Dr. Mani Menon?

Dr. Menon has an excellent model and team of people to support him. He is the hallmark physician at Henry Ford as people all over the world seek his services. This is not a plug for him as I know many on the list have their favorites and don't like the promos. He is a "rock star" as they go so he will come into your life and leave it quickly because of the multitude of patients and events he must attend. You will see Dr. Menon once before surgery after seeing a resident or fellow who will have reviewed your records and preop. You will receive great attention and care just before being taken to the operating room. You will have multiple people involved on his team of 9 or so in the operating room who will come and speak with you. Dr. Menon typically is not scrubbed as he's sitting behind the robotic control panel doing the hard work of getting your prostate out, while others are doing the insertion of the laparoscopes and closing the small wounds. You will have about five or six in all. You will wake up likely not aware that you just had major surgery and may have some minor pain they will treat with medication. You should have minimal to no pain in 12 hours but will be bloated and likely constipated for as long as five days. Follow their instructions for diet the day/night before surgery. I didn't and I regretted it terribly. You should try to walk as soon as you are able. For me it was four hours post-op.

You will be taken to a surgical floor nicer than any other part of the hospital. Nancy Long and two nurse practitioners will be available to take care of and arrange for your transition when you leave the hospital. Any special needs you have just ask Nancy and she will do her best to get it done. The suprapubic catheter is a dream relative to a Foley and is used by Dr. Menon because his research indicates better post ED minimization using that method and it's way more comfortable. Whether any of that is scientifically proven who knows, but it's more comfortable so that's enough.

There will be two seminars you should attend, or at least there were in Aug 2010. The first, the day after your surgery before discharge, involves education on dealing with the catheter, understanding your pathology, and what to expect going forward a year or more in time. The second is an ED seminar where a drug rep may be present to offer his product which is cleared by Dr. Menon. In my case it was MUSE. They will suggest where to get your medications and since they are close to Canada, that "issue" will come up. They will have you sign papers and put you in touch with the reps for the "erection pump" and will get all of that arranged. You will leave with all necessary prescriptions. The catheter will remain in place for 7-8 days. Removal of that is usually a breeze but some experience immediate bladder spasms which may last 30-45 minutes or so. That happens in about 10% of patients and is nothing to worry about and is fleeting.

From this point forward, having direct contact with Dr. Menon is difficult. They are fully aware of the "panic" patients and those who get their pathology and have questions. Be sure to ask questions about your path report before you leave. The PAs are very knowledgeable but if you want a Dr's advice, ask for it and you shall receive it. Go to Nancy or Andrea if you are having problems. Nancy is the problem solver for Dr. Menon. They may offer you pre-operatively to participate in a clinical trial. I agreed to have a medication pump with an anti-inflammatory infused to the location of the prostate site in an attempt to minimize swelling and in hopes it would reduce post-op ed. You will not know whether you received the placebo or the real deal but it made sense to me and I did it. Two years later I got a letter telling me I got the real drug but it did not prove to be effective according to their research. So they did follow up as promised.

I personally (nor my wife) was not impressed with the next door accommodations. Temperature control in the rooms and general comfort were lacking (summer heat was killer in the 90s) so we moved to The Henry (previously the Ritz Carlton) who has special "comfort and care" arrangements and discounted rates for Dr. Menon's patients. They have two premium floors dedicated to high end travelers and to Dr. Menon's patients who are recuperating and offer great food and drink at no cost, including breakfast and snacks which are way more than snacks to say the least. The wine and liquor cabinets were stocked and available self serve if you are up to it (which I was after day two). The Henry is aware of diet restrictions, has a special menu for patients, and the staff on the two floors will watch quietly and offer you whatever you need.

I left Detroit for Maryland armed with everything I needed to know for the next year. I did have questions about my pathology which I got the day before I was set to leave (worse day of my life). I had ECE (focal) and when I looked it up on the internet while at the hotel to see what that meant I freaked out and started calling. They talked me off the ledge and Dr. Menon did speak with me and recited the statistics from Sloan Kettering that my cure chance was reduced by about 5% but he was confident in the success of the surgery. I wasn't sure in having the "Super VIP" whether that was appropriate in light of my pathology and wanted to know whether prostate specimens were sent intra operatively to pathology so they could consider changing courses and not sparing nerves. It was obviously too late and I didn't get a clear answer on this. I would ask that question if I were you.

They have great prostate pathologists there too. I had Jonathan Epstein, M.D. at Hopkins second read my preop pathology and when the postop path report was generated, I contacted Epstein again to see if he could review it since my Gleason was upgraded to 3=4 and I had the ECE. He asked who authored the Ford path report and when I told him Dr. Nalish Gupta, he said there was no need to rereview his findings because he knew Dr. Gupta, he was excellent, and his read was likely spot on. Dr. Gupta responded to emails with educated, high level explanations and re-reviewed the slides for me without an ounce of issue. He also explained his standard for "focal" EPE which varies from doctor to doctor.

Henry Ford sends questionnaires every three to six months to see how I'm doing. I imagine lots of out of towners fall out of touch but they do there best to keep track of their patients. Every patient is different so my experience may not be the model but it certainly was in all candor, having dealth with Hopkins for years, the best hospital and surgical experience I ever had and I'm no slouch when it comes to understanding and being critical of the "quality of care."

I hope all this helps and feel free to contact me directly if you have any more questions I might be able to answer.

BTW, looks like BillD may be on to something with the Hampton Inn idea. If I'm googling the right place, it's only 3 miles from the W. Bloomfield hospital location. Here's the address I found: 169 Loop Rd, Commerce Township, MI 48390. Let us know what you decide.

Bill, tell me more about your renting a recliner???

Post Edited (Steve N.) : 3/25/2013 2:50:33 AM (GMT-6)

We stayed at the apartments on campus. Very nice. Two bedrooms, living room, kitchen. It was not luxurious, but perfect for our purposes. I did a lot of walking in the hall.

Mel

Steve:

If you are a sports fan, absolutely visit Comerica Park. The Tigers are fun to watch.

Also, the Detroit Art Institute (http://www.dia.org/)

Visit Greektown -- lots of great places to eat and some great casinos too.

Hope that helps

Mel

Thanks for the warning. Had a meal in the cafeteria looking out over the helipad. Are the apts. directly across or to the left?