I'm going to chime in here. Like Kathy, my surgeon also did follow ups. I went to see him 3x post surgery and the last time he assured me that anytime I had a question or problem (heaven forbid!) he would be there for me. He followed up that statement with a letter to my G.P. stating exactly that (so now I have it in writing!)
My surgery was also done at a teaching hospital, but I insisted (and I have that right) to not have any students do any part of my surgery or anesthetic. I got a confirmation from my surgeon before surgery, that would be the case. Then one of his residents called me, about 1 year post surgery and kept me on the phone for about 1/2 hour and asked me tons of questions about every aspect of my surgery, pain, meds, complications, concerns. A sort of synopsys to go into the records I assume.
I actually remember just before I had the surgery, the anesthesiologist came to speak to me and told me that this particular surgery is notorious for waking up nauseous and dizzy and they have devised an anesthetic cocktail which works with most of the patients having MVD.
Also, I just want to add that I have been contemplating MVD for many years. I interviewed no less than 6 nerosurgeons before I ended up using the one I did. Sure, they were all nice enough, but I was not happy with the amount of MVD surgeries they had under their belt. I was lucky to find my doctor. He had done 100's of MVD's and his own personal success rate was quite high. I actually asked him what "success rate" means. His answer was pain free and medication free, or pain free with a significant drop in medication. I knew I was still going into a risky procedure, but I felt I made a very informed choice. It took me years of research and searching for the right guy before I made it.
Sorry I'm venting, but it's not fair to paint all the surgeons with the same brush. I still stand by my original statement I seam to repeat over and over. The most important thing anyone can do before having an MVD is finding the right experienced surgeon with a high personal success rate. That's not to say that things still can't go wrong, but you go in with much higher odds.