Terry Streetman (Host): Welcome back to Well Within Reach, presented by Riverside Healthcare. I'm Terry Streetmen, Marketing and Communications representative, and we're here today with Dr. Steven Groene, General Surgeon with Riverside Medical Group to discuss Riverside's Surgical Services and preparing for and recovering from surgery.

Thanks for joining us.

Steven Groene, MD: It's my pleasure. Thank you for allowing me to be here.

Host: Absolutely. Before we get started, we will take a quick break for a message about MyChart.

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Host: And we're back. Welcome back to the podcast, Dr. Groene. It's been a little while since you were here. Can you remind us and our listeners about your background and your role?

Steven Groene, MD: Sure. So, I was actually born and raised in a small town in Kansas, 18 years. I was then fortunate enough to be able to go to the University of Notre Dame for my undergraduate experience. I then went out to the east coast, went to University of Virginia for medical school, came back to the Midwest for my residency training in surgery at University of Indiana and Indianapolis, and then had two more years of extended training for minimally invasive or small surgery incision as well as big, ventral hernia repairs with Dr. Hannaford out in Charlotte, North Carolina at Carolina's Medical Center. Worked in Kansas for a few years and then ultimately ended up here at Riverside. My wife wanted to be a little closer to family in the Chicago area. So currently I am a general and trauma surgeon at Riverside in Kankakee.

Host: Excellent. Well, sounds like a long journey, but we're glad it brought you here. So what is it that attracted you then to surgery as your field of practice?

Steven Groene, MD: That's an absolutely wonderful question. When I was a junior or senior in high school, I had a lot of ill family members and so I spent a fair amount of time, not necessarily as a patient, but in the hospital setting with my family members.

And I got to know some of the nurses and some of the doctors and I actually really enjoyed what they did and it really kind of appealed to me. I wasn't convinced at that time that medicine was what I wanted to do, but it definitely was something new in my mind. And then at Notre Dame, one of the best things that I think Notre Dame offers is that your first year you do kind of just a broad range of classes there. You don't actually go on your track for what you want to major in until your second year. And so I had to do a lot of classes. I did theology classes, psychology, political science, business classes and, and some science classes and honestly, what appealed to me was the sciences. So I then I went into biology, kind of decided at that point, I think medicine's what I want to do. And then between my junior and senior year at Notre Dame and my sophomore and junior year at Notre Dame, I was able to shadow my hometown surgeon and I just fell in love with what he did.

I loved his hands-on approach. The fact that people got better with what he did, and frankly, it was just awesome what he did. And so I was like, okay, I think surgery's where I want to be in all of this. I did my due diligence in my medical school, and I tried to keep an open mind for all of the other rotations we did. Psychiatry, pediatrics, internal medicine. But at the end of the day, surgery is what just I fell in love with and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Host: Awesome. Well, I'm glad that you figured all that out and had the opportunity to try so many things. So you landed then here in general surgery, that by its very nature is a bit of a general term. So can you explain what general surgery includes for people who might not be familiar?

Steven Groene, MD: So the best way I like to think of the term general surgery is that we do everything but essentially bones, brains, and heart. So to go along with that, some of the procedures I do personally and general surgeons in general do, some of the most common ones; gallbladder surgery is actually the most common surgery we do. Appendix surgery for appendicitis, hernias, belly button, groin, other places on your abdominal wall. I do surgeries on intestines, both large and small for both non-cancerous and cancerous reasons.

Same with breast. I do breast surgery for cancerous and non-cancerous disease processes, thyroid and parathyroid surgery, which are glands up in your neck. A couple of things I personally do that my partners don't do are surgery on the stomach, it's called a hiatal hernia, where part of the stomach goes up into the chest, it can cause issues with heartburn and reflux.

Another thing I do is I partner with one of our neurosurgeons here in town, Dr. Juan Jimenez, and I help obtain exposure of the lower spine for him so that he can do a disc replacement for patients who have disc disease. And I was actually just talking with him about this and he said that we are actually one of the busiest small hospitals in the greater, Chicago area.

So obviously not counting Rush and other places like that, but for a community hospital. He said we actually do a significant amount of those. So that's something that we've really built up. Other things that we do, I do trauma surgery, so occasionally we have to do emergency things for people who come in with a bad car wreck.

They may be bleeding from their spleen or have been gunshot wound and need major surgery for that. We do some slightly smaller things. Sometimes if a lung is collapsed, we'll put in a chest tube, we'll put in something called a port, which helps with chemotherapy. And then we do a lot of what we call lumps and bumps is best way to call it, where we drain abscesses, cut out lipomas or cysts and even do some minor surgery for skin cancers, things like that.

There's probably a few other things that I haven't thought about, but those are really the big things that we do as general surgeons and that I personally do.

Host: Okay. My next question was going to be what are some of the most common procedures? You kind of covered that there, so unless there's other procedures you want to share about, we can move right on past that. Thank you. Yep. And that's, such a wide variety. I get why it's called general surgery. But it's great that we can offer those services here in our community. Alright, well if somebody is anxious about needing surgery, it's a pretty big thing sometimes, or it can be, you know, it sounds like there are some minor ones.

What would you say to somebody who's anxious about a surgical procedure?

Steven Groene, MD: First and foremost, I tell patients having some nerves and anxiety is extraordinarily normal and expected with surgery. Surgery is a very intimate, invasive, and quite honestly, oftentimes permanent change to somebody's body.

And now, change in a good way to make them better and healthier, but still it's a permanent change and invasive. And so I always tell patients, if you're not a little bit nervous about having surgery, I'm nervous about having surgery or that you're not nervous. And I tell them, if I was in their shoes and I'm being sincere, that I'd be a little nervous.

I trust surgeons. I trust the surgery process, I trust anesthesia, but even then I'd be a little bit nervous about it. So very normal, very expected. And then it's my job to try to, I don't want to say minimize their concerns, but try to diminish their concerns. And so there's a lot of things I do. First, when I first meet a patient, I always tell them all we're doing today, we're just having a conversation.

We're building a relationship, we're building a rapport. We don't have to do any procedure today unless it's a minor one and they want to, and we don't have to decide on surgery today. Now, a lot of times patients have come to see me, they're like, nah, I want to just get surgery done. But I try to let them know I'm not here to sell them.

I'm here to talk. We're here to just have a relationship and a conversation. Other things I do, I try to use words and, language they understand. So, for example, if I'm talking to them about a gallbladder surgery, I say, Hey, I think we should take out your gallbladder with little incision surgery. That's going to help you recover quicker.

Versus saying, I think you need a robotic assisted laparoscopic cholecystectomy that they don't understand and that just can make them a little bit more anxious. And then honestly, I try to be very upfront and truthful with them about my experience and my comfort level. I, I guess I'm fortunate that I look younger than I am, and so I have a lot of patients ask how many of certain types of procedures I've done, and I'm very honest with them.

If I've done hundreds, I tell them that. If I've done 10. I tell them, and I am truthful to them that there are certain things that I don't feel comfortable with, and honestly, a community hospital like Riverside, we just can't. There are some very involved surgeries with the liver, the pancreas, the esophagus.

Those are just things that need to be done at a tertiary center and need to be transferred there for higher level of care. And so I'm very honest and upfront with them that if it's something I don't feel comfortable with, I'll get them to who they need to be. But again. That's a long answer to anxiety and nerves expected and a part of the process, but things are okay.

Host: Okay. Well I think that personal touch makes a big difference to people, building that relationship ahead of time. And that's something I think that you get here at Riverside that you might not get at other places, potentially. Something right here in the community with people who are from the community.

Steven Groene, MD: Absolutely. I agree with that.

Host: So before we move on, we're going to take a moment to discuss the importance of primary care. Consistency is being able to count on someone to be there when you need them. At Riverside Healthcare, your primary care provider is dedicated to being in your corner, helping you and your family stay healthy and thrive.

Find the right primary care provider for you at myrhc.net/acceptingnew. From annual screenings to well checks and everything in between, having a primary care provider you can trust makes all the difference. Okay, so we're going to move on here. It's a great lead in from your last question.

What kind of things should patients be asking to determine if surgery is right for them? Asking either you or their referring provider or their primary care provider?

Steven Groene, MD: I think before they even ask a question or before they even come to see me, I think they need to do their own homework. And I explain that to patients and I try to have the primary doctors explain that to them. So I think have some ownership in your own healthcare. Know at least a little bit about what's going on and, some of the options nowaday. And I don't expect them to have the full gamut of things, but just have at least a rudimentary idea and to use a website that is validated. So when I'm talking to patients, I try to use the best data out there. I try to use the standard of care that I think based on the data out there. And so again, there are some websites that are better and worse. So for example, if you have a cancer, go to MD Anderson or Mayo Clinic.

If you have breast cancer, go to Susan G. Komen. If you have other pathology, use some local places. I think Northwestern, University of Chicago, Rush all have very good websites that again, are validated and are written by practitioners, nurses, doctors. So the data in that is I think, much more believable and trustworthy than going to other websites, but have an idea so that when you do come to see me, then we can really get into the nitty gritty.

And so some of the things that I want people to ask, again, options, what are the options? Now, most of the time when you're coming to see me, it's surgery, but there are oftentimes non-surgical options for potential surgical things. So knowing what those options are, both surgical, non-surgical. Within surgery, know again, what kind of options are there. Can we do this with, again, minimally invasive or small surgery incision, or do we need to do this with a big incision? Ask about the pros, the cons, the risks, the benefits of surgery and non-surgical options. For example, one of the biggest changes, mostly in Europe right now, but it's kind of sinking into the United States is, how do we treat appendicitis?

It used to be a hundred percent you have surgery and that's how you take treat it. Our colleagues in Europe, again, are pushing a little bit more to try to see, hey, can we just treat this with antibiotics alone? The data in my opinion's okay. But it's not great. And so for most part here in the United States, we're still quote unquote aggressive about doing surgery.

But again, being able to have that conversation with the patient and them being sincere, what are the pros, the cons of surgery versus not doing surgery for something like that. Other things to ask about, ask about recovery. So again, as important as the surgery itself, the risks of surgery, having a good idea and understanding of what is the recovery really going to be like, how long am I going to have restrictions? What are those restrictions? How much pain am I going to have? Other things to kind of look out for and keep an eye on. But again, knowing and asking questions about the recovery, in my opinion, is as important as asking questions about the surgery itself. One thing that I have learned is trying to help patients figure out when surgery is not the best option.

When we were training as residents, basically everything was a nail in the world and we were the hammers. So surgery was always the right answer every time. And as I've gotten out in my own practice, I think one of the hardest things for me, but important things is really learning when to tell a patient, surgery really is not your best option. These are better options for you. And then finally, being honest and upfront with the patient. That no question is a bad question or a stupid question or a dumb question. If you have a question, ask it, please. I'd much rather you ask that question and I can give you a simple answer than you holding that question in and having that as the stress as you're working up and leading up to surgery.

So if you have a question, ask it. But those are some of the big questions I think patients need to ask.

Host: Excellent. Well then let's say, you know, we've had the meeting, we've asked all the questions. Surgery is, the way that we're taking forward. What can people do to prepare leading up to an operation, to make sure that things go smoothly?

Steven Groene, MD: So I think kind of to piggyback on what we just talked about, first thing is being prepared when you see the surgeon. So again, asking those questions, what are the risks? What are the benefits? What are the recovery going to be? Have that rapport, that relationship, have those questions you had answered.

So that's first. Secondly, kind of goes into a part A, part B, and that's kind of work, social, Almost always when we do surgery, you're going to have some recovery time. It's going to have some restriction to that in terms of what activities you can and can't do. Obviously the majority of people that we do surgery on have a job, and so having all of that planned out and done before you even get to surgery is huge.

When I see patients, I oftentimes ask them, do you need a note from me for your employer? Do you have any FMLA paperwork that we can help you fill out, but have all of that set up so that when you're done with surgery and recovering, you have that time off that you need to heal and recover. It's not another stress that you have to worry about figuring out how am I going to get the time off I need from work?

And again, kind of part B to that is a social situation. So a lot of people are very independent. Some people live alone. Understanding surgery for the most part. Now, again, depending on the surgery, is going to be a little different, but you're probably going to need a little bit of help for at least a few days after surgery.

And you may even need somebody to stay with you. So if you live alone, know you may need to stay with a family member or a friend, or vice versa. Have them stay with you a few days, or at least at worst, you know, at most have a neighbor that comes and can see and check on you a couple times a day just to make sure you're doing okay.

Being able to have your house set up. So for example, some people, most people have their bedrooms on the upper floor. They have to take steps to get to it. Now, not always is that a problem, but some surgeries, either you don't feel comfortable going up and down stairs or you just can't. So knowing, all right, I'm going to have to sleep on the couch or in a recliner.

Just to have all those kind of things set up before, that way again, those are not stresses you're worrying about. And then to kind of go on with that, if you know you're having a surgery where you're going to be in the hospital for a few days after recovering, have things set up. One of the things, at least when emergency surgery happens, people ask about is, well, what do I do about my pets?

 And it's a valid question, but when you know you're going to have surgery and need to be in the hospital, have things like that set up. Have somebody be able to come walk your pets and feed your pets, get your mail, those kind of things. So that's part B or the second part. Third part, get yourself prepared mentally, however, that is for you.

If you are a religious person and prayer is an important part of your life, pray, get yourself mentally prepared in that way. If not, go work out, go do yoga, go do mindfulness practices, go walk in the park, go enjoy life and nature. Just get yourself mentally prepared. And then finally, prepare yourself physically or in body.

Again, surgery is intervention on the body. And so I bring my A game when I do surgery. I want the patient to be optimized as they can for surgery. That could mean many different things. One, if you use tobacco products, cigarettes, try to stop those the best you can. Some surgeries, we actually have to make that a mandatory, you have to be not smoking or using tobacco products for at least a month before surgery.

Because we know it just has bad outcomes. And similarly, with some recreational drugs and particular marijuana, now that it's become a little more commonplace, there are newer and newer data coming out that say, you know what? There may be some issues with recovery after surgery if you're doing recreational drugs and some are just unsafe and we have to cancel surgery if you're using them.

So try to stop those. In certain situations, weight loss may be a part of that process. It's not always necessary, but there are times where weight loss is going to be something that's going to help. And there's good data that shows if you do need to lose that weight, your recovery is better, your surgery is safer.

And then finally, if you have the means, there's very, very good data. It's called ERAS, which means enhanced recovery after surgery. It's a systematic approach to recovery and if you can take a protein shake once a day for the week leading up to surgery, like a Boost or an Ensure and I know not everybody can, but if you have, that means the data shows that your recovery is much better if you're able to do that for a week before surgery.

Host: Wow. Well that was a lot of good, helpful stuff and I'm glad people know that. I'm sure that helps with some of the anxiety when you have all those things in order before you go in. And I will personally say having filled out FMLA paperwork, that definitely caught my ear because that is definitely a real process to do that long term disability and that kind of stuff.

So that's great that y'all help with that.

Steven Groene, MD: Of course.

Host: Some of those preparation things that you talked about also sort of played into the after surgery, improving recovery and outcomes. Is there more on that subject that you want to share?

Steven Groene, MD: One of the most important things people can do after surgery is just be active. We were meant as humans to be active creatures, not stagnant and sedentary creatures, and so be as active as you can. Again, understanding there's going to be some pain that's going to be restrictive.

There's going to be some postoperative restrictions that the surgeons put on you, but again. As safely and comfortably as you can be active. I believe very, very strongly in that if you don't use it, you lose it kind of mentality. And what do I mean by that? Honestly, if you sit around and really are sedentary for a week, when you finally get up to move around, number one, it's going to be way more painful doing it at that moment than doing incremental increases.

And B, you're going to be a week behind in terms of your recovery. It's just a reality. And so again, as just discussed, I think incremental increases is really the most important thing to do. So, for example, on day two, if you walked around your house twice, on day three, try to walk around three times and just slowly, incrementally increase it and try to do any and all daily activities that you can personally. So again, walk around your house, walk outside if it's nice and you're again able to, depending on the surgery. Go to the bathroom, get up, go to the kitchen, get yourself a snack. Get yourself a drink. Again, sometimes you may need somebody to help you, but the more you can do that, the better off you're going to be.

And then finally, being active is going to be helpful in terms of minimizing some of the complications of surgery. Surgery recovery can be a tough process and a painful process, but two things that activity really minimizes is pneumonia and blood clots. And so if you can be active and minimize the risk for those complications, you're going to be much, much more helpful to yourself in terms of recovery.

So number one, be active. Number two, kind of discussion that you had with your surgeon before, but have realistic expectations about the recovery process, about the pain, about how long it's going to take until you're back to who you were before. Again, a lot of people are very independent and some of the recovery, the ones that are the most challenging for patients aren't when they're having pain or discomfort.

It's like, I want to go out, I want to mow, I want to work on my car. I want to work in the garden or whatever it is that they want to do, go golf. Sometimes, that's the hardest part for them. It's not the pain, it's the waiting and not being able to do what they want to do. So I think just having that mindset of, okay, the pain is temporary. The restrictions and this process is a temporary thing, and at the end of this process, I'm going to be in a better place and a better situation than I was before this. So just that positive mindset and being truthful and honest about the pain. And one thing that I've learned and I'm trying to really do better at, is helping patients with pain.

 We do a lot more minimally invasive surgery now, laparoscopic robotic. It's hard for me to explain to patients that while your incisional pain may be a little bit less, on the inside, I'm still doing a surgery as if I made a big incision, and so, long-term, I think patients heal and recover significantly faster and have less pain overall.

But those first three, four or five days, the pain's going to be as similar as if you've had a major big incision surgery. So again, those are the kind of things that if people have that understanding, okay, first few days are going to be rough. But because I had little incision surgery, I'll be much better within a couple of weeks versus six weeks.

So that's something that I think people, if they have that good positive mentality and truthfulness to themselves, help their recovery. To kind of go along with that pain regimen, I very much strongly believe in a multimodal pain regimen. Almost everybody that we do surgery on, we send them home with some oral narcotics.

I think that's very appropriate and very important for most people. Again, it helps them be active and do what they need to do. But there are side effects with these narcotics. They can cause you to be severely constipated. They can make you very drowsy and sleepy and so then you aren't as active. And so I think trying to use other things to go along with that is very important.

Some of the easiest things are what we have done and are tried and true, ice and heat, honest to goodness, for most people, that's a great addition. If you have a lot of swelling, use ice, it really does help. If you have some muscle soreness, use heat. It really does help. Use an anti-inflammatory if you can, like an ibuprofen or something of that nature.

Most of the pain that we have after surgery is related to the inflammation that the surgery does to the body. And so if you can take a medication that minimizes what's actually causing the pain, it really helps and works synergistically with the narcotic. The narcotic blocks the pain receptor, then you have the ibuprofen or the anti-inflammatory that minimizes that inflammation.

And if you were to use those two together, it really synergistically helps decrease your pain. And so I always recommend to patients every few hours, take the narcotic, three to four hours later if you need something for pain, take the anti-inflammatory. And I think doing those two things together really, really helps.

And then finally, something I've really grown to love and like to use over the last six months to a year, local topical pain. So use a lidocaine patch or Icy Hot. If there's one area where it's just really uncomfortable, focus some pain relief right to that area. It gives good relief and it doesn't have those same systemic side effects.

And so I've really pushed for those kind of things over the last six months to a year of my career. So those are things to do. And then finally, I think a huge part in terms of recovery, trust yourself, trust your body. Patients know themselves and their bodies better than anybody else is ever going to, and so if you sincerely don't feel like you're recovering the way you feel you should, whether that means you think you have more pain than you think you should, you're more weak or lethargic or tired, or you're not eating as well, your bowels aren't working as well, especially if you've had a bowel surgery, you're concerned about incisions; please call your surgeon. I would much rather see you a little bit earlier than the usual two to three week follow up and be able to reassure you, okay, this is a little different. This isn't how most people recover, but this is normal for you. This is okay. You're recovering fine. I'd rather that reassurance than they're concerned, but they don't want to bug their surgeon and then they come in in two or three weeks and they have a major complication, they have an infection of their incision, or God forbid they have something even worse going on. That is a bad problem then we're two to three weeks behind the eight ball on a major complication that then we have to take care of, and that's just going to push your recovery back that much more.

So again, trust yourself if you really feel like you're not recovering the way you think you should. It's much better to call your surgeon, be seen, be reassured than to wait it out and then actually have a bad problem.

Host: Okay. I feel like you've touched on several of these when it comes to, you know, the drug use and the not being active and all that. Are there other common mistakes people make regarding preparation and recovery?

Steven Groene, MD: So this is a good question. Just to kind of quickly reiterate everything really in a quick fashion about what to do. So before, again, not doing your homework, not asking questions, not really getting everything out of your interaction with your surgeon. Not understanding what are the risks, what are the benefits, what are the options, what's the recovery going to be like? In terms of recovery, again, the really, the big thing is just not being active. Having a good mental mindset of what should I expect? What's recovery going to be like? It's going to be temporary. And then again, not calling your surgeon. I think that is one big thing that I wish more people would do and my nursing staff does a great job. Usually within 48 hours, they call almost every patient to see how they're doing, and they're very honest. If the patient tells them that they're a little nervous or the nursing staff does a great job of reaching out, and so if I need to get them in, day three or four, I'll do that. But I think those again, are just kind of the highlights of mistakes people can make.

Host: Alright. Are there things that people are surprised about when it comes to the surgical process?

Steven Groene, MD: There are actually. I think one of the biggest surprises is that they find out that we, as general surgeons are human. And maybe this was a little more truthful 30, 40 years ago, but I think some people have this idea that we're robots, that all we care about is surgery. You come in. We say you have gallbladder problem, you need gallbladder out and obviously surgery is an important part and you're not seeing us if that wasn't it.

But we are human and we have feelings and emotions, and we care about you as a whole human, as a whole person. We understand you, may be a husband or a wife, you may be a sibling, you may be a parent, most of the time you have a job. And that's an important part, the social aspect of everything.

And so I think patients are a little bit surprised when they come in. And our goal is just to have a relationship and a rapport with them. And again, talk about the surgery but care about them as a whole human. And to kind of go on with that is that we're not going to just abandon them. And so I think a lot of times people think, oh, they're going to see me, they're do surgery, and that's it.

We want to be a part of your process until you're all the way through that process. Now, are we going to have the same relationship as you do with your primary care physician? No. But again, if you recover in four weeks, that's great. If it takes you 8, 12, 16 weeks, we're going to be with you through it all, and we're going to never abandon you.

And to even go on with that. If you have something that's a complication related to your surgery, for example, I did a belly button hernia repair on you, and three years later it comes back. I want to know about that. I want to be a part of that process to get that fixed and figured out. So one, I think they just are honestly a little surprised that we actually do care about them more than just what they're here for, which is their surgical problem.

Secondly, and this is huge kudos to my office and the nursing staff; patients find that our office is actually one of the easiest offices to get ahold of people, to get somebody to answer the phone, give them an answer. Now, not always is the answer, you know, a permanent answer, but even if it's as easy as, thank you for letting us know, we'll reach out to the doctor and either we'll get back to you or they'll get back to you in a timely fashion.

I don't know how many times I've had patients, honestly tell me, somebody always answers the phone. We always get at least an answer that we're satisfied with. Early on and then the process continues. But kudos to the office for that. But I do think people find it surprising that the surgery office is one of the easiest to reach out to.

And then finally, and it has to do with the age we live in, but the fact that 99% of surgery process is smooth sailing. I think we live in an age again, where with TV and the internet, you know, if you watch TV, if you've had this type of surgery, or if you've had this mesh kind of placed, please call one 800 lawyer because you can be entitled.

So I think people get this idea that, oh, there's a lot of possible risk out there. And similar to online. It's a change and it's an important change to be able to be able to review physicians and surgeons, and I understand that, but I think one of the caveats to that, and it doesn't just deal with surgery, but anytime somebody leaves a review, almost always, the reviews that are left are people who had either an exceptional experience or had the worst experience in the world. Most of the people who have the expected experience start to finish, don't leave reviews. So again, I think patients sometimes come in with a little bit of a negative connotation that, oh man, it's going to be worse than I think it's going to be.

Oh, there's going to be a complication. And then, like I said, 99% of the time they come in, they have the surgery, they recover exactly as discussed and expected. And so I think truthfully, some people are a little surprised that it actually, for the most part is that straightforward.

Host: Alright, well that's a good chance to plug, you know, making sure you go and do those reviews, whether it's through the ones you get sent to you or Google reviews, whatever it is. It's always great for our folks to hear that feedback and to make sure people know where to go. So we are almost at the end here. Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to add?

Steven Groene, MD: I just want to say again, thank you so much for allowing me to be here and talk about my passion, surgery. It's my love. I want to let everyone know that I really enjoy working at Riverside. I enjoy my partners and I'm grateful that I'm able to be a physician here in this community and take care of the great people of the Greater Kankakee, Bourbonnaise, Bradley area, and if you have any questions about surgery or you need any kind of potential surgical intervention, please don't hesitate to come see me in the office. I'd be happy to sit with you and talk with you and build that relationship we've been talking about.

Host: Awesome. Well, thank you so much again for joining us and talking through this process with us, so people can know a little bit more about the surgical process and the way that Riverside and the surgical team and sort of the organization as a whole can work together to help them tackle these issues and recover from them well. So thanks again.

Steven Groene, MD: It's been my pleasure. Thank you.

Host: So for our listeners, if you'd like to learn more about Riverside Surgical Services, you can visit myrhc.net/surgery. Thanks for tuning into Well Within Reach, presented by Riverside Healthcare. Please take a moment to rate and leave a review for Well Within Reach on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

To learn more about Riverside, visit riversidehealthcare.org.