Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Surgical Day...Pre-Op

First of all, our family owes the hugest hugs to some very wonderful and dedicated individuals at Childrens Hospital: Michelle in Scheduling, Patty in PR, Julie and Maria in surgical scheduling and several others. For, without them, this surgery would have been scrapped!
Anyone who knows me, realizes rather quickly that I like to have my i's dotted and my t's crossed and life in a nice neat package when I can and that comes from being the oldest, working in the medical field for many many years and as a police dispatcher...I like to know what is going on before hand if I can and I like to be prepared.
I had spoken with Maria since November and knew what to expect from the hospital and the insurance company and all seemed to be systems go with us recieving the appointment time and post-op schedules. However, it kept nagging at me that I had no information on pre-op. I called Friday and left a message (no return call). Monday the same thing, so I contacted scheduling knowing they would answer their phone.
I explained to wonderful Michelle what was going on and she said she would call me back. That is when the drama started and it hit the fan. I was informed someone in insurance authorization had 'dropped the ball,' and as of early Monday, we had no confirmed approval for surgery.
I was hot! I was pissed & I wanted someones head. I picked up the phone and called their PR department and explained to Patty what was going on. She informed me she would do what she could and get back with me. I then had Megan send me an area hotel listing and Julie let me know how she could help.
Everyone was helpful and very understanding as to why I was upset. How do you unprepare a six year old whose last words to me before going to school Monday were...'when this is done, I can wear glasses.' ?
I began getting calls with updates about every 20-35 minutes and everyone was doing what they could to assure me that no matter what this would go through and they were all stating the same thing, someone had goofed.
By 12:30 the surgery was a solid go and scheduled for 2:45 the next day...I lef to run some errands and my phone rang...the hospital pre-admit calling me with instructions for the next day...you know...no food after this time, no liquids after this time...Not 2 minutes later they called to say surgery had been bumped up from 2:45 to 11:00...thank goodness we opted to be in Seattle the night before.
Here he is, getting his gown on and walking around the room and asking why his 'butt,' was cold...because I had forgot to tie the bottom tie thinking it was missing.
Having to get up early and not staying in our own bed the night before, poor Papa was tired and fell asleep sitting in the chair in the pre-op room. As you can see, the recliners in this case are reserved for the little patients and this little one was giggling at PaPa sleeping. The Spiderman blanket is a quilt I had made for him and he wanted to bring with him to the hospital.
Here is Papa after his nap and me as we got our pictures taken with baby boy prior to surgery. I wanted him to have some memories from this time in the hospital for his scrap book!









When the anesthesiologist came in, she asked the man of the hour, if he wanted someone to go with him into the operating room until he fell asleep. He immediately told her, 'my Papa, because my Ranny isn't very brave if she sees blood!' We got a great laugh out of that one!
So, they brought in Papa's space suit so he wouldn't contaminate the room with any outside germs and here the two sillies are goofing up before surgery. I really believe the way they do this helps the little ones so much and they seem to come out of surgery much easier!
One last picture of all three of us together and off down the hall they walked hand in hand!
















1 comment:

Judy said...

It never ceases to amaze me how situations of such great importance can be "overlooked" by those so involved in the process.

I'm sure glad everything worked out in the long run...and that you had the foresight to insure that it did.

You can bet spiderman was a great source of comfort for you little guy during this ordeal...probably even more than Curious George.

You have a beautiful smile...and love, love, love Papa's doo. :)