I think. I am mostly preparing myself and my daughter mentally for the likelyhood. I'll have to look into Osteotomies. Is that when they use the bone bank? Kris

[Mary Lou]

Kris,

Sorry I didn't explain what Osteotomies are yesterday, but I kept getting kicked off aol. An Osteotomy(?), is when they remove part of the vertebrae to help get rid of the rib hump. I've talked to a lot of people on this forum and it seems like most doctors remove part of the ribs or use bone from the hip for the fusion. I was just curious if other doctors are using this procedure or not. Our doctor had mentioned a possible a/p surgery as well. He decided once he saw her MRI & CT scan results that she would need posterior only.

We found that being prepared for the worst was the best way to go for us. That way, we didn't really have any surprises.

Mary Lou

[KRIS ATKINSON]

Mary Lou, I'll bet the Osteotomy is what our doctor was talking about. Removing something or part of something to decrease the rib hump. Thanks, Kris