Some ENTs really shouldnt be ENTS - Allergies Message Board

HarajukuGurl2005 · 03-03-2006, 10:21 PM

Gosh, i just had my follow up with my new ENT (someone else performed septoplasty and supposedly cleaned out my maxilalry sinus April '05).

After looking at my new xrays with the old....the reason i am still stuffy as hell is b/c my inferior turbinates are very enlarged....the mucus ball in my right maxillary sinus was only partially removed!! (they biopsied part of it and i guess was fine so they let it in there, aw thanks!!!) so my new ent said that can be contributing to my thick secretions. he talked about thickening somewhere and something else in the back of my nose needed to be open up more (cant rem the technical term for this). basically, though, i need a lot of work done!

he opened up my nose with this little instrument that seperated my turbinates and asked if that felt any better, and i said ahhh

i know if i get this surgery it wont elminate my thick mucus problems but i think it will help stuff from getting stuck in there...when i irrigate i can hear water swishing around in my nose until a huge blob comes out whenever it can.

he said he couldnt understand my last ent's theory behind his thinking but maybe wanted to do as little as he had to to help me feel better--BS b/c he never once mentioned about future surgeries...he acted as though he did all he could and the rest was just my allergies. he made me feel like i was crazy and making up things b/c he said he couldnt find anything else wrong with my nose; he just said here try more flonase!!

sneezydiva · 03-04-2006, 12:15 AM

Gosh, that's awful! Since he was already in there, why didn't he remove the enitire mucus ball! That's crazy. But it's great you found a good ENT who can fix it. Like I said in another post, I think liability concerns and HMO's have caused a lot of surgeons to become too conservative.

HarajukuGurl2005 · 03-04-2006, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sneezydiva

Gosh, that's awful! Since he was already in there, why didn't he remove the enitire mucus ball! That's crazy. But it's great you found a good ENT who can fix it. Like I said in another post, I think liability concerns and HMO's have caused a lot of surgeons to become too conservative.

How do u think they define conservative?

As far as I am concern he should be very concerned about liability now b/c the xrays then and now show that my turb. are badly enlarged w/ the mucus ball still sitting there! I really would have repected his honesty IF he said look thi surgery might not be enough for you, but i want to do as least as i can for now...FINE but he just trying to dope me with sprays and more meds b/c everything else looks fine according to him....

Basically, I'm just sick about all of the time after surgery when I repeatedly said "Hey I feel really stuffy still, what's going on?" He'd say he did everything there was to be done and I should be breathing fine! It doesnt sound like he was being conservative; it sounds like he didnt have a clue; he never said i might need turbiunate reduction down the road AND he lied about removing the mucus ball; i knew something was wrong b/c Im feel intermittent pain there every now and then!

I really wish I could get my new ent to say hey what were thinking to him? cause he basically told me he didnt know what his theory was...i still have bills from the surgery and at this point i really dont wanna pay for a job that was half a** done ya know and not to mention all of the office visits that cost about $200 for him to look in my nose and say hey i did a good job!

i've alway sbeen a good pateint, followed his instructions explicitly, went to all of my post op cleanings, didnt blow my nose for weeks, didnt work out, etc etc. not to mention i had to miss work (im a trainer so no physical activity) fell terribly behind in school (i knew this from the beginning but the whole surgery wasnt even worth it in the end)

now i have to worry about my credit if i dont pay these bills....and why should i? i didnt even et what i paid for! lol i still have some mucus thing stuck in my sinus; it doesnt belong in there, he's the professional here would he want some mucus ball stuck in his nose after going through an entire surgery! MAN OH MAN....

sneezydiva · 03-04-2006, 01:11 PM

By conservative, I mean they want to do the least invasive procedure possible. The less risky the procedures they do, the less risk of complications. And the less risky procedures they perform regularly, the less their malpractice insurance costs them. Unfortunately we can't sue or be compensated for him not doing enough, but we would be compensated if in the course of the surgery he caused nerve damage or damage to the eye area. It's a very rare occurance, but a real risk. My surgeon said he wouldn't clean out the sinuses around my eyes. He said cleaning out the maxilaries would help thoses sinuses drain. It turned out once he saw the situation, he did it anyway. I was lucky, but I know other people who have had to get a second sinus surgery.

I'm with you though, part of me doesn't get it. To me going under the anesthesia is a risk. So once you've determined you need to put someone under and perform surgery, why wouldn't you do everything possible while you're in there? That's the attitude surgeons SHOULD have. And surely it would be cheaper for HMO's to pay for just one surgery instead of 2? Maybe you're right about your doctor, he wanted to get more money from you.

HarajukuGurl2005 · 03-04-2006, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sneezydiva

By conservative, I mean they want to do the least invasive procedure possible. The less risky the procedures they do, the less risk of complications. And the less risky procedures they perform regularly, the less their malpractice insurance costs them. Unfortunately we can't sue or be compensated for him not doing enough, but we would be compensated if in the course of the surgery he caused nerve damage or damage to the eye area. It's a very rare occurance, but a real risk. My surgeon said he wouldn't clean out the sinuses around my eyes. He said cleaning out the maxilaries would help thoses sinuses drain. It turned out once he saw the situation, he did it anyway. I was lucky, but I know other people who have had to get a second sinus surgery.

I'm with you though, part of me doesn't get it. To me going under the anesthesia is a risk. So once you've determined you need to put someone under and perform surgery, why wouldn't you do everything possible while you're in there? That's the attitude surgeons SHOULD have. And surely it would be cheaper for HMO's to pay for just one surgery instead of 2? Maybe you're right about your doctor, he wanted to get more money from you.

You brought up some good points. I really regret not having a second opinion; it's just by time i finally got the appointment (took 3 weeks) and feeling so horrible for 2 whole months and out of antibiotics I was ready to sign! I'm really lucky I found this other ent, and at least i know that i am not crazy. I thought maybe he wanted to get more $$$ from me, but every time i went back to him he never said anything about more surgeries; actually everytime he just sounded like he wanted to be done with me altogether! Maybe thats why it was so hard getting an appt with him....b/c he was booked 24/7 with patients still feeling horrible after surgeries that he coucldnt get rid of them haha!

i am def considering surgery in the future (college right now) but I'm just going to put my faith into this natureopathic doc and take things ones step at a time.