I was referred to Dr. Steffen from both my primary care physician and a friend who was a patient of hers. It should be noted that she does only gynecology which I found very reassuring in a way...
Although Dr. Steffen is very matter-of-fact and direct (you aren't going to be coddled just because she's also a woman) she is very professional and knowlegeable about the female body and speaks very plainly about what she is going to do to help you. She will chide you if you need to lose weight or stop a bad habit but I feel that she really cares about your health and wants you to actually listen! :)
The operation itself couldn't have gone better. I had very little pain or bleeding and by day two I was on regular 800 mg ibuprofen. Many women, I've read from on the internet, are in pain for a month or more so I consider myself lucky. I had my hysterectomy vaginally which was a suggestion from her. I hear that it is harder to actually perform so I am grateful that she was willing to do it that way to help me. I had three office visits before the operation (one was a bladder stress test) one visit with Cindi her nurse and she visited with me the morning of and then three more times in my two days after the operation.
The only operation problems I experienced were hospital related. I had a nausea reaction to morphine recieved after surgery which took about 12 hours to wear off and I couldn't get a nurse to respond for about 20 mins for an IV infiltration that afternoon and then the nurse who removed it left me without an IV for about 2 hours because of shift change. After that first shift I was well cared for by the other nursing staff. I did have a bad skin reaction to the Cipro that was prescribed to me to take when I got home.
The thing that I would suggest for Dr. Steffen is that she not prescribe such power antibiotics as prophylactics. She wanted to make sure I didn't get an infection because of the catheter I had to go home with (because of a bladder sling that was installed and I couldn't urinate on my own) but when I found out about the other possible side effects of the drug, Cipro, I felt that this particular medication was overkill. I would suggest a less powerful medication unless an actually UTI infection is present. I wouldn't want a yeast infection after such an intensive vaginal operation even if I hadn't had the reaction. It's taken two weeks to get rid of the rash.
All-in-all I couldn't have expected a better result and 3 weeks after my proceedures I'm tired but feel really healthy. I'm able to drive, do light housework, fix meals, sleep well and I'm excited to be rid of my symptoms. I am a pretty healthy person so that could be part of it but my friend who also had similar proceedures said that she was also pain-free soon after the operation.
I feel lucky to have had Dr. Steffen here locally and have referred her to my friends already.
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