Testimonial - Personalized Surgical Care

My name is Vikki Robertson. I am from Brookings, South Dakota. I've lived here my whole life.

Discovering Cancer

In October of last year I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and so my doctor, Dr. Vande Kop, recommended Dr. Oey-Devine for a total thyroidectomy.
 

Working with Dr. Oey-Devine

The thing I appreciated most was Dr. Oey-Devine approaching me directly instead of kind of around me where you can get that in some other, larger places. She's very personable. She was in... I only saw her. I didn't see another doctor working with her or a physician's assistant under her. It was only her and her nurse that I saw. She's very easy to talk to, she's very relaxed. She's very good at explaining the procedure and what's to follow and what to expect. I had very few questions with her.

Coming from a scary cancer situation that is I think very important to have in a doctor.

Advantages of  Local Surgery

I had recently had another procedure done in Sioux Falls and it was two trips to Sioux Falls a couple times a week for a couple weeks there and I was done with that. [Laughter]

Personalized Care

It's a smaller hospital so the staff treats you more by name than just a number on a chart. It's important because your staff is a little more catered to your individual needs and they're able to look after you a little bit better.

Recovery

I spent just one night in the hospital. My incision from my surgery has healed very well. I've had very few complications. I think during the procedure I think she was very thorough in what she was looking for and it was a very good experience for me.

Going Above and Beyond

One night I was feeling very weird and she had given me a list of symptoms to watch and I called the emergency room because it was late the night before Thanksgiving. And so I called the emergency room and they said well let's call Dr. Oey-Devine and we'll call you back. I think I had a phone call within 10 minutes and I was very impressed with that because it was the night before a holiday and she was there to kind of help me through that.

Would You Recommend Dr. Oey-Devine?

I would absolutely recommend anyone needing a general surgeon to go with Dr. Oey-Devine. Normally I would not do anything like this I will tell you that but I really like Dr. Oey-Devine.