"Drive Through" Surgery

Options
ashleycaputz
ashleycaputz Member Posts: 1
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer
How Long Did Your Insurance Allow You To Stay in the Hospital After Surgery?
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • iodine
    iodine Member Posts: 4,289
    edited September 2009

    I think you'd have to be more specific re: which surgery.  I had mast/recon and was in on Fri and discharge on Mon morning.  That was  7 years ago next Monday.  (Yipppeeee)

    My exchange/reduction was done outpatient..  My second recon placement of expander and also the exchange and placement of implant in new breast was also out patient.

    I believe that the surgeon can recommend so many days and the ins.co will offer approval for 1-3 days followed by review if the surgeon requests longer stay.  He/she has to have good reason: fever, pain control.rejection, other complications.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 4,050
    edited September 2009

    For my mastectomies/expander placements I stayed 3 nights. Could have stayed two, could have stayed more if I needed to for some medical reason. My insurance company really had no say.

    Anne

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • dee1961
    dee1961 Member Posts: 1,672
    edited September 2009

    MOST PEOPLE ARE IN 1 -4 DAYS AFTER MASTECTOMIES. IT IS UP TO YOUR DOCTOR AND YOU HOW LONG YOU NEED TO BE THERE, NOT YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • abbadoodles
    abbadoodles Member Posts: 2,618
    edited September 2009

    I was in overnight for uni mx plus TE.  I could have stayed longer according to my bs but I felt fine and knew I would feel more comfortable at home and get some sleep.  (Hospitals can be very noisy!)

    All told, I was in surgery on a Thursday from about 8 AM to about 2 PM, then checked out the next morning (Friday) around 11 AM.  It was the right decision for me.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • roseg
    roseg Member Posts: 3,133
    edited September 2009

    I was there about 24 hours - 3pm. Thursday to about 5 pm Friday. I live ina state that mandates a 48 hour stay, but when the doctor asked if I wanted to stay another night I thought I'd rather go home. I'd been up, used the bathroom without a problem and had a roomate who really didn't feel well. You couldn't get a Tylenol without calling someone and waiting -- why would I want to stay there longer than I had to?

    In all honesty, I felt much better once I got into my own bed. You'll be sore afterwards and need to take it really easy for at least a week, then pretty easy for 3-4 more weeks.

    Unless you have some other health problem or a bad experience with the anesthesia you're likely to do well leaving ASAP.

    Rose

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Jorf
    Jorf Member Posts: 498
    edited September 2009

    I don't know how long I could have stayed. I just know how long I wanted to stay: as short a time as possible!!!

    After lump/ax dis I was out pretty quick (few hours). After mast/expander it was a bit tougher. They sent me up to a room and I was sick and slept for a few hours. But as soon as I woke up and wasn't throwing up I was out of there (maybe about 6-8 hours after surg? Before dark anyway - gut it was August!). They kept saying, "are you sure???" And I kept saying, "Would YOU stay in overnight if you could go home and sleep in your own bed (or, your own couchWink) and away from all the bad bugs?" And they were, like, "Yup, see ya!" I know too much about hospitals to have wanted to stay there.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Jellydonut
    Jellydonut Member Posts: 1,043
    edited September 2009

    My first lumpectomy was supposed to be same day surgery but I wound up staying overnight.

    Bilateral was an overnight stay as well -- but honestly, I wanted to go home the same day.

    TE placement was same day but the surgeon gave me the choice of staying the night or going home same day.  Nice guy!!!

    I'm one who absolutely hates to be in the hospital for any length of time and feel I can recuperate better at home, even though I live alone.

    Jelly

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Dawnbelle
    Dawnbelle Member Posts: 696
    edited September 2009

    Lumpectomy, I was in & out in 5 hours. I got very sick from the general that time.

    My uni-lat Mx was suppose to be outpatient, but they had some complications with my implant & kept me till the next day. I also didn't get to the OR until about 4pm that day.

    Infection/necrosis surgery the next month, I was there for 4 hours total. They replaced my implant then as well.

    I have implant replacement(again) & reduction next month & it will be done at the PS office in a suite as a outpatient.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited September 2009

    Note that the person who started this thread has only posted on the boards that one time. In fact, he/she has not even logged in since the day of that one post.

    In any case, I agree with what everyone else here has said. We hear a lot of stories about women who were pressured to leave the hospital before they were ready to go.  That has led to the catchy phrase, "Drive-through Mastectomies," and the perennial discussions about legislation to ban them.

    My situation was much like the others described here.  I was told by my surgeon that I would "probably" be in the hospital overnight after my modified radical mastectomy/SNB (without reconstruction).  My surgeon added that I might be kept in the hospital longer if there were complications (fever, bleeding, etc.); but generally, it was just one night.

    My surgery was started at 8:45 in the morning, and I was awake and in Recovery by 10:15 or 10:30 (90 minutes later).  I stayed in Recovery 4-1/2 hours, which was longer than expected; it took that long for them to find me a vacant hospital bed and clean the room.

    I  did have two minor complications.  I was supposed to be able to eat an actual dinner that evening (real food), but my tummy was still a bit queasy so they kept me on fluids (NPO) until the next morning.  Apparently, my hospital likes to see their patients eating solid food and keeping it down before they go home. 

    Also, I'd had a special type of pain control -- a spinal nerve block -- after the surgery, and the anesthesiologist was worried my pain would be severe once the nerve block was gone.  He told me in the Recovery Room that I would probably be in the hospital for two nights.

    He was wrong. By the morning after my surgery, I was hungry and restless and ready to leave, and my pain was well-controlled with oral Percocet. So, my surgeon agreed I could go home and signed me out to leave at lunchtime that day.  That made it a 30-hour hospital stay, which was plenty long enough to recover adequately and learn what I needed to know about management of my incision and the drains. I did have someone reliable to help out at home (my dh), which was important. But, IMHO, the lack of help at home should not be used to justify a longer stay in the hospital.  What is needed in that situation is a home-health aide.

    otter 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories