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Denis Halmi

"6/16/04... I have my first appt. with Dr. Halmi on Tuesday 6/22/04. Everything that I have read and heard have been very positive. I am just praying that he and I will "click". I am a nurse and I usually trust my 1st impressions. Being the patient this time will definitely be a switch but for the nurses out there that will be taking care of me... I am a good patient. I do my own I&O's!!! I come to you for requests rather than you come to me. I see it as therapeutic excercise! lol. I will update next week on my visit. At this point though, I don't care if he keeps pigs in his back room and shovels the poo in the lobby as long as he is capable and can help me he is the man for the job!!! (lol) 6/22/04... Just got home from my first appt. w/ Dr.Halmi and I just love him. Very mild mannered, quiet,polite and professional. I was at ease immediately. And NO PIGS in the office!!!! His office staff were very professional.My only encounter was with the young lady at the window. She was very efficient and didn't make me feel like "Ok, I'm repeating this for the 500th time... now listen close" She was delightful. I can't say there was anything negative at all about my first visit. That Dr. Halmi is very quiet and mild mannered. Maybe its a cultural thing, maybe just the way he was raised, maybe just his personality. But for that few minutes, I was the only thing that mattered. Being a nurse, he did not assume that I knew everything. He did assume that I knew common surgical complications...(I am a post surgical nurse)and that was ok. He did not get ruffled when I asked him questions directly relating to his practice and complications he had seen in folks under his care. Some docs get a little defensive and a little hot under the collar. Not Dr. Halmi. He explained the complications, what was the cause for it, the treatment of it, his role in preventing it, my role in monitoring, and sticking with therapy to either prevent or aid in improving the complication. He was all about aftercare. The importance of excercise in preventing complications, adhereing to dietary guidelines to ensure adequate nutrition and to ensure minimal hair loss.(This is a biggy for me!) It was all about, do what we tell you and it will make everything so much easier on you. He does indeed have a structured aftercare program.The risks of surgery were discussed. He assumed I knew the common ones only because I am a nurse. The other ones,... not so common in gen'l surgery, he took the pictures and showed me exactly what was what and why and how to prevent it. I would rate Dr. Halmi a 10. He is a kind and compassionate Dr. that cares about what he is doing and cares about his patients. Both, bedside manner and competence go a long way but I think competence is much more important. I have had jerks for docs in the past, but wouldn't trade their expertise for all the gold in the world. Its like measuring apples and oranges. We also talked about my insurance, and I believe that at this point, everything will be ok. He said Anthem is generally pretty good about approvals especially if the criteria are met... and boy did I meet them. I asked him about the Anthem pulling the plug on paying for some procedures. He said that it was his understanding that on July 1, they would stop paying for the Lap RNY due to cost and increasing complications, and hospital stays. Said he had heard nothing about them no longer paying for open RNY's.Hope this helps... glad to be on this side of the page now... 07/15/04 I love Dr. Halmi and his staff are very nice and helpful BUT trying to contact them by phone has been a huge issue!!! I tried for 4 days... calling every hour on the hour and got thru to a real person one time and was put on hold for 40 mins. They never picked up... I hung up. Their message says they do not check their messages daily (that's comforting) and most of the time you get "mailbox full". Not sure how to over come this hurdle. Have my next follow up appt. next week and will discuss with doc. Ended up driving the 35 miles thru Northern Va morning commute to get to the office to find out the info I needed. It all paid off though... got my date moved up one day earlier!!! YIPPEE!!! "

Inova Fair Oaks Hospital
"I don't know where the break in care occured exactly, but something was definitely wrong. During our post op teaching session, I was not the only one who had expereinced a less than ideal recovery phase. The two biggest issues were with pain control AFTER the PCA was removed. It took over 2 hours for my nurse to give pain meds (even though they had been crushed and she was walking around with it on her clipboard! My pain was out of control and resulted in my discharge being put off for 24 hours. Getting our fluids was another MAJOR issue. We received ONE crystal lite everyday but nothing else. If we asked for water... it took several hours to get a styrofoam cup of ice water. So much for getting in 64 ounces a day. Medication management was also not taken seriously. My Heparin was late every morning and then the 3/11 shift wanted to give it early... it needs to be given 8-12 hours apart... not 4-6 hours. I received pepcid everyday but I had to remind them about my blood pressure meds. Then I got a huff, rolled eyes and an attitude from the nurse. No one looked at my incision after surgery except for that first nite. No one actually asked "how's your pain"? No one helped me to get out of bed to go to the bathroom, to walk the halls. I felt like I was pretty much on my own there. There was NO post op teaching by the nurses. Sure I had done my homework on line and with my doc but the nurses didn't know that. My IV infiltrated and the IV canula had actually dislodged... the nurse refused to check it, told me "its ok... you're just swollen from the anesthesia" Only problem... it was just my left hand that was swollen! The tech came back in and repositioned my IV and floated it back into the vein. 3 weeks later... the swelling is down and the pain is gone. Now with all of that said... I have to say that Karen and Love in pre-op suite were magnificent. Very supportive and caring. Love started my IV and slid it in like a hot knife thru butter. Karen knew I was alone and she made sure I was really ok. On the floor Marta was my little saint. She did what she could within the realm of her practice to meet needs. But she had so many patients, and was so very busy. I truly wish she could have given me one on one care... she made me laff when I wanted to cry and when she could she tried to anticipate my needs. She, Love and Karen were the best parts of my stay!"
About Me
Leesburg, VA
Location
37.3
BMI
RNY
Surgery
09/14/2004
Surgery Date
Denis Halmi
Surgeon
Apr 11, 2004
Member Since
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