My dad is going to need a triple bypass, and his local Dr. in the RGV is recommending the surgery take place at Houston Methodist. Does anyone one a recommendation for a surgeon? TIA.
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Houston Methodist Heart Surgeon
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Last: 17 days ago by dsvogel05
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dsvogel05 said:
My dad is going to need a triple bypass, and his local Dr. in the RGV is recommending the surgery take place at Houston Methodist. Does anyone one a recommendation for a surgeon? TIA.
Could he see Dr. Estrera at UT Houston? We knew someone who had an aortic dissection repaired by him and I can highly recommend him.
My dad is in VA insurance, so his heart Dr recommended Dr. Gerald Lawrie.
If he can't get in to see someone quick, I might bring him to Austin and show up at the heart hospital with him and see what they can do.
If he can't get in to see someone quick, I might bring him to Austin and show up at the heart hospital with him and see what they can do.
I had posted above, but wanted to make sure I had the name right. A friend of mine who I work with has a wife who is a nurse at Methodist and recommended Dr. Miguel Gomez as the go-to guy there. Just another option.
Thank you for the recommendation. If we don't hear from Houston Methodist soon, I'm going to bring my dad to Austin with me, which is where I live, and take him to the Austin Heart Hospital emergency room and tell them he's suffering from shortness of breath and has chest pain.
No problem. If you are in Austin, that might be a much better alternative for both of you. I know Methodist is highly ranked with cardiovascular stuff, but I am sure you could ask around and get a recommendation for a top notch cardiac surgeon in Austin. I have gotten frustrated myself about have to wait so damn long for an appointment, but be careful about going to the emergency room unless necessary. You might get stuck with someone crappy.
It's very frustrating because the Dr. says it's urgent and he needs surgery quickly, but then when you try and get referrals and appointments, it grinds to a halt.
We have a family friend that's a Dr. in San Antonio, so we have another option there too.
The Heart Hospital in Austin has an ER, so I think that would be a safe route. It's not a regular hospital ER, it's solely dedicated to heart surgery.
We have a family friend that's a Dr. in San Antonio, so we have another option there too.
The Heart Hospital in Austin has an ER, so I think that would be a safe route. It's not a regular hospital ER, it's solely dedicated to heart surgery.
the doctor can't get you the referral? seems odd to make you guys dig around for it
OK, yeah. Agree that an ER there is probably more likely to get you a good doctor.
The Dr. is supposed to be working on the referral. We had an appointment on Friday morning and expected to have an appointment in Houston by Friday afternoon. Still haven't heard anything. If my parents don't hear from Houston Methodist by Monday afternoon, we'll have to figure out an alternate plan.
I typically never get calls back until at least 24hrs. I bet they'll call you Monday.
My wife used to work there and recommends Dr Gerald Lawrie or Dr Michael Reardon.
We primary docs get these questions all the time. With these high end specialty surgeons I would trust any of them with my family. These are cream of the crop people who give up their quality of life to do this work and we are lucky to have them.
Cardiac bypass is simply miraculous although high stress for the team, something I clearly remember helping with in medical school last century.
ETA: the referral process is likely being held up by insurance paperwork in my experience not your PCP.
Cardiac bypass is simply miraculous although high stress for the team, something I clearly remember helping with in medical school last century.
ETA: the referral process is likely being held up by insurance paperwork in my experience not your PCP.
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OP, we're you able to get in?
Still waiting to hear from Houston Methodist. The local cardiologist didn't fax the paperwork to Houston Methodist until today. My mom is going to rattle cages tomorrow and if they don't get anywhere, I think they're planning on heading to Houston on Wednesday and showing up to the hospital.
2 thumbs up for Austin Heart Hospital. My dad was helicoptered there from Boerne with an aeortic aneurysm that was beginning to rupture. They were able to save him, 2 years ago August. He was 82 at the time.
That figures. This is the same sort of BS I have been fighting with my doctors, but my lags/delays have been on the order of several days. Good luck and, yeah, I would also about be at the point of going to the emergency room somewhere myself.Quote:
The local cardiologist didn't fax the paperwork to Houston Methodist until today.
Dad heard from his cardiologist, and now they are waiting on the VA to approve the procedure. But why wasn't the cardiologist already talking to the VA for approval. Also, if he just showed up at the hospital complaining of issues, they wouldn't wait for VA approval. Government bureaucracy at its finest.
Yeah, I just went through something similar. My cardiologist had me scheduled for some testing and waited 3 weeks to submit to my insurance for approval (2 days before the procedures were to take place). Of course the insurance had no time to process it, so I ended up paying out of pocket for it. It eventually got approved a week later, but the cardiologist's office has my money and I am sure it will be months before they issue a refund to me.
It keeps getting better. Houston Methodist doesn't take VA insurance. My parents are now looking at Dr. Yang, who was recommended by a friend of ours here in Austin. According to Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons website, they take VA insurance. What a mess all of this is.
https://ctvstexas.com/about-ctvs/our-physicians/cardiothoracic-surgeons/jonathan-a-yang-m-d-m-p-h/
https://ctvstexas.com/about-ctvs/our-physicians/cardiothoracic-surgeons/jonathan-a-yang-m-d-m-p-h/
I can almost guarantee that his cardiologist didn't just now start talking to the VA for approval, or that they just now sent the paperwork for referral. Like most things, there are like 10 layers to each process and every one of those layers takes time (a lot more time when it comes to things with the VA) and have nothing to do with the physicians themselves.
In general, it doesn't sound like his cardiologist felt this was "emergent" but rather "urgent". Just showing up to the ED when you aren't really needing to be there is generally not the way to go for something like this. Even if he were to get his operation done inpatient, he might end up sitting in the hospital for a week until they have a time slot to do the case. And in general you won't get to pick your surgeon, you will get whoever is on call.
Of course if he is having active symptoms or a change in how he feels then he should go to the ED to be further evaluated. But otherwise I think the outpatient pathway would generally be the way I would go. I know these are stressful things to deal with and hope everything goes well with his surgery and recovery.
Jonathan Yang is a great surgeon and he should be well taken care of.
In general, it doesn't sound like his cardiologist felt this was "emergent" but rather "urgent". Just showing up to the ED when you aren't really needing to be there is generally not the way to go for something like this. Even if he were to get his operation done inpatient, he might end up sitting in the hospital for a week until they have a time slot to do the case. And in general you won't get to pick your surgeon, you will get whoever is on call.
Of course if he is having active symptoms or a change in how he feels then he should go to the ED to be further evaluated. But otherwise I think the outpatient pathway would generally be the way I would go. I know these are stressful things to deal with and hope everything goes well with his surgery and recovery.
Jonathan Yang is a great surgeon and he should be well taken care of.
Quick update. Dad was able to see Dr. Lawrie at Houston Methodist this afternoon. He has a cardiac MRI scheduled for Friday morning to see the best course of action. Might not need open heart surgery, but rather clips around the aortic valve and then possible stents to take care of the blockage. Should know more on Friday after the MRI.
glad to hear you're making progress. My dad has congestive heart failure and it's no fun
The Cardiac MRI revealed the aortic valve is ok because it's closing properly and not leaking, so they performed a CT scan on Monday. We found out yesterday that dad will require open heart surgery to complete the triple bypass tomorrow morning.
Once we got to see Dr. Lawrie a week ago today, things really started to move. Huge difference in a sense of urgency between Houston Methodist and the care received in the RGV.
Once we got to see Dr. Lawrie a week ago today, things really started to move. Huge difference in a sense of urgency between Houston Methodist and the care received in the RGV.
Prayers for your family.
Thank you. Surgery started at 9:15 this morning and was over at 2:30 this afternoon, but Dr. Lawrie said the heart surgery was 112 minutes. He performed a triple bypass and repaired the valve since it started to leak while he was performing the bypass.
Dr. Lawrie said it was a long surgery, but he was happy with the results.
Dr. Lawrie said it was a long surgery, but he was happy with the results.
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