Hurry up and wait
So I'm sitting here at Swedish Hospital and it's 11 AM. My surgery was scheduled for 8:30 AM. I still have all my body parts, and it looks like I'm going to be stuck with them for at least another four hours. I am *extremely* annoyed.
I was up at 5 AM to be here by 6:30 AM. They checked me in, got me into a nice cosy tissue-paper gown, and left me in a chilly curtained alcove to wait. And wait. And wait. At about 8 AM a nurse informed me that my surgeon had had to do an emergency surgery at another hospital, so my surgery was "a bit delayed".
Just a bit.
At 10 AM I finally went up to the desk and demanded to know what was up. I had this nasty feeling I had been "bumped" and nobody had thought to tell me. And, that's pretty much what had happened. Because of Dr. B's emergency surgery, we missed our 8:30 AM operating room slot. And, all the ORs at Swedish are booked solid until 3 PM today. So, even though Dr. B is now available, she can't operate on me because there's no OR and no anesthesiologist available till 3. They are "hoping" they can get me in at 3.
Meh.
It's funny, I've handled all the cancer news and tests and everything with a fair degree of equanimity. But when I found out I had been "bumped" out of my scheduled surgery time and nobody could tell me anything about when they could reschedule it, I lost it and actually started crying at them. I'm sure part of my problem was that I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 10 PM last night, and I was parched and starving and cold and have a caffeine-withdrawal headache and I just wanted to get ON with it, already.
Okay, I'm done whining. Thanks for listening :-)
So now I'm dressed in street clothes again, sitting in a comfortable chair in the relatively warm hospital lobby (where they have free wireless :-) and am waiting for 2 PM to crawl around so I can go back to the nice cold alcove and get ready for surgery again. I can't have any water, not even a sip, or any food; but I can sit here with my family and my alligator and my laptop and at least be comfortable and entertained.
I was up at 5 AM to be here by 6:30 AM. They checked me in, got me into a nice cosy tissue-paper gown, and left me in a chilly curtained alcove to wait. And wait. And wait. At about 8 AM a nurse informed me that my surgeon had had to do an emergency surgery at another hospital, so my surgery was "a bit delayed".
Just a bit.
At 10 AM I finally went up to the desk and demanded to know what was up. I had this nasty feeling I had been "bumped" and nobody had thought to tell me. And, that's pretty much what had happened. Because of Dr. B's emergency surgery, we missed our 8:30 AM operating room slot. And, all the ORs at Swedish are booked solid until 3 PM today. So, even though Dr. B is now available, she can't operate on me because there's no OR and no anesthesiologist available till 3. They are "hoping" they can get me in at 3.
Meh.
It's funny, I've handled all the cancer news and tests and everything with a fair degree of equanimity. But when I found out I had been "bumped" out of my scheduled surgery time and nobody could tell me anything about when they could reschedule it, I lost it and actually started crying at them. I'm sure part of my problem was that I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 10 PM last night, and I was parched and starving and cold and have a caffeine-withdrawal headache and I just wanted to get ON with it, already.
Okay, I'm done whining. Thanks for listening :-)
So now I'm dressed in street clothes again, sitting in a comfortable chair in the relatively warm hospital lobby (where they have free wireless :-) and am waiting for 2 PM to crawl around so I can go back to the nice cold alcove and get ready for surgery again. I can't have any water, not even a sip, or any food; but I can sit here with my family and my alligator and my laptop and at least be comfortable and entertained.