Scheduled for a simple hand procedure with a 10:00 AM original appointment. The night before, I get a call saying there's a "medical emergency," so they push me to 12:00. Fine. I fast, show up on time for the new appointment, and do everything right.
Then another delay. Then another. By the time I'm seen, it's around 1 PM... and then more waiting. It felt less like a surgery schedule and more like a flight with Spirit Airlines, and I hadn't eaten anything since 6 PM the night before. MISTAKE.
So now it's mid-afternoon, and I'm starving, I'm about to eat the fake plant in the corner of the room. I'm alone in a room long enough that I fall asleep. At one point, I thought to myself, " Did I miss my own surgery?
Then Nurse Ratched enters like she's in a Mission Impossible movie, and I'm the mission.
She storms in, throws down what looks like my IV supplies without ever introducing herself, rushes out, then comes back in and says, "It's your lucky day..." because she's going to use a smaller needle. I didn't know they came in sizes. Use the smaller needle on me, thank you? I'd hate to see the size of the other one.
After multiple failed attempts (painful ones), she still couldn't get it to the point. I started questioning if she was actually a nurse. It honestly felt like I was watching someone train for the IV Olympics. Zero care, zero acknowledgment. (See photo of the bruise if you need proof what's the saying, a picture shows where not to put the needle... something like that, right?)
Then the anesthesiologist walked in, said hello, and actually, introduced himself, so, for a moment before he entered, I was convinced I might be on a prank show called "How many times can I stab a patient with a needle before he complains?" Turns out, the answer at this surgical center is five. Same arm, same vein, different skill set, I suppose. He then gets the IV in within seconds. Effortless, he was as cool as the other side of the pillow.
Finally, go into surgery around 5 PM. Yes... 5 PM for a 12 PM appointment.
I woke up, and the place was basically empty, like I was in a scene from The Walking Dead, except instead of zombies, there were two nurses ready to get me out of the surgical center as fast as possible.
You can feel they're ready to go home. I'm handed a juice, which I have to say was delicious, put in a wheelchair (for a hand procedure), and quickly sent on my way. I half expected them to push me toward my wife's car like someone shoving a shopping cart across a parking lot and just letting it roll.
I've had multiple procedures (humble brag), and this was easily the most disorganized and uncomfortable experience.
Best part? The high monthly bill. Nothing like a subscription service you never signed up for.
Would not recommend unless your fetish is getting pricked by the larger needles. Then again, maybe they were just having a bad day. read more