Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Worth the Wait?

Apparently Dr Oro is on some type of unexpected leave...I've heard that it is a result of some accident that he is recovering from, but that news is not directly from either him or his staff. As a result all of his consultations, surgeries, and follow up appointments have been cancelled and are expected to be rescheduled for 6 weeks later. His follow up appointments are being performed by his RN. How do I know all of this? Because I have been contacted or been in contact with someone in all of those stages. All are frustrated. All have their emotions running high. All have reached out to me hoping that I can offer them some solace or wisdom or something.

Three years and 4 days ago, Dr Oro performed the surgery that changed my life. When I look back at events that were "defining moments" in my life, my decision to have Dr Oro perform my decompression is near the top of my list. I'm not a doctor. I can't guarantee that anyone else will have the same outcome that I did. I can't guarantee that surgery dates won't be changed at the last minute. I can't guarantee that the hospital staff will do everything "right" post-op. I can't even guarantee that Dr Oro and his staff will provide you with the same great, compassionate care that I received. But I believe they will.

Based on my experience with Dr Oro, I believe that he is worth the wait, however long that may be. He "fixed" me and my 31mm herniation. He gave me a quality of life I didn't believe I could have. Could someone else have done the same? Maybe. Would I tell any of my family or friends to go to anyone else? Absolutely not. Is waiting or having your appointments rescheduled hard? Absolutely. But it was my experience that Dr Oro and his staff go out of their way to give you the best quality of care when it is finally your turn in the line up. The wait is long, quite simply because he's that good. (Someone really should work on cloning him!) I know that when I made the decision to let someone cut open my head and move stuff around, I wanted the very best person to do so. I have never regretted my decision to fly to Colorado and have Dr Oro perform my surgery for a second. You have to decide what works for you and your family, but if you're looking for the happy ending, here I am!

This is just my story of my experience with Chiari. Until I was diagnosed, I'd never heard of it, and I just want more people to be aware of it. I'm not a doctor, so don't quote me on any of this stuff - k? If you are looking for information about Chiari Malformation, a lot of the more informative posts are the older ones.