Sidney Rath recently had knee replacement surgery at the Lakeshore. He and his wife Beverly kindly shared their story.
Beverly:
“Sid is an athlete, he’s had a few injuries. The knee was a long time coming. We kept putting it off and he finally relented and said he needed knee surgery. Actually, Dr. Abourbih, who’s an Emergency room physician here at the Lakeshore General and a friend of our son’s, noticed his walking. And he said, ‘Maybe you should think about a knee operation.’ And he recommended that he come to the Lakeshore to have surgery. Not knowing the hospital we said, why not? And we were pleasantly surprised with the kindness and the punctuality of everybody and everything that happened. Even coming back to the clinic, where Sid had to be seen post-op. It was just amazing. Just, just a wonderful experience to come here. I want to say that this hospital is foreign to us in the sense that we do not live in the West Island, but everybody here was so kind and punctual. It was refreshing. I liked it because I knew nobody and they didn’t know me. I worked in the medical field associated with the Jewish and we did a lot of favours for each other.”
Sidney:
“When I arrived, the day of the operation, I think I waited 15 minutes before I was admitted to the room to get prepared. And I just waited a few minutes there as well. And before you knew it, they were getting me prepped for the operation. And I do have to say one thing is, since I had a spinal, it’s a little scary in a way, with all the sounds and noises but everything went pretty well. I don’t think I was in a recovery more than an hour if I recall. And then I was put in a room and everything was
fine. I have no complaints, even the food—I don’t even usually eat hospital food—I complimented the guy that brought the tray ’cause I did have a piece of the fish that was great.
Beverly:
“But it was amazing how Doctor Thibodeau said she would be there the next morning when he was going to be discharged. She said, she’d be there at eight. She was there at eight. The physio was going to be there at nine. She was there at nine. I picked him up at 10. Everything was like clockwork. Very impressive. Incidental finding—they found he had sleep apnea. It was addressed. He had the machine within three days. And now we’re all sleeping better!”
