Through Her Eyes: Patient’s Wife Shares More about Her Husband’s Visit at Shelby Baptist

Learn more about a robotic colon resection patient, a procedure to help those who suffer with a damaged part of the colon, and read about his and his wife’s experience at Shelby Baptist Medical Center.

In early October of last year, Denise Glenn, wife of Timothy Glenn, had to take her husband of 28 years to the emergency room at Shelby Baptist Medical Center.

“We didn’t know what was going on with my husband, but we knew we had to get to the ER,” she said. With safe measures in place for non-COVID patients, Glenn and her husband were taken care of by the team at Shelby Baptist to diagnose the problem.

“I was crying, thinking to myself, ‘my husband and my son are my world’ and I just wanted him to be okay,” she said.

Soon after, Dr. Wes Love, general surgeon, affiliated with Shelby Baptist, walked in to share the diagnosis with Timothy and his wife.

Essentially, Timothy had colorectal issues that were causing him pain and would need to undergo surgery. Not expecting her husband to need surgery, Denise’s emotions were apparent and she recalled Dr. Love’s next statement being one that meant a lot to her.

“I want you to know I will take care of your husband like I would my own family,” Dr. Love said.

Dr. Love proceeded with surgery and soon after, Timothy began his road to recovery. But, there was one memorable story during Timothy’s hospital visit that Denise said she won’t ever forget.

“I remember when Tim got his food tray and he was served some regular milk that came in a dark colored carton, which he was excited about thinking it was chocolate milk. But, sadly, he was mistaken. So when Dr. Love came in, they joked about it and even Dr. Love said, ‘Aww, man, I would have thought it was chocolate milk too,’” she said. “Soon after Dr. Love left, we heard a knock on the door and it was him with some chocolate milk for Tim. It’s just the little things that he did, that he didn’t have to do, that made a tough experience just a little brighter.”

Timothy shares his wife’s sentiments about the care he received from Dr. Love and the nursing staff.

“I appreciate the care of the team at Shelby Baptist, including Dr. Love and (the) nursing staff,” he said. “I am continuing to recover well and express a great deal of gratitude to all those involved in my care.”

The next step on Timothy’s journey would be to become Dr. Love’s first full robotic colon resection at Shelby Baptist. This surgery had to take place after Timothy went through some healing from the first procedure, so it was scheduled for Jan. 8, 2021.

Many of the benefits of robotic surgery are a smaller scar for the patient and faster recovery times. Denise said she felt they also had a good experience during this visit as well.

“Dr. Love just has a way to make you feel like you are one of the most important thing(s) he has going on,” she said.

Being in the healthcare field, Denise said she is a tough critic, but she was impressed with the team at Shelby Baptist, including nurses Maria and Sheila.

Currently, Timothy is keeping up with his follow-up visits and doing well on his road to full recovery. Denise said there was a surgical procedure she was thinking of having and had been delaying. But, after such a great experience with Dr. Love and his office, she had the procedure done in March of this year (2021).

“The care team has just been so good to us and we are grateful,” Denise said.

Denise and Timothy will celebrate their 29th anniversary this year and have one son, Noah, 21.