HCB News: Can you share any patient success stories?
PC: One of my most memorable patients is a young woman who has a family history of colon cancer, and learned that she also had colon cancer after finding blood in her stool. Her other family members did well with their cancers, so she was not too concerned with hers. Because a loved one was a recovered narcotic addict, she was more worried about addiction potential than she was about her colon cancer. She learned about our opioid sparing protocol after searching for us on the Internet, and chose to have her surgery at Saint Mary's. She spent approximately 48 hours total in the hospital, and was able to enjoy a holiday picnic the very next weekend.
Another patient was a young woman who presented to us with acute appendicitis on the day that she was supposed to graduate from high school. She was so upset about possibly missing her graduation ceremony that she was contemplating leaving the hospital, going to her ceremony, and then returning to the hospital for her surgery. Even though this was “only” to be a laparoscopic appendectomy, we decided to apply as many ERAS principles as practical, and she was able to attend her ceremony approximately 4 hours postop.
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