Sorry to hear about your complication. Not sure what to tell you. Dr. Thompson's fellow rounded on me each morning - the same one who saw me the morning of surgery. She was accompanied by some residents and med students. I will note that this morning I called the doctor line over some concerns I had and Dr. Thompson himself called me back and talked to me for several minutes. He even asked about my wife. Very reassuring. The muscle relaxer was likely causing some dizziness.

I got my pain ball pulled Friday morning and was discharged to the hotel Friday afternoon. This weekend has been challenging in terms of pain but it has not been as bad as I had feared. I'm on a long- and short-acting narcotic, muscle relaxer, ibuprofen, and stool softener to keep the narcotics from stopping my bowels up. I'm been very sleepy and confused at times as a result of taking these meds. They make me very loopy. I decided to try skipping them a little bit. We went out Friday to eat and by the time I got back I was an hour over due for my meds - I will not make that mistake again. I was in agony when I got back. I've had other surgeries before but never dealt with this sort of post-op pain. It has to be respected. Having my wife hear has been helpful - you have got to have someone with you or it will be difficult. I'm asking her to do every little thing that I normally do myself. You have to pretend your left arm isn't there. I will see him Monday for drain removal and fly home to Little Rock Tuesday. Then I will post a one week follow-up

This is a reason I try to avoid teaching hospitals. I wonder how much of the surgery he allows the residents and fellows to be involved in? I'm guessing quite a bit for fellows.

This is supposed to be a well rated hospital & specialist for this condition and vicinty wise felt I had made a reasonable choice. I was told by one fellow when I had to have 3rd surgery that the surgeon would be doing the surgery and that he & others would be there also, so when you are sedated, who knows?

Both Dr. Thompson and his nurse practitioner emphasized the fact that no one else but Dr. Thompson himself performs the surgery. Dr. Thompson believes that vascular surgeon residents aren't going to be performing this surgery in their practices so they do not need to be learning it during residency. He is known as being a control freak in the OR and believes the surgery is too complex to be letting others assist.

Sorry, it sounds from subsequent posts like I misremembered and it's actually a fellow who rounds for Dr. Thompson.

No worries. It's certainly possible he could have utilized a hospitalist for something in the past. They are typically used to manage complex medical issues a patient may have. Say a patient may have diabetes and high blood pressure...surgeons usually defer to the hospitalist to manage these conditions during the hospital stay.

I know fellows must leave his program with experience right? How do they get it? I believe Dr. Pearl was once a fellow there (please correct me if I am mistaken).

Google is great, isn't it? And apparently Thompson is a common name.

Off of Dr. Pearl's curriculum vitae:

Fellow, Peripheral Vascular Surgery - Preceptor, Jesse E. Thompson, MD. - Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. 1986-1987

http://www.texasvascularassociates.com/pearl.htm

Glad to hear the surgery went well intrepidreamer. Hoping for a speedy recovery for you, and thank you so much for posting your experiences at BJC. My surgery with Dr. Thompson is in one week and your posts have helped put me at ease. Please keep updating us on your progress. Thanks!

Thanks for this!