We’re in the family waiting room at the day surgery center, waiting for the surgery of our dear family member to finish so the surgeon can come in and give us an update. There will be at least a couple more hours waiting after that while the patient is in recovery, and we’re most of us pretty much here for the long haul today. Unlike last time, which was marred by the unseemly haste the patient was booted out after surgery, this time there’s more personal choice involved, and the option to stay for at least two or three days or until everyone is comfortable with the idea of convalescing at home. Thank goodness.
David and I were greeted at the door by a very friendly volunteer, who recognized the surname and directed us upstairs to the family waiting room for the day surgery. From there, we were guided by another friendly volunteer to the pre-op room where our kin were stashed. There was a certain amount of medical skirmishing about with things on carts and rolling stands and putting on air-powered leg massage pants and starting IVs and things. And then there was a move to a second room, which had a locked-in laptop that had to be used for final checks.
The anesthesiologist came in to talk – a very kind and very young man who was a dead ringer for the actor that plays the cute assistant pathologist on NCIS and then the surgeon came in – same one as last time, actually. She’s a very forceful looking tall blonde… has almost an ex-military air about her, very confidence-inspiring. She briefed us and apologized for the delay, as she’d been pulled in to do an emergency appendectomy. She’ll be here in the waiting room (they have private consultation rooms right here) as soon as the surgery is over… probably in no more than 15 or 20 minutes or so now.
I tried to moblog the waiting area, but the picture never showed up at Flickr… probably just as well, as my tradition of taking moblog photos from hospitals hasn’t been all that lucky.
It’s a clear, cold day and the sun is out, so the drive down wasn’t a problem, but physically getting here requires a GPS and a lot of zig-zagging around. In looking at the map, either there was a construction detour that forced us to take a meandering route – or the GPS in the car took us on a wild-goose chase, because it appears we could have gotten off the freeway and taken a straight shot right up to the doors of the hospital.
Meanwhile, I’m multitasking; I started to restring some beads on the Anglican rosary I made myself last year, I’ve got Second Life up so I can listen to a particularly soothing music stream, do Tai Chi, and possibly chat with friends, and of course there’s all the bloggity blog stuff to catch up with, not to mention reading newspapers online.
Plenty to do to keep my mind off of the current situation. The boys are all gabbing away talking about laptops and tech stuff… one of my brothers-in-law has the coolest little mini-computer that made David go “OOOOOooooooooh!!!” and we’ve been catching up on the doings of nieces and nephews with my other brother-in-law. The waiting room TV is set to “FULL BORE” in my opinion, as the soaps are about to start now that The View is over (I can’t stand women’s chat shows, that high-pitched cooing and cackling drives me crazy).
Noise-canceling headphones are a Godsend.
I think David is actually doing some work-related stuff, he has that ability on his laptop. Not me; hence the book to read, notebook to write in, beading project to tinker with, laptop with wireless to keep me occupied.
More later when we find out what happens next. I do know that some results from pathology will be back as early as Monday, which will tell us more about what to expect in terms of how much chemo, how many treatments, how long, and also radiology.
UPDATE:We headed to lunch after talking with the surgeon,who reports that there was one “aggressive but localized” site removed, so we know more about what to expect. The news is pretty good, so we went to lunch and are now waiting to see when a room in the main hospital will be available. The patient is mostly awake, talking, and resting in recovery for now.
More waiting ensues, more phone calls to advise family and friends.