Thank you to UCSF + Dignity Health
I wanted to write a thank you note to the incredible healthcare providers who helped me through my appendicitis and appendectomy this week. I hope these professionals are getting showered with praise from a variety of sources, and that my note is just one more on the list. That said, I’m leaving names off to ensure I don’t cause any problems.
When I woke up Wednesday morning with stomach pains, frankly I assumed it was just stress. When it translated into a night of continuous dry heaving, I still just thought maybe it was stress + food poisoning. My first thank you goes out to the Dignity Health Urgent Care physician who via telemedicine told me that the right answer was not just to be prescribed anti-vomiting medication, but to go in to a clinic to have somebody touch my belly. My second thank you goes to the urgent care clinician who told me to then go to the ER because I needed to get a cat scan and blood work to be able to properly diagnose what could be serious symptoms. I was stubborn, thought I would feel better naturally, and wanted to just get the meds and go home — I was wrong, you were right, thank you for guiding me to the right decision!
Waiting 5hrs to get into the ER that night was not pleasant, but I came ready for an overnight, and I’d like to say thank you to the really kind and considerate staff at an overflow ER department that was balancing between triaging patients, and dealing with irrational behavior. Then once admitted, the nurses at UCSF were just so incredibly kind and supportive through blood works, waiting another 4hrs for a CT scan, and eventually preparing for a procedure. The doctors similarly did such a great job of explaining the uncertainties of diagnosis, the risks of doing the procedure or not, and in general making me feel like really smart people were making really hard choices that I should listen to. That went all the way to the OR, with the anesthesiologist similarly patiently explaining probably way more to me than he had to. The surgeons were flawless, since I went to sleep, and woke up with zero complications. And my post-op nurse was so understanding as I explained to her timing my discharge to minimize discomfort for my wife and 2yo daughter who were coming to pick me up.
It’s just incredible to me that an entire organization can be so awesome and supportive across the board. I was stubborn and wanted to just go tough it out, and I’m pretty sure that if I had, I would have had a true emergency later in life. I’m so grateful, thank you so much for the little things that you did for me, and the massive things you have done for so many others!
