Can Dr. do two a day

[charlie b]

Found out that I will be my surgeons "second surgery" for the day. I am scheduled for 12:30 pm. He is 40 years old in good shape, and says that it is "no problem". It seems ok, but just thought I would run it by you guys. Probably just last minute jitters on my part, thinking too much and that gives me a headache. The plus side is that I will not have to spend the night before surgery at the hospital but in my own bed, which seems to have become a very safe feeling place. Aloha and Blessings, Charlie B

 

[Ross]

Very common. They usually do 2 or 3 a day. Nothing to worry about.

 

[tobagotwo]

I was told my surgeon does over 1,000 surgeries a year, and I don't think he works weekends.

These guys live to do this surgery, Charlie.

By the way, I was bumped by a more urgent surgery the morning I was done, so I was a second surgery, too. I like to think he worked out the morning kinks on the first guy...

Best wishes,

 

[Nancy]

Yes, it is possible, and possibly even three. They also do emergency surgeries when needed. They are very expert in what they do and it is routine for them, although not for the one having surgery. Usually they can spot problem surgeries before things are scheduled so they can set aside extra time in the OR.

The ORs are booked for each surgery and probably a couple of weeks ahead of schedule, so they have great incentive to do things as expertly as possible.

In addition to valve surgeries, most also do bypass, other heart surgeries and even lung surgeries.

 

[charlie b]

Thanks guys

Thanks guys

As I said,a case of last minute jitters, that thought came to mind during my 2:00 am bathroom visit. It's almost as if the mind seeks out the negative instead of dwelling on the positive. I go along in a state of contentment and all of a sudden I am "sneak attacked by" a doubt or fear. I am glad that I have a place to vent and share. Beautiful day here, 60-65 and sunny,and now that I am back to feeling content I think I wil go out and enjoy it. Thanks for the quick reply, I may have obsessed over this one and wasted a full day of pleasure and time with my family. As the song says, "sometimes my mind takes me to places, I should not let me go". Adios and Blessings, Charlie B

 

[Ross]

Charlie your perfectly normal. We all did that!

 

[bvdr]

I think it would depend on what kind of surgeries he was doing. I just pulled out my operative report and my surgery was 8.45 hours. I know my surgeon said it took longer than he had expected and I know I was the only surgery he had scheduled for that day. It was a Monday morning and he had promised me he would get a good night sleep the evening before.

 

[gadgetman]

As I was in ICU for 4 days before my surgery, I saw my surgeon (Dr. McGiffin) poke his head in at all hours dressed in his scrubs. I know he got two pages while we were in his office about a heart transplant and a lung transplant.

When he came in Thursday to tell me we were still on for my Friday surgery (I was first), he was still wearing those funny "opera glasses". I told him the same thing, please get plenty of rest before Friday. I don't see how they have any family life.

May God Bless,

Danny

 

[perkicar]

As I was in ICU for 4 days before my surgery, I saw my surgeon (Dr. McGiffin) poke his head in at all hours dressed in his scrubs. I know he got two pages while we were in his office about a heart transplant and a lung transplant.

When he came in Thursday to tell me we were still on for my Friday surgery (I was first), he was still wearing those funny "opera glasses". I told him the same thing, please get plenty of rest before Friday. I don't see how they have any family life.

May God Bless,

Danny

I thought the same thing about Dr Lytle. Our appointment was at 5, we actually saw him a little after 8. He got a phone call while we were in with him, I could tell it was about a patient by hearing his end of the call. My sister in law and I both wondered when/if he ever slept and/or saw his family.
That's not all that uncommon, though, for many of these specialties. Our Bone marrow docs are there at all times of the night and day, always accessible by cell phone (they have no residents or fellows taking call). There are days when they look beat. They did finally hire a third doctor, but they are still covering our hospital and the same unit at University of Kentucky over in Lexington.

 

[Lorraine]

Charlie,

I was scheduled for surgery for 7:00am on March 8th. About 11:00pm the night before I was told I was being bumped because someone in worse shape had to have their surgery done first. I was moved to 2:30 pm and he didn't leave the operating room with me until about 11:30pm that night cause that couldn't stop the bleeding! So I would say, it's probably routine for them to do two or more and keep long hours. You'll do fine! I agree, They must not have much of a family life!

 

[Turkey Hunter]

Charlie,

You must remember that your "surgeon" does not open you or close you.

Throughout the four to six hour operation, that surgeon is probably on involved for the middle two hours.
Don't get me wrong, he is available, just not performing every aspect of the entire surgery.

Hope that helps.

 

[gadgetman]

Charlie,

You must remember that your "surgeon" does not open you or close you.

Throughout the four to six hour operation, that surgeon is probably on involved for the middle two hours.
Don't get me wrong, he is available, just not performing every aspect of the entire surgery.

Hope that helps.

You mean I was put back together by a "rookie" . No wonder I'm so sore .

May God Bless,

Danny

 

[Barry]

Easy for a doc to do two a day so long as he/she is OK with a 50% mortality rate...

So much for pathological insensitivity. For a straight answer...

This stuff has become so routine that where I went, St. Mary's in Reno, Nevada, the place is operated like an assembly line. I rather suspect that my doc did more than two, possibly well more than two. As noted, you've got a team of folks cutting on you, and the Star Surgeon generally only comes in for the good part.

I wouldn't worry at all about being cut on by a doc who was doing more than one procedure that day. What I would worry about is the doc who's doing it for the very first time on you, and I can guarantee that doc's not going to be scheduled to do it more than once that day.

 

[Limp_Anzac_Bizkit]

I have been lucky for both my surgeries and been first in on both occasions, but can understand your angle about being 2nd.

Bear in mind though that the surgeons are on call 24/7 for all their patients they have operated on, and if there are serious complications they get informed and updated throughout the night constantly, so on some nights prob. get very little sleep if there is a major problem.

But as has already been mentioned above ... these surgoens live to operate, for the vast majority are the best at what they do, and if there was any significant increased risk being 2nd/3rd then i am sure the STS would limit or put in place restrictions.

My surgoen happens to be a transplant surgoen to boot, so i know he is one of the best, but on both occasions the night before my surgery he has flown interstate at short notice to assist in transplant ops and slept on the flights ....

just makes me personally respect him more and reassure me that they know what they are doing and my life is in safe hands ( parden the pun ).

All the best mate and have a speedy recovery.

Todd

 

[Mb]

Good morning.....I do not often post anymore, but this thread interested me.

My husband had dual valves replaced by Dr. Vlahakis at Mass General.

When we visited him, he told us he only does that type of surgery once a month, as he needs to block out an entire day. That meant my husband had to wait almost three months for the surgery, as he had already been scheduled for other patients. Now, my husband was in CHF at the time, probably between Stage 3 and State 4. By the time he had the surgery, he could not walk 75 feet slowly, without running short of breath. I had to speak with my adult children about slowing down when they were with him.
He went into surgery between 5:30 and 6:00 AM. The Dr. called me when he left the OR, around 3:30 to 4:00. At that time they were closing him up. We also have a friend who is a cardiac surgeon. And all of you are right. He has absolutely no life of his own. The day his movers showed up to deliver his furniture, he was in the OR repairing a ruptured aorta. I ran up to the house and had to be with the movers for about 5 hours, before he got there. Can you just imagine the stress?
Now, my husbands surgery was two valves, not one. And his aorta was enlarged, and the Dr. did not know if he was going to have to replace that while he was in there, so perhaps thats why he only schedules one of these a day. I believe that only 10% of all valve surgeries are dual valves, and that the mitral valve actually takes more time for them. So perhaps that is factored in by some docs as well. -Marybeth

 

[Moo]

Machines

Machines

I had mine scheduled at 8:00am on a monday, and I thought I'd be his first... It turns out he had a mechanical heart replacement (with a real one) at 10:00pm the night before (Recorded by The Discovery Channel). My father said he was there in Tuxedo at midnight on monday night. Like a machine.

my $.02
Rich

 

[Harpoon]

I think I read in "Walk on Water" (Michael Ruhlman) that Dr. Mee has been know to do five surgeries in a day....


A mighty long day I'm sure and probably "relatively" common OHS proceedures...


I was an "emergency" surgery and I actually think I got my surgery "early" because I wasn't scheduled for it until the next day (though they had cancelled that booking due to the supposed infection they found on my tricuspid valve in a pre-op echo...)


"Typical" heart surgeries are about 5-6 hours long give or take, but most of that time is spent in prep and closing, not neccesarily actual work on the heart. While they stop your heart and all, it really only remains that way for an hour or two generally speaking. The rest of the time you're "off-pump" and either being readied for the open heart work or being sewn back together again... Your surgeon usually isn't present in the room for the entire time. Everyone takes breaks. Maybe that's hard to think about, but it happens. A nurse or a surgeon needs to step out to use the bathroom or assisting surgeons set up the "field" before the lead surgeon comes in to do the proceedure then leaves while an assistant handles closing...

Mine was nine hours as I recall. You'd have to confirm that though with my wife, she remembers better than I do. I seriously doubt Dr. Mee was standing over my chest the entire time.


Two to three surgeries in a day is fairly typical for msot surgeons and they may only do surgery one or two days a week. Dr. Mee only did surgery on Wednesdays when he worked on me. Monday's were "conference" days when all the docs and techs and such got together to review current and pending cases. The weekend after I had my evaluation I got a call from Cleveland saying they'd review all the data collected in their regular conference the following Monday. I think two days after that they called to say what game plan was and a day after that I was told a date had been set, the OR was booked.


Bear in mind, most hospitals only have a few ORs and those are generally seperated for different types of surgery. A few will be set up for trauma if there's a trauma ER, some for cancer, some for brain surgery, some for general surgery (stuff like gall bladder, kidney stone, appendectomies, and the like) maybe one for sports medicine/bone/joint stuff... Depends on the hospital and the range of stuff they generally treat. I'm sure Cleveland Clinic has at least one OR set up more or less specifically for transplant work, a specialty among specialties and an OR for that must be designated to go into operation at a moment's notice really because of the nature of transplant availability.

This is also part of why some surgeries are rescheduled for later dates.

I had to wait a month for mine, I almost didn't make it though no one knew it at the time.