Hi everyone! I've started the weight loss surgery process at a local hospital system (I'll refer further to as Ellis/ Ellis Hospital). I was recently made aware though, that if I want to have the surgery at Ellis I would have to spend a night in the ICU which sounds a lot overboard to me. The last surgery at Ellis is when my chronic illness journey started and I spent a month and a half in the ICU, 3 weeks in rehab, got a trach (which I still have) and I died for 3 minutes on the table. I promised myself after this I would do everything within my power to stay away from the icu because I am honestly terrified that if I go back in I won't come back out. All this happened a little under 7 years ago. I have also had 2 more surgeries since then with no complications and no advance monitoring needed as I have a secure airway in place.

The main reasons I chose to go to Ellis in the first place is because it is 10 minutes from my house and because my Sister-in-law works in the PACU where I would be going through if I had surgery there. The downside to Ellis is they only have 3 airway doctors in the whole hospital and I don't know about the respiratory therapist situation (which is a necessary thing for my survival as they handle all nebs and trach supplies. They are also the only ones with the training to handle trachs in the hospital normally.).

With all of this knowledge I am thinking of bailing and going to a bigger hospital system which is about 30 minutes from me. This hospital system (Albany Med) is also where both my airway docs work. The issue with that is that while I know I will have airway support there, I've had issues where I was not treated like a person, but like a number there. I also can't guarantee that if I did switch over they would take any of the records from Ellis. Also, I have had multiple issues with nurses here where they have not been trained on my condition and come close to seriously injuring me.

If you were me what would you do? I'm kind of freaking out about this as this is my one chance to do this and I more than likely won't get another. I want to make sure I do it right. Each have their major pluses and drawbacks.