03.28.2003
8:00 a.m.
Hanging out at the hospital
Just to let you know, this entry won't be as funny as they usually are...
Yesterday I got to pretend to be the strong/brave/sure one so that my cousin could be nervous and anxious and scared. I spent the night with my 21-year-old cousin and then took her to the hospital yesterday morning. Then I sat there for 7 hours while she had a double mastectomy and expanders put in.
Warning: Tangent rant. It took a year-long battle with her insurance company to get them to approve the surgery. For some reason it took letters from 4 doctors to convince them that she really did need this surgery. For some reason they would have rather paid for lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy after lumpectomy (at the time of her surgery yesterday she had 11 lumps), than to pay for her to have a double mastectomy to remove all the tissue and expanders put in, and then implants put in two months later. They would have rather paid for ELEVEN or more surgeries rather than TWO, simply because they didn't believe that a 21-year-old would want a mastectomy and implants for anything other than cosmetic reasons. Insurance companies make NO sense to me. Can anyone explain their logic to me?
Back to the story. She woke up yesterday morning and went to the bathroom to throw up. Because she hadn't had anything to eat or drink since midnight, she threw up bile. She ended up throwing up seven times before we even left for the hospital, finally resorting to sucking on ice in between so that it would be less painful. The poor girl was so nervous.
We got to the hospital at 11 AM, and met up with her mom, her mom's fiance, our grandma, and an aunt, who were already there. It was like a family reunion. They gave her the paperwork to look at. They also gave us one of those coaster-looking things they give you at restaurants that vibrate and light up to let you know your table is ready to let us know when she had to go back into pre-op. I found that to be mildly amusing. She was quite nervous. People kept telling her that she could always change her mind and do it later. She wanted to go ahead with it.
They got her ready, and then we could go back and see her before they took her in for surgery. She was still very nervous, but she gave me a list of people to call or 2-way to tell them different things. *grin*
They took her in for surgery at noon, and told us that it would take between 2 and 4 hours. We went down to the cafe and had some lunch around 1 pm, and then got settled in again in the waiting area upstairs. At 2:20 PM, one of her doctors came out and told us that the surgery had gone very well, just as it should on a healthy 21-year-old. He told us that the other doctor was putting the expanders in, and that he would be out in about 45 minutes to let us know how that went. Then she would be moved to a room, where she will be for 1 to 4 days, depending on her pain. So, back to the waiting.
Eventually, the surgery was over, and we were told that they would let us know when we could go in and see her. They had a hard time regulating her pain medicine to where she wasn't in pain, but wasn't completely knocked out. Once they got that figured out (around 5 PM), we were able to go in and see her. After being stoic and strong all day, I almost started crying when I saw her lying there, completely covered by a yellow blanket, with only her head sticking out. She was SO pale, and looked so small (which, at 5'1/4" and 85 lbs, she is). I had to keep swallowing to keep from crying.
She was so tired that she was asleep most of the time I was in there. She opened an eye when I told her that I was there, and went "Mm." That was pretty much the extent of our conversation. After about twenty minutes, I told her that I was leaving, but that her mom and dad would stay with her for a while, and she woke up enough to say, "Love you" and then went back to sleep. At least she knew I was there.
My mom called last night just to tell me that she and my dad thought I was a wonderful human being for spending the night with my cousin and being at the hospital yesterday. I don't get it. She wanted me to be there, so I was. I didn't do anything extraordinary or special. I just fulfilled a request.
If anyone prays, please pray for my cousin's speedy (and as painless as possible) recovery.
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Day off of work tally? So far I've taken 1 day off for fun things (St. Louis), and 3 days so far for crappy things (colposcopy, being sick, cousin in hospital)...
Hopefully our trip to Seattle in July will even that out a bit...
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