Camille Kovsky M.D. ???

WARNING: This is not going to be a happy post...more of a venting post so I apologize if you were  hoping for some good news from me!

It's been a while since I last blogged about my surgery. I just haven't had a whole lot to tell you! I guess that is good news right? If you look at my leg from the outside, you will see 3 very small incisions that have healed quite nicely and I am grateful that they are small and barely there! Other than that....I am not sure how I am doing..why don't I know this? Because my post-op care has FAILED me! Keep in mind that my surgeon is in San Antonio and I have to drive 4 hours to see him and it cost about $150 in gas to get there. 

On one hand...I am VERY grateful to have found him..he is a TOP NOTCH surgeon and if it weren't for him, I would still be sitting here waiting for a surgery that Tricare wasn't going to cover in the civilian world.  On the 2nd hand...he is a TOP NOTCH surgeon that apparently...is always gone. Rewind.......

Post-op day 10....drive back to SA to get my stitches out. Hoping to talk to Dr K about my procedure, what he saw while scoping my hip....have TONS of questions because keep in mind...I was asleep while he was doing this and after for that matter. Get to SA..guess what Dr K is NOT THERE! He is TDY (again). Not only do I not see a member of his "Team" I see a nurse (bless her heart because she felt bad) that didn't have a clue about my case OR arthroscopy of the hip. She did do a very nice job taking out my stitches. :) Disappointed, I left that appt with many questions un-answered with the request that Dr K call me so that I could get answers.  A few days later, one of Dr K's residents called me and I felt a little better. 

1) How long do I need to be on crutches...answer: start weaning at 3 weeks if tolerated
2) What was done in the procedure: Partial Psoas Tendon release and left femur chondroplasty (shaved the head of the femur to re-shape it) and removed bone spurs. No Labral repair (mine was intact) and arthritis wasn't as bad as they had initially thought. 
3) when to follow up? 6-8 weeks. 

I ditch the crutches as soon as possible at week 3. Feeling pretty good. Progressing with PT. Go on vacation for 3 weeks.  Schedule follow-up apt as soon as I get home (June 21st) appt is set for July 15th with Dr K. 

July 14th....make a phone call down to BAMC to make sure that Dr K was going to be there because I am NOT going to make another trip to NOT see my Dr.  Talk to someone at the ortho clinic, tell her my story that I am not going to drive 4 hours to SA if he is not going to be there. She puts me on hold, comes back and says that he WILL be there in the ortho clinic that day.  Get up, drive to SA (my dear friend Angela goes with me to keep my company).  Get to BAMC, get called back right away! Take me into a big room with 6 beds divided only by curtains. (this is new....have never been in the room before as I have always been in a regular patient room?) They say this is where they are doing Ortho-Clinic today. I should have known that something wasn't going to go right when I hear Hair Nation playing loudly on the radio and 5 airman standing around doing nothing but staring at me.  1st thing I ask is if  Dr K is there...guess what....NO. WHAT????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
NO????  Still holding out hope that maybe they didn't know what they were talking about that surely he would be there after the lunch hour.  I wait.......and then the Dr walks in. Nope. Not Dr K! :(
Hello, I am Dr so-and-so (girl). I am a resident of  Dr K. She says, "You do know that Dr K is in Alaska?" Ummm...NO...I did not know that he was in Alaska and that is why I called YESTERDAY to make sure that he was going to be here! And he won't be back until NOVEMBER!

I felt bad for crying but I was so upset! She did have the courtesy to hand me a box of tissues and shut the curtain so that nobody could stare at me. She felt bad that I was upset and she understood. She thumbed through my chart the best that she could.(which didn't even have an operative report in it) and tried to answer my questions the best that she could but honestly....she didn't have a clue about ME or MY case.  And you want to hear the kicker............She Didn't  even TOUCH my leg! Didn't look at my incision scars, didn't even move my leg around to see if it was working...or not working??

Is it just me or am I expecting TOO much out of my follow-up care?? How am I supposed to know if I am progressing normally? Do they expect that I am supposed to KNOW this stuff. The last I checked, I don't have M.D. at the end of my name and although, I have done a TON of research about my surgery, it is always nice to have the expert tell you that you are doing good.   

Ugh.  Where do I go from here. Not sure if I will take another trip down to BAMC to even attempt to see the good Dr K. Thinking that it might be best to see if I can get another referral to go back and see my 1st Ortho up in Dallas. (the one that was originally going to do the surgery until Tricare refused to pay for it) What do y'all think I should do?? 

The only positive thing that came out of the day is getting to eat at Mimi's Cafe, doing a little shopping, and my favorite part was the drive home with Angela, listening to really old amazing country music and singing at the top of our lungs, "Mamma he's crazy...crazy over me..." and tons of other classic country tunes. :)