Quote:
Originally Posted by josepentia
Evening all,
looks as if the military docs are going to be sending me to St. Louis to see Dr. Thompson. I have done my research and although he is well published, the reviews of him on the public online community (not this TOS community) are not very good and it has me VERY nervous. I have researched some previous posts from you all, to see how you felt about Dr Thompson, his staff and surgery/recovery. Can you tell me what his surgery protocol is? As in, day of surgery, spend __X__ amount of days in the hospital, __X__ number of xrays to make sure you have great lung function, a drain placed, a pain pump, PT started immediately, ect??
This is just a standard, run of the mill, surgery protocol that Dr. Thompson would have told you "if everything goes according to plan, you will be inpatient.... then start physical therapy... then discharge.... and follow up in..... days."
Who's got some information for me? I do not have a current DVT, nor a found history of having one. Will he make me take blood thinners as a preventative??
I'm trying to get as much info as possible because I've only got one shot at either meeting this guy, or turning him down and seeing someone else. One shot.
Thanks! BTW- I've had A/V TOS surgery successfully on the left side, done in AZ in '2011. I have A/V TOS on the right side that has now gotten urgent and in need of the surgery. The docs don't want to send me back to AZ to have the right side done...
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Hope this helps, I had surgery done by Dr Thompson on oct 4th 2012 and have very good results.
Concerning protocols, on the day of surgery I was the second operation so I did not see him before the operation but one of his assistants did meet with me prior to the surgery. He and the prep staff were thorough and made sure I understood everything that was about to take place.
I was in surgery for about 8 hours and my wife was updated numerous times by the staff on what they found and how they corrected it.
After the surgery Dr Thompson went over everything with my wife regarding the surgery. I was still in recovery so I don't remember any of it.
I was kept in the hospital for 5 nights and never saw Dr Thompson during that time but his assistants made rounds twice a day and his NP was on site all day during the week.
Pain ball, drain and add'l pain meds all helped, plus I had chest X-rays every day for a week since I had some fluid in my lungs.
I was discharge but stayed in local hotel for 3 more nights for office visits, drain removal, X-rays, blood work etc.
PT met with me two days after surgery to get me up and start walking and to show me the stretching exercises that I needed to do. I also was evaluated by another PT and given other exercises to start at home. I then started seeing a local PT around mid Nov., but only after they had a consultation with the PT in St Louis who did the evaluation. My new PT had never seen a patient with TOS and made sure to take it very easy with any exercises.
Overall, I feel very fortunate to have found Dr Thompson, my quality of life is so much better because of skills when dealing with TOS.
Regis