POSTED UNDER Breast Reconstruction Revision REVIEWS
Awful. Rude, No Patience, Interruptive, Immature AND ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.
ORIGINAL POST
Awful. Rude, No Patience, Interruptive, Immature AND ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.
Dr wu is extremely arrogant and lacks a single sympathetic bone in her body. I had read online reviews about her cold, interruptive and rude bedside manner but I thought if she was a good enough surgeon I could get over that. I was wrong. Why UPenn allows this as they took her side with my complaints to them I’ll never know.
I met with her to revise a reconstruction that had fallen apart. She said I needed my implants removed, I agreed, she said I had a severe animation deformity, I agreed and she said I needed my nipples removed to which I disagreed. Her plan was to remove the implants and put expanders above the muscle and use alloderm after the correction of the symmastia and removal of the nipples. She said she would only add a little saline to the expanders and be prepared to wake up flat. I know I was left a mess by my previous surgeon but she allowed little input on my part and was interruptive when I’d try to ask questions.
Surgery seemed to go well. I woke up with expanders filled over 500 cc’s to my surprise but in a lot of pain. Surgery was a Friday in Philadelphia and I lived in Delaware. By day 5 I was sure I was infected as this wasnt my first go around so I made an appt and was driven up there to be told I was fine even though I registered a temp over 101 and when I asked for additional pain meds I was given 10 Tylenol w/ codeine. As the week went on I was more sick. Keeping in communication through phone I was told I was fine until finally at day 9 the oncall asked me to send a pic. I was told to get to the hospital immediate. Upon arrival I was running an extremely high fever and was tachycardic. I was infected with aggressive pseudomonas in my left breast and my breast was growing larger by the hour. The pain was excruciating. I lost my expander 2 days later. She immediately wanted to do a lat flap and I didn’t agree. That seemed a bit aggressive so soon and I realize because she would make so much more money. 3 weeks later after expressing concern about my right breast being infected I was again dismissed until she had no choice but to admit and I indeed had pseudomonas again. This time ultrasound showed a very fluid filled breast and the next night I was taken down wide awake for an incision and drainage. As a former surgical scheduler I never once scheduled this with the patient wide awake. I was scared and taken down to the basement for the procedure. The radiologist cheerfully showed me a crystal clear sample and we pleased to show me I was not infected. I knew he punctured my expander. Then I was left alone in the OR while everyone chatted in another area. He went back in and took another disgusting looking sample and I Knew before he confirmed it that he’d punctured my expander and the first sample
Was sterile expander fluid.
The doc comes to my room the night before the expander was to be surgically removed because it now couldn’t be saved and dr wu convinced me and my hubby that my sample was clean of bacteria and she wanted to put in the permanent implant. We expressed our disagreement but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She called my hubby after surgery instead of coming to me to explain she was unaware of the mistake with the puncture but still cut out my “infected alloderm” and cleaned the pocket and placed an implant that I didn’t want for fear of further infection.
Came home to a red breast after a few days and my primary insisted I see infectious disease who insisted I have the implant removed or have a picc line.
I was exhausted and throughout the entire process she was downright irritable, had no patience for my emotions as id lost more than I’d gained in this ordeal and am now flat as a board with nothing in my chest.
If you can handle her belittling attitude and impatience that she is your surgeon, she beat me down mentally and I wouldn’t recommend her to anyone in my shoes. It’s a shame because she came highly recommended due to her beautiful work. I won’t deny that but there were many opportunities for infection to be handled early on and not ignored but I was ignored and she is responsible for me being
Flat. I left the hospital with a HORRIBLE case of thrush. The pain was indescribable and was a result of all the antibiotics I was on. I don’t know where I’m going from here. Upenn wants nothing to do with this situation and has offered me my records for free. How generous of them.
I met with her to revise a reconstruction that had fallen apart. She said I needed my implants removed, I agreed, she said I had a severe animation deformity, I agreed and she said I needed my nipples removed to which I disagreed. Her plan was to remove the implants and put expanders above the muscle and use alloderm after the correction of the symmastia and removal of the nipples. She said she would only add a little saline to the expanders and be prepared to wake up flat. I know I was left a mess by my previous surgeon but she allowed little input on my part and was interruptive when I’d try to ask questions.
Surgery seemed to go well. I woke up with expanders filled over 500 cc’s to my surprise but in a lot of pain. Surgery was a Friday in Philadelphia and I lived in Delaware. By day 5 I was sure I was infected as this wasnt my first go around so I made an appt and was driven up there to be told I was fine even though I registered a temp over 101 and when I asked for additional pain meds I was given 10 Tylenol w/ codeine. As the week went on I was more sick. Keeping in communication through phone I was told I was fine until finally at day 9 the oncall asked me to send a pic. I was told to get to the hospital immediate. Upon arrival I was running an extremely high fever and was tachycardic. I was infected with aggressive pseudomonas in my left breast and my breast was growing larger by the hour. The pain was excruciating. I lost my expander 2 days later. She immediately wanted to do a lat flap and I didn’t agree. That seemed a bit aggressive so soon and I realize because she would make so much more money. 3 weeks later after expressing concern about my right breast being infected I was again dismissed until she had no choice but to admit and I indeed had pseudomonas again. This time ultrasound showed a very fluid filled breast and the next night I was taken down wide awake for an incision and drainage. As a former surgical scheduler I never once scheduled this with the patient wide awake. I was scared and taken down to the basement for the procedure. The radiologist cheerfully showed me a crystal clear sample and we pleased to show me I was not infected. I knew he punctured my expander. Then I was left alone in the OR while everyone chatted in another area. He went back in and took another disgusting looking sample and I Knew before he confirmed it that he’d punctured my expander and the first sample
Was sterile expander fluid.
The doc comes to my room the night before the expander was to be surgically removed because it now couldn’t be saved and dr wu convinced me and my hubby that my sample was clean of bacteria and she wanted to put in the permanent implant. We expressed our disagreement but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She called my hubby after surgery instead of coming to me to explain she was unaware of the mistake with the puncture but still cut out my “infected alloderm” and cleaned the pocket and placed an implant that I didn’t want for fear of further infection.
Came home to a red breast after a few days and my primary insisted I see infectious disease who insisted I have the implant removed or have a picc line.
I was exhausted and throughout the entire process she was downright irritable, had no patience for my emotions as id lost more than I’d gained in this ordeal and am now flat as a board with nothing in my chest.
If you can handle her belittling attitude and impatience that she is your surgeon, she beat me down mentally and I wouldn’t recommend her to anyone in my shoes. It’s a shame because she came highly recommended due to her beautiful work. I won’t deny that but there were many opportunities for infection to be handled early on and not ignored but I was ignored and she is responsible for me being
Flat. I left the hospital with a HORRIBLE case of thrush. The pain was indescribable and was a result of all the antibiotics I was on. I don’t know where I’m going from here. Upenn wants nothing to do with this situation and has offered me my records for free. How generous of them.
Replies (10)
January 21, 2019
That is awful that you were treated this way! I hope you’ve found a new competent AND caring doctor to help you fix what she did. Proud of you for getting your story out there and wish you the best. I hope to see a future update showing fantastic work by a caring doctor!

February 6, 2019
Thanks ladies. Luckily ID put me in touch with another local less arrogant dr for removal of the implant she shouldn’t have been put in. He removed it and also agreed to give my recon another try. While my case is complex we have nearly finished with my right side and will again soon start the left. New doc is 5
I know that women in the breast cancer community rave about NOLA. I am located in NY and my surgeon was absolutely wonderful. His name is Dr. Randall Feingold and he’s located in Long Island. You could also go on community.breastcancer.org to see about doctors in your area.
I would post this story on every site I could to let everyone know what type of doctor she is. You’ll be in my thoughts.