So I had my EPP back in February at Karmanos in Detroit and I gotta say, picking the place was scarier than I thought it'd be. Stage I pleural, caught it early which I'm grateful for but that meant I had options and honestly too many options felt worse than none.
Here's what we actually looked at. First thing, did they do EPP or VATS regularly, not like once a year. I called three places and asked straight up how many procedures they do in a month. Karmanos was doing them pretty regular, like 8-12 a month depending. That mattered to me because I didn't want to be somebody's practice dummy, you know.
Second thing was whether they had a pulmonologist, a surgeon, and an oncologist who actually talked to each other. Not just three separate offices. My surgeon knew exactly what my oncologist was planning for chemo after surgery because they had tumor boards or whatever they call it. That made the whole thing feel less like getting shuffled around.
Third, and I can't stress this enough, ask about their post-op protocol. How often are you coming back for imaging. What's their complication rate for infection or fluid buildup. My place had me in for chest x-rays every two weeks the first two months. Some centers space it out more and that might be fine but I wanted the closer watching early on, especially since I work with my hands and didn't want to mess something up not knowing.
Also talk to other patients if you can. I got on here, asked around, and talked to two guys who'd been through EPP. That's worth more than any marketing material. One of them told me Karmanos was good but also told me the recovery sucked for him the first month and to expect that, which helped my head get ready for it.
Last thing, your insurance. Call them first. Make sure the center is in network because that bill is gonna be ugly and you don't want surprises. I almost went somewhere else until I checked and found out it was out of network. That would've cost me different.
I'm three months post-op now and doing alright. Still getting the tune-up scheduled but the surgery part went smoother than expected and I think picking a place that knew what they were doing made a real difference.