My sense of speed and the modern medicine sense of speed are two different things. They say cancer, and I want to show up the next day for the surgery that will certainly make it all go away. When Dr. Salvay said I needed a D+C, it was supposed to be "next week." It was five weeks later. When they said 2 p.m., it did not happen until 8 p.m. The biopsy results were supposed to happen four business days after the d+C. It was a week later that Dr. Salvay called with the bad news.
The surgery was scheduled for April 16. They called the next day to move it up a day to April 15. Of course, I had to be "cleared for surgery." "Cleared for Surgery" turned out to be a danger zone, because of of an EKG I had on Feb. 18 that was read as abnormal.
Trying to make an appointment with a cardiologist at PAMF/Santa Cruz, aka Sutter Health, to be cleared was a nightmare. Thanks to an effective woman named Pam, she managed to schedule me for a meeting with Ryan Brandt MD, the guy who read the original test. After hearing a mantra of "we are understaffed, we are understaffed..." I was scheduled for April 10, a Thursday. That did not seem like enough time, but that was the best I could do. Then Pam, called the morning of the 10th to say there had been an all-day emergency and needed to move it back a day. Now I was to see the cardiologist on Friday, April 11 for a surgery on Tuesday, April 15. Not a lot of room for testing, etc. Dr. Brandt, who said he was "out yesterday" looked at me to say that my EKG suggested that I had experienced a heart attack. I am aware that heart attacks in women often go un-detected. He suggested that I have a nuclear stress test that would give him an accurate review of how my heart is functioning. My surgery date was pushed back to the 23rd. I had the stress test on April 14, also my baby brother's 54th birthday. A few days later, I learned that "everything was normal", and on Friday, April. 18, I was pronounced cleared and confirmed for April 23 - 81 days after the first symptoms appeared.
I am not good with uncertainty. I like to know how things are going to end. I often read the last chapter of a book before I get to the end. This process just made me nuts! I don't like waiting. I don't like not knowing what is going on behind the scenes. I have been there before.
That part is all good. Since I have been talking about this, I have heard many hard stories about people waiting for long periods of time to reschedule surgery. The surgery is going to be at 7:30 a.m. I have to be there at 5 a.m. Unfortunately, the surgery is at ElCamino Hospital in Mountain View. That means I have to leave home at about 3:45. The absolutely heroic Chris Miroyan will be driving me over on the morning of the surgery. I will most likely stay up all night. Dr. Chen will do the surgery using the DaVinci machine, and barring any trouble they will send me home the next morning. Mrs. Beebe, known as Jean Beebe by most people, will be bringing me home. That blows my mind.
Mrs. and Mrs. SoHapi, also known as Daniella Woolf and Kim Tyler, will be coordinating the "help from friends for the next few weeks" detail. I am guessing that I will mostly be sleeping for the first few days and then I will begin to figure out how my life is going to unfold while I heal and move on to the next chapter.
I just don't know how I am going to feel, but my normal m.o. is to avoid the opioids and rely on the NSAIDs. We will see. I won't be driving for a while or lifting anything over 15 pounds. That leaves enough room for cooking 12 pounds of medium and shipping it in 10-pound boxes! I've been working on paintings that weigh more than 15 lbs. I will need to make some adjustments.
To everyone out there from blood family, to extended family, to friend, to neighbors, studio neighbors and Tannery neighbors I hardly know, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kindnesses and helps.
I will try to write some more after the surgery, but I will make a post on the mighty FaceBook when it is all over.
No comments:
Post a Comment