desertslave
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2008
- Posts
- 5,491
Other random things pop up here in AH, so I thought I'd post a few observations/discoveries about my latest adventures. I had two total knee joint replacements in 2009 (8 weeks apart), a total shoulder last December, and a revision of the same shoulder yesterday. Yes, I'm working on going bionic!
I grew up "medicalese." My mom was a practicing RN for 7 years, my uncle is a cardiologist, an older cousin is a clinical psychologist, and a younger one is a cardiothoracic surgical nurse. I was a medical assistant for 15 years before slowly devolving to front office, research secretarial and transcription for a few different practices. Master is a retired nuclear medicine tech. We talk shop, a lot.
I've gone to the same surgeon and the same hospital for all of these joint surgeries. First off, the advances in joint replacement in the last handful of years (I started researching about 4 years before my first surgery) have occurred in leaps and bounds. New materials, new adhesives, new designs, new forms of production. I'm sure 3-D printing will be commonplace soon.
(Total non-sequitur--cool news story today about NASA having a new booster that's 3D printed with steel powder...what used to be over 100 parts is now "printed" as two!)
One of the coolest advances is in healing technology. I have to laugh, because my doc has one of the oldest, tiredest X-ray machines in his office that I've ever seen! Wet developed films, no digital. BUT in the OR and post-op, he's cutting edge all the way. My incisions have all been closed with medical grade superglue and layered with this nifty stuff called "Procellera", which is micro-batteries activated by a special gel, and placed on the incision to promote healing and prevent infections.
The other cool thing is the hospital itself. It's one of the newest in the Phoenix area, and has a specialized spine and orthopedic wing which caters to a handful of different surgical practices with specially trained staff who KNOW ortho incredibly well; they even dedicated physical and occupational therapists. Every room is a private room with lots of space to move around, wide doors, well-designed bathrooms including roll-in showers, big windows with a nice desert view and now a new thing to geek over. They've installed a TV-based system called CareView that uses video cameras to observe patients (with permission) that can also be used to access hospital info, cable tv, movies on demand, the internet (with limits) and even something Skype-like for video visits from friends & family. I didn't bother, I was too out of it, but what a cool idea for maternity for extended family 'introductions.'
I wish all hospitals could be as good as this one is. I should note that I do NOT have 'gourmet' health insurance by any stretch of the imagination. We had an upfront copay of $350. That blew me away, too.
I grew up "medicalese." My mom was a practicing RN for 7 years, my uncle is a cardiologist, an older cousin is a clinical psychologist, and a younger one is a cardiothoracic surgical nurse. I was a medical assistant for 15 years before slowly devolving to front office, research secretarial and transcription for a few different practices. Master is a retired nuclear medicine tech. We talk shop, a lot.
I've gone to the same surgeon and the same hospital for all of these joint surgeries. First off, the advances in joint replacement in the last handful of years (I started researching about 4 years before my first surgery) have occurred in leaps and bounds. New materials, new adhesives, new designs, new forms of production. I'm sure 3-D printing will be commonplace soon.
(Total non-sequitur--cool news story today about NASA having a new booster that's 3D printed with steel powder...what used to be over 100 parts is now "printed" as two!)
One of the coolest advances is in healing technology. I have to laugh, because my doc has one of the oldest, tiredest X-ray machines in his office that I've ever seen! Wet developed films, no digital. BUT in the OR and post-op, he's cutting edge all the way. My incisions have all been closed with medical grade superglue and layered with this nifty stuff called "Procellera", which is micro-batteries activated by a special gel, and placed on the incision to promote healing and prevent infections.
The other cool thing is the hospital itself. It's one of the newest in the Phoenix area, and has a specialized spine and orthopedic wing which caters to a handful of different surgical practices with specially trained staff who KNOW ortho incredibly well; they even dedicated physical and occupational therapists. Every room is a private room with lots of space to move around, wide doors, well-designed bathrooms including roll-in showers, big windows with a nice desert view and now a new thing to geek over. They've installed a TV-based system called CareView that uses video cameras to observe patients (with permission) that can also be used to access hospital info, cable tv, movies on demand, the internet (with limits) and even something Skype-like for video visits from friends & family. I didn't bother, I was too out of it, but what a cool idea for maternity for extended family 'introductions.'
I wish all hospitals could be as good as this one is. I should note that I do NOT have 'gourmet' health insurance by any stretch of the imagination. We had an upfront copay of $350. That blew me away, too.
