Home

 Monday was a blur. Early Tuesday morning, I am assigned an ER bed at 3:00 am, in an old abandoned unit in the "old hospital".  It wasn't a nice room, there wasn't any toilet paper in the bathroom, I wasn't introduced to my room mate, and my nurse was a traveler, filling-in from somewhere. And it was the best 3 hours of sleep I can ever remember having! Magical sleep. Healing, refreshing and providing a new look at the world. 

By 6 am, an aid with a wheelchair was at my bedside ready to load me up. I begged her to let me brush my hair first, I said, "I know people here". She patiently tolerated my vanity.  She informed me that I was going to a room, in the basement, in the new hospital. 

I put my overnight bag on my lap and thanked my room mate and nurse. I really didn't know what the plan for me was.  I noticed that the nausea and pain had disappeared. 

The docs had talked about transferring me to Kaiser via ambulance, and had discussed sending me for an early morning MRI, and they were still considering admitting me and performing exploratory surgery at Loma Linda,  any of these options still seemed possible. What I knew for sure, my pain was gone and I was feeling a little more like the "self" I knew. 

The aid rolled me into a small exam room, checking her electronic device to ensure I was being dropped in the correct location. It was an exam room, with a bed, on a hall, in a building. None of it familiar. I asked her if she was sure this is where I should be, she said, "Yes".  I put forth a bit of resistance, "I think an ambulance is picking me up at the ER". She said, "I don't think so". 

She left,  and another young woman walked in, "I'm here to admit you", I protested again, "I think I am being transferred. Can you double check?" She shrugged and stepped out. 

A third woman walks in, "Hi, I am part of the OB/GYN/ONC team, we have been discussing your case while you were sleeping. I brought you down here so we could have a quiet talk"  She was so intense, it gave me the feeling I was in very good hands. 

I let the thought that three highly skilled OB/GYN/ONC docs had been up "discussing my case". I loved them for that. Being seen and heard felt so good. 

She presented the most surprising and wonderful plan ever.  "We have decided that we will discharge you home. How does that sound?"

It sounded like a mistake or a joke or a trick, but I knew it was the truth, because she is a truth teller. 

Guided by some "magical location system", that allows the hospital staff to know the exact physical location of each of their patients at any given time, Gene found me in this tiny remote room and we were on our way home. It must be a GPS locator on my arm badge, wow. 

We got home, rested, shared our stories, napped and got prepared to face the unknown.   


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day of frustration

 My cold is getting worse, now I have chest/rib pain when coughing and my expectorant is turned from clear to yellow to greenish.  For several hours today, I was unable to stop the coughing and catch my breath.  I was really glad I didn't have a 12-inch surgical incision down my belly to contend with. Delaying was the right decision.  I know many of you are great planners and organizers like I am. For decades, my electronic or paper planners have kept me going.  But this year, as January rolled around, I decided to shift down to a very small, purse size, cute, appointment book. No space for notes, lists, or reminders, just a simple place to keep my hair and nail appointments.  I had determined that 2023 was going to be a, "not so busy", "no babies coming", "no big trips planned" sort of year. A quiet year, that began, as we closed the door on the 2022 Casita project. Then, 9 days into the New Year, my "quiet year" became pretty noisy. After a...
Read more

Pretty great news!

 If you remember, back to the beginning of this Blog, it began because I sent out 15-20 texts saying "My endometrial biopsies are negative!" And by the time most of you had received my text, I had received a call from the surgeon to tell me that my other masses needed to be removed and biopsied and that there were still lots of question marks. I was too disappointed to send out another group of texts, so I started my blog, which has allowed me to tell my story once.  So, today, I met with the oncologist and more questions have been answered. Of all of the "stuff" that was removed from my belly. The right and left ovaries, uterus, lymph nodes, gooey fat thing that I forget it's proper name, suspicious mass on my jejunum... all of these are fully negative for cancer. Whoopee!  The remaining question was regarding the mesenteric para-ganglion mass that was fully removed and had clean edges, but it is a rare type of cancer that grows along areas with nerves and my f...
Read more

Back to Yoga

 April 22, 2023 It has been three and 1/2 months since the "Event". My scar is healing, my surgeon has given me permission to start going back to my "normal life".  Is life every actually "normal" after a crisis?  I am not sure that any of us ever return to our prior selves after we have looked at death, but hopefully, we move forward, a little bit wiser and with more compassion.  Yesterday, I went back to my yoga studio and did two sessions. It felt fabulous!  As I told my yoga teacher about my cancer scare, she shared that her mother had a similar experience and she had the same exploratory surgery. In her mother's case, the surgeons found cancer throughout her pelvis and she did not survive. Listening to her story, reminded me of how lucky I am. Not everyone get's good news.  Yesterday, I finally sent my passport away for renewal, and I'm beginning to cautiously considering traveling again.  Today, I am even thinking that I might have a 70th...
Read more