Surgery went well.
After checking into the hospital at 9am, we got all registered and then went up to day surgery. There were lots of things that needed to happen before surgery.
EKG
chest Xray
wiping down with sanitary cloth
blood drawn (to type in case I need a transfusion… A+!)
etc.
We had a great team with us today. Our good friends Kathryn and Don, my mother, and Jacqui’s parents drove ALL the way from Nashville to be with us during surgery. It was very special to have such good company!
The party in the holding room ended around noon, when a tech came to take me away to prep for surgery. The anesthesiologist gave me “I don’t care” medicine around 1:30, and surgery was scheduled to begin at 1:45.
Surgery took about 2.5 hrs, and the pathologist confirmed we had a good sample. I woke up between 6 and 630pm in recovery, and a very nice nurse gave me pain meds, because my chest hurt a LOT!
After awhile Jacqui got to come and see me, which was wonderful. Then Jacqui’s parents came in to see me which was also wonderful.
=============================
Unforunately, my hospital experience began to head south after that. No health issues or anything, just frustration with hospital staff, disconnected systems, poor communications, and lots of waiting.
I was supposed to be kept overnight. It turns out the hospital did not have a room for me. I was supposed to be on the 3rd floor, but there were no rooms available on the 3rd floor. They were going to move someone from the 3rd floor to the 5th floor so I could have a space, but they had to wait for the person in the room on the 5th floor to leave. We ended up not getting into a room until after 10:30PM. I was fairly close to irate for being kept in recovery for 4+ hours without other accommodations being made. I was the only person in recovery, and housekeeping was cleaning around us.
Evidently the nurses in recovery said this is not an uncommon occurrence, and that we should talk to a supervisor. Here we go again. I’m a patient, for crying out loud! If you want me to tell you how to run your hospital effectively, you should pay me. This is especially true when you talk to a supervisor about problems you experience, and their response to understand your frustration (GOOD), tell you that the system is broken (BAD), and that they can’t do anything about it (VERY BAD). Then they try to make up for it by pampering you, which sort of makes me feel better, but doesn’t fix the problem for me, and doesn’t fix the problem for patients before me and after me.
I’m very glad that I have learned how to be my own advocate when dealing with the medical system and the insurance company, but it is very frustrating to have to do that. It’s getting to the point where it gets me in a foul mood, and that’s not good for me or the people I’m around.
Even though I’m glad that I’ve learned how to be my own advocate, I wish I didn’t have to. I’d like to focus on becoming cancer free, NOT always having to be mistreated and pay the price for mistakes in a broken medical system. I shouldn’t have to do that. I should just be able to work on getting better. This is the real health care reform that needs to happen.
=============================
All that aside, I’m blessed by all your support, I think it is wonderful to hear from all of you, and a big thank you to all the goodness everyone is sending during this time. I should be out of the hospital sometime tomorrow.
Comments