In the fall of 2014, we started a new Reversal Prepayment Account plan as a way to offer tubal reversal discounts to some of our patients.
The first prepayment account members began to sign up in September of 2014 and the first discounted surgeries were made available in November.
One of the first tubal reversal surgery discounts was taken by Bess who traveled all the way from Illinois to have tubal reversal surgery at A Personal Choice in Raleigh North Carolina.
Bess was thrilled to get a tubal reversal surgery discount of $1,400!
I asked her if she would share her story of tubal ligation and reversal for the benefit of others and she readily agreed. Bess was very excited and agreed to share her story from benign to end.
In the first publication of this series, Beth shared her reasons behind having tubal reversal surgery: Low Cost Tubal Reversal Surgery: $4,500 Reversal Surgery For Bess!
Tubal Reversal Consultation
Bess was one of the first to joined our Tubal Reversal Prepayment Account. Our best discounts were offered to those who signed up first and Bess was able to benefit. She went through our prescheduling process and when the discount was offered by email she was able to quickly convert to a surgery schedule. She was able to schedule her surgery for a total of $4500. Not bad Bess…way to go!
She flew into Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband Tim. They had their consultation with me on Tuesday. They stayed at the Hyatt House Raleigh North Hills.
Our Business Office Manger Mrs. Morin and Ms. De La Rosa welcomed the couple into our office and had them sign our check in paperwork.
Nurse Hamer met with them and provided their initial nursing consultation. I met with them after their Nurse consultation and I enjoyed talking with the excited couple. I found them very easy to talk with and they were very genuine and sincere people. Bess grew up in South America and her parents were missionaries. She now live in Illinois and Tim is a farmer. He grows wheat and corn and he loves John Deere.
Bess had a very favorable prognosis. She had two children, ages 8 and 9, and she had a ligation and resection (tying and cutting) type of tubal ligation during her only c-section. Her doctor removed very very small segments from her tubes (0.7 cm).
This is a very favorable situation. Typically doctors will remove 1 to 3 cm of the tube (the normal tube is 8 to 12 cm). We wondered why Bess’s doctor removed such little segments.
We do see tubal ligations that remove little segments and it has been my experience that some doctors will remove very small segments of tube when they feel the patient may be more likely to request reversal in the future. This is most often seen when patients have tubal ligation and are less than age 30.
Tubal Reversal Surgery: Bess Does Great!
Bess had her tubal reversal surgery on Wednesday (the day after her consultation).
Bess was brought into the operating room by Nurse Brown. As is our policy, Nurse Brown introduced Bess to the entire operating room team. Bill Giles was her CRNA and he provided her anesthesia care. Donna Sisson and Crystal Ledbetter were her surgical assistants.
Bess posed with me for a photo just as she sat down on the operating room table and before her surgery time out (a safety check we regularly perform before every surgery). We don’t typically take pictures of patients in the operating room for privacy and safety reasons but Bess was very eager to share her story and she was willing to share actual photos of her tubes during the repair.
When we posed for the photo, I told her “Don’t look nervous!” and she did a great job!
Her surgery went very well. We were able to use her previous c-section incision ( about a 4 inch incision just above the pubic hair line). Her tubes were in excellent shape. Both tubes were 7 cm after repair and they were healthy. Her ovaries were normal and she had no scar tissue from her prior c-section and tubal ligation.
The estimated blood loss for the entire surgery was 7 ml (about 2 teaspoons) and her surgery lasted 61 minutes.
Tubal Reversal Recovery: Bess Walks Out in Less Than 1 Hour
Bess was transferred to the recovery room where she was cared for by one of our best tubal reversal recovery room nurses, Kelly.
Right tubal segments before repair. The right ovary is seen underneath one of the tubal segments
Bess did well in the recovery room and was discharged to the hotel ambulatory approximately 1 hours after her surgery was completed. Tim was brought in to join Bess almost as soon as she arrived. The general anesthesia quickly wore off an Bess was awake and alert in less than 20 minutes. As is customary for me, I popped in quickly to reassure them everything went well and then I started my third and final surgery for the day.
When Bess was ready, she was allowed to dress and sit in a recliner in a private recovery area. She was given pain medication to take by mouth and was allowed to drink as much juice and water as she could handle. Tim and Bess were able to rest comfortably, watching cable TV, while they waited for me to provide their post-operative debriefing. While they waited, Nurse Kelly was able to continue one-on-one care and provide discharge instructions to Tim.
Postoperative Debriefing After Surgery
After I completed my third and final surgery for the day, I was able to return to Bess (she was the second surgery of the day) and find that she was about 95% recovered. She was still sleepy but comfortable. I spoke her and Tim. I reviewed the operative findings and discussed the results.
Right tube after the tubal segments were rejoined during reversal procedure.
I provided additional post-operative instructions and told them to return to the hotel and rest and that we would speak again in less than 24 hours during her post operative consultation.
We gave Tim my personal cell phone number and told him to call me with any problems during the night. Bess was advised to go to sleep to get over the anesthesia. After she awoke she was encouraged to walk and she could also eat if she felt up to it.
Bess and Tim were picked up by private car sent by North Hill Transportation for transport back to the Hyatt Hotel.
You can meet members of our staff here: A Personal Choice Staff
You can find out more information a prepayment account here: Starting a Tubal Reversal Prepayment Account
You can read about Bess’s tubal reversal follow-up appointment here:
Affordable Tubal Reversal Surgery: Bess Did It!
