Commonweath Orthopaedics Ambulatory Surgery Center

I brought a friend here to have surgery on his shoulder. The staff was all very friendly, nice and patient, which is important especially when you’re being told all the post-​op instructions to help your family member, friend and/​or loved one. The waiting room has free wifi, a coffee machine, televisions, and magazines. There’s a Starbucks across the parking lot, too.
So, for a place to sit for a few hours while someone has outpatient surgery, this waiting room is the place to be :-)

I’ve previously reviewed Commonwealth Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation PC on Unilocal for my experiences in them treating an elbow problem with physical therapy — and it was a quality experience — everyone involved in the process was very nice and professional — and even though the therapy did not heal my elbow — I still appreciate the quality of the experience and process.
Fast forward almost a year later. As therapy did not fix the problem — it was time to do something about the problem — surgery.
The problem is that there was scar tissue in my elbow — causing inflammation of the tendons and their connection to the bone — causing the connection to be stretched and weakened. The tendons needed to be detached, the scar tissue removed, then the tendons re-​attached.
This is outpatient surgery — and I went in for it Wednesday of last week. I was scheduled to arrive at 7:30 am for surgical prep. You have to have someone else drive you — so my Mom was enlisted to help out. You are not allowed to have anything to eat or drink the night before from midnight on and there were other restrictions in effect leading up to the surgery — such as no aspirin or ibuprofen for x amount of days before — blah, blah, blah.
I changed into a surgical gown, they got me into a bed and a series of folks came by to talk to me — from the Anesthesiologist to the Surgeon’s Assistant, the nurses, etc.
At some point they started an IV, gave me some pills, then eventually I was wheeled in for surgery. One of the nurses informed me that she was adding something to my IV that would be like a glass of wine. I laughed and told her that it would not be like a glass of wine — it would be like a whole jug of wine as a single glass would do nothing to me. She was amused by that. That is the last thing I remember.
Next thing I know they are trying to wake me up and get me dressed. Of course I asked the usual question — «how much longer — when are we going to start?» And of course they were already done.
After having me sit in a wheelchair for a bit to wake up — they bring my Mom back to sit with me — and eventually wheeled me out to the car with instructions to pick up my meds: 800 mg Motrin and Vicodin. They told my Mom I might be nauseous from the anesthesia — I was not — I was ready for coffee and breakfast as soon as we got out of there! We stopped and got coffee on the way home. I stayed at my Mom’s house for one day for observation as the Doctor ordered. I’ve been taking my meds, protecting the arm, keeping it in a sling most of the time, changing the bandage every day, etc.
Fast forward to today — first followup visit with my Doctor. He inspected the incision — told me it looks good and is healing well and that I can go without a bandage from now on. They used the kind of stitches that get absorbed by the body over time. I asked him how long the surgery actually took — he said 15 minutes. I asked him what he found when he opened up my elbow — he told me he did indeed find and remove scar tissue. I asked if he took any photos so I could see what it looked like. He laughed and stated he did not.
He thinks I will eventually regain full use of my left arm — which I’ve not had for the past 20 years. I have to protect the arm for the next 11 weeks or so — I have a follow up visit in 8 weeks to re-​evaluate and see where things stand. I may need some physical therapy — we shall see.
I am very pleased with Dr. Dombrowski — his staff, facilities, and so forth. Everyone was professional, yet thoughtful, caring, nice. Their surgical center feels like you are in a hospital.
Still, it might have been fun to have Gregory House, MD come in so I could argue with him! :-)