Help! Calling all New Yorkers! URGENT!

Hey guys/gals any New Yorkers around? I live in New York State a few hours from the city and will be heading out with my 2 year old who needs surgery to Long Island in the morning.

Anyone know of a hospital called St. Catherine of Sienna? (Commack/Smithtown area) If so, if anyone bothers reading this thread-Can you give me some peace of mind about this facility...or WARN me if necessary!?

He will be going under (general anesthesia) so any praises or complaints- or rumors even- of the anesthesiologists would be most appreciated.

I've looked it up online-not all that impressed but nothing beats personal testimonies anyway...so I was just wondering...looking for some peace of mind I guess...just thought I'd ask.

Thanks

Hey there are a few people here from NYC, I hope by bumping this they will see it,


I wish your little one well and the best for tomorow,

Please update us and let us know how he is

Im sure it will all be ok


Asala

I asked around a bit... haven't heard anything bad from anyone...

I hope everything turns out alright for you and your son!!!!

Sorry never heard of it. Never heard good or bad about it. I hope everything goes well for your child and you both return home quickly.

good luck to you and your child, have faith and confidence in your doctor and ask questions of the hospital staff if anything seems odd to you. I'm sure they won't mind answering any of your concerns.

Originally posted by asala
Hey there are a few people here from NYC, I hope by bumping this they will see it,


I wish your little one well and the best for tomorow,

Please update us and let us know how he is

Im sure it will all be ok

Asala

Thanks so much Asala-and everyone. Thanks Djarums for asking around too! I appreciated the responses even though I had no time to post-and nothing to post back- until now. You know, sometimes "no news is good news" so as long as no body posted "OMG-that place is as good as a mortuary" or something awful like that, I had decent enough peace of mind before embarking on our trip.

...well as much as could be expected when putting your 2 and a half year old under general anesthesia, right?

So thanks.

And yes Asala, everything was/is OK. *sigh of relief* Though surgery ended up being a bit more extensive than we (the Dr and I) expected (nothing life threatening in itself-just major extensive oral surgery) lasting 4.5 hours instead of the expected 2hrs...everyting went well and he is fine.

I did dress in scrubs and attend my little guy into the OR to help him adjust and to help restrain him as they put him under -and he resisted...and he did spike a fever coming out of the anesthesia, and was vomitting a bit, but that was the worst of it and I think it was harder on me than him! Hate to see him like that!

I held him for 3 hours in recovery worried sick for him-and suddenly he was fine, alert, and asking to leave. *whew*

He was there as one of the first surgery patients of the day and was one of the last in recovery. We got to know alot of staff-and they were all amazing-he stole their hearts even when ornery and obstinate as opinionated and willful 2 year olds can and will be! And of course when loopy on pre-anesthesia happy drugs he was everyone's buddy!

Anyway, for future reference, I'd send anyone I cared for deeply there to St Catherine's of Sienna-formerly St Johns (I think) They were outstanding.

I spoke with the anesthesiologist who has been doing this for 30 years-and plenty of children as well, and genuinely liked the people at that hospital and in that area of NY.

I think I could live in Manhatten or Long Island as the people I've met just...amaze me. I mean, despite the idiot I am here, you'd be surprised that I actually make friends/good impressions/give get vibes about people quite easily and love to travel and meet people, but I admit, I never expected NYers to be as amazing as I've met and realized so many really are. Funnny how stereotypically prejudiced I guess I was-still- until recently. I was really West Coast biased until this most recent trip.

I mean, the Dr and his receptionist and I have only corresponded via email and had a few phone conversations until Tuesday-the day before surgery. And though he had 2 other surgeries that day, it was I who warranted the individualized attention. Perhaps because I had traveled nearly 5 hours to get there, alone with my son, etc...but I mean...the receptionist took the day off to keep me company in the waiting room! She ended up nearly adopting me I think! Invited me to keep in touch-even call her at home anytime.

The Dr gave me his personal cell phone number in case I needed anything or had any concerns before, or after the surgery or while in the area...came to visit us in the recovery room on his way home after his last surgery- figuring we might still be there, and then called ME on my cell phone on my way back to the hotel that night to make sure I had found the pharmacy!

I was so tired having been up the night before worried about the upcoming surgery, had had a long 9.5 hours at the hospital and he could tell, so he offered to stay on the phone with me in traffic until I found the pharmacy-where the pharmacist was amazing too-I mean I couldn't have asked for a better experience dealing with a stressful situation, you know? What kind of people do this?! Treat people so well? NYers! Of all people-amazing people I tell you. I wouldn't want to live there (especially at 2k for a small apartment!) but its a nice place to visit or obtain medical care.

Rambling as usual! Anyway, thanks.

Just saw this... thanks for updating us with the wonderful news and I'm really happy to hear everything turned out alright!!

Originally posted by Djarums
Just saw this... thanks for updating us with the wonderful news and I'm really happy to hear everything turned out alright!!

Yeah thanks Djarums-and just so anybody who might happen to read this knows, I have duly been beaten over the freakin head by my husband for posting where I'd be geographically, and specifically, and when, etc- with my child no less-on a public forum!!

Though I've been androgenous here, still it was not a safe or wise thing to do, I'm not generally such an idiot, usually...and no Dear, I was not trying to hook up with anyone before, during or after our son's surgery in those two days. But yes, it was assinine to post such info-sorry.



Ugh, ATS/BTS is so different from other public forums for me that I actually forget how public it is sometimes. I RARELY post on any other public forum and when I do it's usually been short and quite cryptic unlike here, especially on BTS where I let it all fly, even stuff of a very personal nature.

I have regularly posted on CLOSED, PRIVATE- INVITATION ONLY- forums for 6 years now but have outgrown them and the people there for various reasons and made my online home ATS/BTS where I had lurked for some time and came for research and links, etc... but I got too comfortable too quick here I guess and forgot myself and how public the forum is! :shk: So yes, shame on me.

it's that unique feeling here on the "inside" especially at BTS that changed me from a curious lurker who just wanted to see what was up on the registered side of ATS, to a regular ATS/BTS addict.

I don't think I even checked out BTS until after I had registered and was on overload from reading things on ATS and needed an escape one day...and found BTS!

I've had a reality check though, and can agree I say too much of a personal nature with too many details and this latest mistake shows a lack of reason and the proper paranoia I usually have, so I am reigning myself in now and will be trying to give up my ATS/BTS habit entirely soon.

You are likely the only one to read this Dear, so maybe it's directed more at you. So consider it an appology-hey a public one at that- I'm sorry. And a promise to try to give up my addiction here. OK?

Ok, so thats that.

Probably, in retrospect, it may NOT have been a great idea. But when you've got a child going in for surgery, that's what's uppermost on your mind and damned be everything else. So don't be too hard on yourself. I wouldn't have thought of possible privacy ramifications either.

Thank God the child's ok. Everything else is small potatoes.

glad to hear everything turned out fine. our reputation is unwarranted (mostly). New Yorkers are, generally very nice and helpfull and, post 9/11 we are a bit more kind and welcoming to our tourists and visitors. Now, if they would only learn to be the same. Ungratefull, obnoxious, camera wielding, sidewalk blocking moro.....sorry, it's not always easy to contain the New Yorker within.

Originally posted by yeahright
Probably, in retrospect, it may NOT have been a great idea. But when you've got a child going in for surgery, that's what's uppermost on your mind and damned be everything else. So don't be too hard on yourself. I wouldn't have thought of possible privacy ramifications either.

Thank God the child's ok. Everything else is small potatoes.

Thanks.

That is exactly it too-I was just suddenly panicked about his surgery, going to an unknown hospital in an unfamiliar area and just wasn't thinking as straight as I could've or as paranoid as I usually would've!

Originally posted by Crakeur
glad to hear everything turned out fine. our reputation is unwarranted (mostly). New Yorkers are, generally very nice and helpfull and, post 9/11 we are a bit more kind and welcoming to our tourists and visitors.

Ha! Tell that to my friend's 13 yo DD who got mugged last weekend in NYC in some little Italy area! Some psycho beotch grabbing her purse and trying to rip it from her body or it's straps! Scared the poor girl half to death and definately ruined her day!

But yeah, I know thats not a typical NYer doing the mugging just razzing ya.

..and I shouldn't be laughing as it's not a funny story but it kind of is when I picture this like 85 lb 13 year old stick figure of a girl fighting with this barely english speaking french psycho street beotch over her purse and dragging the drug addict to her knees because she was not going to give up her little purse!

I have a client who lives in the midwest. Years ago she came to NY for the first time. She got out of the cab in front of her hotel and someone grabbed her bag and ran. She started screaming for help and someone came over and asked what happened. She said "someone stole my purse" and the guy grabbed her necklace and ran off.

she put her bag back in the cab and went right back to the airport. hasn't been back since.


our reputation isn't without a bit of truth