The Gift of Giving

My favorite part about the Holiday Season is the giving, seeing faces light up at a well-chosen, well-thought out gift. You are saying that you care – about that person’s preferences and passions – and you care enough to pay attention to know about them.
Then there is the giving that is about appreciation, such as the year-end bonuses, we give our staff. In addition, there is the giving for those who have fallen on hard times or being squeezed by the change in national financial decisions affecting inflation and increasing prices. This helping, when the other person can really give nothing in return but gratitude, is especially delightful. This type of giving motivates us to donate to Toys-for-Tots, to put some bills in the Salvation Army Santa’s Pot and to donate food to the Vet’s Shelter down the street.
The last type of giving is the gift you give to others when you graciously and authentically receive, and this gift is often more difficult for us, but should not be underestimated in the value and pleasure it gives others..
All of these types of giving define our place in the Divine Matrix, sending positive vibrations out to the Universe, and creating a constructive synergy, where, if you are open to receiving, with no expectations in return, the Universe rewards the generous heart.
May you and yours enjoy your giving and receiving, and be the Universe’s benefactors of all things good this Holiday Season!
May blessings rain down upon you!

The death of Angeles pitcher, Tyler Skaggs, of a drug overdose in 2019 was a revelation to some, but his was not an isolated case. He was given narcotics by a trainer to help ease his discomfort from a sports injury but continued taking the medication for “recreational use” after he was healed. I have seen and heard of patients of all socioeconomic groups, ages, religions and intelligence levels get hooked on narcotics following postoperative exposure to the medication. This is a MAJOR problem in the United States – since 1999, 932,000 people, almost a million people, have died of a drug overdose, many of these addictions initiated by well-meaning physicians for pain control. Death rates are currently skyrocketing due to the wide availability of a synthetic narcotic, fentanyl, at inexpensive prices. Fentanyl deaths in LA County have soared 1,280% since 2016. I did not wish to contribute to this national problem and have experimented with a variety of postoperative pain control methods over the years. I have not routinely prescribed narcotics for pain control for about 25 years. I now prescribe a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, Toradol, when more pain than can be handled by Tylenol is expected. When doing procedures where even more discomfort is to be expected (e.g. tummy tucks and breast augmentation procedures), for the past twenty years, I have inserted pain pump catheters which continue to instill local anesthetic solutions into the surgical site for the first few post-operative days. It is the most unusual patient who feels that their pain control needs are not met with pain pumps (strangely enough, those patients usually tell me before surgery that they will want postoperative narcotics!). With the pain pumps, no one gets constipated, no one feels brain fog and no one gets hooked on narcotics. Recently, I had a patient who thanked me profusely for not giving her narcotics after her surgery………she was kind enough to share her experience with you for this blog, and her story follows.
Thank you, Colleen! Dr. Bunkis

When I met Dr. Bunkis to discuss my breast surgery, he explained that he would do so without prescribing narcotics, and I was puzzled. When he spoke about a pain pump, I thought, “What is a pain pump”? He told me the pain pump catheters will be inserted at the end of my surgery, left in place for 3 days and that local anesthetics will manage my pain. He went on to tell me that the first three days after surgery are the most painful and the local anesthetic instilled by the pain pumps will see me through. Narcotic pain management is not an option for his patients. This was new news to me and it left me feeling concerned; however, I trusted him and decided to go with it.

All I knew about pain management was to stay ahead of the pain. With past surgeries, I was instructed to take the pain pills as soon as I get home and continue to take them every 4-6 hours. This left me in a foggy, sleepy mindset along with itchy skin, constipation and occasionally an upset stomach. I accepted this because it certainly seemed better than being in pain and, across the board, every surgeon I had encountered instructed the same. The most puzzling thing was that the pain pump he was talking about would only take care of pain for 3 days! Following previous surgeries, I would be on pain meds for weeks and my surgeon would be happy to call in more narcotics for me.

On a Monday morning, my surgery was finished. My husband was there to bring me home. On the drive home, I was in some discomfort, but my husband told me to hang in there and by the time we drive up to our home the pump’s medication should kick in. Truly, by the time we pulled into the garage I was feeling more comfortable. That day and into the evening, I was shocked. I felt no pain whatsoever. I was smiling and happy. The next day a repeat of the same joy, no pain. However, this is when I noticed that I was clear headed. I felt alert and in control of my recovery. I did not feel the side effects of the narcotics as in the past.

Third day we went into see Dr. Bunkis to check me and remove the pain pumps. That evening my husband and I took a walk around the lake close to our home. Toradol relieved any discomfort I had. I stopped using it on the 3rd day after the removal of my pain pump. This experience changed my life, I was off all pain management within 6 days! Then it hit me, why don’t all surgeons use this type of pain management? I felt compelled to write this to thank Dr. Bunkis for choosing a far healthier pain management tool and inform others there is a better way to recover.

Thank you Dr. Bunkis for caring and finding a healthier way for your patients to recover. I appreciate you!

Colleen Coffman

If you want to see if you can have any part of your body improved, contact us for a consultation:

For CA, please call 949-888-9700 or visit www.orangecountyplasticsurgery.com
Or for MA location, call 508-755-4825 or visit www.salisburyps.com
You can write to
Dr. Compoginis at Contact Us Form
Dr. Bunkis at Contact Us Form
or Dr. Ekstrom at [email protected]