Posted by 2003nc on June 23, 2012 at 23:00:05:I currently live in Dallas, TX. When I decided it was time to get my sleep apnea taken care of surgically I did a lot of research. Although there is a group of ENT surgeons in Dallas that specialize in sleep surgery, and there's a state-of-the-art sleep clinic there, at the bottom of their website it states what most sleep clinic sites state: We follow Stanford Protocol in evaluating and treating sleep disorders. To me, the logical choice was to just go to Stanford University myself. They were in-network and most of the famous sleep surgeons have worked there. Although the famous surgeons had moved on I had hoped that Stanford would still be the leading place to go for sleep surgery.
I scheduled up a visit with their leading sleep surgeon, Dr. Robson Capasso, and after he met with me he sent me to meet w/ Dr Riley at his private practice. Both agreed I needed UPPP and MMA in a staged approach (Dr Capasso refers MMA candidated out to other surgeons). I liked Dr Capasso, he seemed knowledgable, geniuniely interested in helping me improve, and seemed concerned that cost was a concern. I decided to move forward and scheduled the UPPP surgery.
I had UPPP surgery on 6/20/12, the flap version, performed by Dr Capasso at Stanford. While I have confidence in Dr. Capasso I had very little contact with him (his interns and residents came in often but not him) after the surgery and was put in a very busy ICU unit the first night. I was miserable with the pain, contact interruptions, lack of professional treatment, and the moaning of some other ICU patients I shared the room with. The following eveing I was moved to a regualr hospital room, but it was not a private room. The man already in there snored like a freight train. I was so infuriated at how I was being treated when I was in so much pain that I slept out in the hallway on a couch. This was just 2 nights after having UPPP surgery. I felt stupid for coming all the way from Dallas when there are several ENT surgeons who do this surgery in Dallas. I honestly couldn't figure out what possessed me to come so far to be treated so poorly. Dr. Capasso did come to see me the day after (2 days after the surgery) before I was discharged. He apologized for the lack of face time but insisted he was monitoring my progress from his iphone. He also said that patients at Stanford rarely get a private room. I would argue that this procedure is so painful that a private room is a must while recovering from it. I'm currently holed up in a hotel down the road and will meet w/ Dr. Capasso again next week before I fly back to Dallas and go back to work. After that, I will meet w/ Dr. Capasso in a few months for follow-up and to see if MMA is still necessary, and I'm guessing it will be (Dr Riley will perform the MMA if it's necessary).
Here's my problem, I thought Stanford was supposed to be the best place in the world to have sleep surgery performed. I came all the way from Dallas to Stanford so I would be operated on by the best sleep surgeons and would be taken care of humanely and compassionatley, not put in a busy, noisy ICU room and then forced to sleep on a couch in a hallway because I can't get a quiet, private room. If I need MMA surgery I do not know if I would do it at Stanford unless they could guarantee me a few things like a private room and regular contact w/ my physician instead of his interns. Has anyone else experienced this at Stanford? What would you advise?