If only my big 5-day post-surgical hospital stay were taking place a year later, my gown could have been a Diane Von Furstenberg (DVF) original. According to Newsweek, the Cleveland Clinic recently ended a trial period, which began in May, of high fashion hospital gowns designed by DVF and will implement them soon. Hopefully the gown will be more comfortable than ones I've worn for my hospital stays. Oddly, the gown looks nothing like a wrap dress.
For more details on the DVF hospital gown, including a photo, click here.
Showing posts with label hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hospital. Show all posts
15 August 2010
26 February 2010
No Tubes!
Earlier this week, I underwent the first of what will probably be two follow-up surgeries to the DIEP procedure that I had in October. The procedure was outpatient. My arrival time was scheduled at 10am. Since I get anxious before any surgery, and am not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before, I felt it best if Brandon and I spent the night near the surgical facility (we live about 1.5 hours away so not being able to even drink water would have made really cranky). Thanks to Priceline, I was able to secure a room for $39 at the hotel closest to the surgical facility. After work, on Monday evening, we headed up north on I-71, checked into the hotel, ate some dinner, wandered around the local mall, and watched some Olympic Ice Dancing on tv.
The next morning, at 10am, I checked in for surgery. Luckily the insurance issues seemed to have been sorted out. The nurses dressed me in a surgical gown, hat, and footies (I did get to keep my penguin socks on underneath the footies). The IV was inserted with no problem. Brandon was then allowed back in pre-op area to sit with me while I waited. And then we waited. My doctor didn't finish the prior patient until almost 2pm. When Magic Fingers did stop by, he was apologetic and said there were no surgeries scheduled after me, so all of his attention could be focused on me. He then grabbed his trusty purple marker and proceeded to draw all over my torso to mark the areas where he planned to work. Brandon said, when the doctor was finished, that my chest and stomach resembled a jack o' lantern.
After the surgeon completed making his markings, the nurses came back, injected some sedatives to my IV, I kissed Brandon, and was out cold. The last thing I remember was lying on my bed and being rolled out of the room where I had been waiting. And then I woke up on the other side (of the room).
The surgical wing was practically empty. Almost everyone had left for the day. Even most of the lights were turned off. Kind of creepy. And none of the remaining nursing staff could answer many of our questions. I simply ate my Lorna Doones, drank some ginger ale, and was ready to go home. My recommendations for anyone having outpatient surgery: Don't be the last patient of the day.
Thankfully, my body seems to be doing ok. I'm sore. I have difficulty bending and picking myself up off the couch or bed. But I don't have any tubes, and having no tubes is a very good place to be.
The next morning, at 10am, I checked in for surgery. Luckily the insurance issues seemed to have been sorted out. The nurses dressed me in a surgical gown, hat, and footies (I did get to keep my penguin socks on underneath the footies). The IV was inserted with no problem. Brandon was then allowed back in pre-op area to sit with me while I waited. And then we waited. My doctor didn't finish the prior patient until almost 2pm. When Magic Fingers did stop by, he was apologetic and said there were no surgeries scheduled after me, so all of his attention could be focused on me. He then grabbed his trusty purple marker and proceeded to draw all over my torso to mark the areas where he planned to work. Brandon said, when the doctor was finished, that my chest and stomach resembled a jack o' lantern.
After the surgeon completed making his markings, the nurses came back, injected some sedatives to my IV, I kissed Brandon, and was out cold. The last thing I remember was lying on my bed and being rolled out of the room where I had been waiting. And then I woke up on the other side (of the room).
The surgical wing was practically empty. Almost everyone had left for the day. Even most of the lights were turned off. Kind of creepy. And none of the remaining nursing staff could answer many of our questions. I simply ate my Lorna Doones, drank some ginger ale, and was ready to go home. My recommendations for anyone having outpatient surgery: Don't be the last patient of the day.
Thankfully, my body seems to be doing ok. I'm sore. I have difficulty bending and picking myself up off the couch or bed. But I don't have any tubes, and having no tubes is a very good place to be.
19 February 2010
Trauma at Target
Over the past year and half, health insurance has not caused me much stress. Exchanges with my insurance company have been relatively smooth, a few bumps but nothing major. Due to the ongoing nature of cancer treatments, a case worker was assigned to me so I have regular human contact which is handy whenever a potentially confusing issue arises. My case worker has been invaluable in my cancer/doctor/insurance journey.
With my next surgery scheduled for Tuesday, I needed a physical in order to be "officially" approved for the procedure. My now healthy body passed with flying colors. While at the clinic, I was shown paperwork with my insurance information, and it looked fine to me. How wrong I was.
About an hour after leaving the facility, I am shopping in Target, enjoying a stroll through the underwear section when my phone rings. Of course, I can't get to the phone in time, and soon receive a cryptic message from an employee at the facility telling me to have her paged when I call back and her work schedule for the next few days. I return the call immediately. Turns out the woman works in the billing department, and is calling my insurance companies to get approval for the procedure (which was done months ago by my doctor's office). Without going into too much boring detail, she tells me she couldn't understand my different insurances and that I had almost needed to pay the hospital $5000 before my procedure. But, after leaving me the message, she soon deduced that I had two insurance policies, and was on the other line with my primary plan. The entire conversation unnerved me since she seemed to have little understanding of what I assumed were basic insurance transactions. And she chided me for never telling my primary insurance company about my secondary. Since the issue of introducing my two insurance plans had never come up before, I don't know why I should be scolded for it now.
About ten minutes later, I remembered that the procedure had been pre-certified by my primary insurance company, so I called her back. In the meantime, she seemed to have gained a better grasp of the situation. But I was still concerned, so I called my case worker. My advocate could already see the report of the call, and assured me that all would be fine. Especially since I have a history of a malignancy (guaranteed coverage!) and the procedure is outpatient (no pre-certification is needed). Go case workers!
So in conclusion, twenty-five minutes later, I am still in Target. Through all of these conversations, I am wandering from the underwear wall into the sock aisle (good discounts), passing through women's wear, and finally sitting at a table in the cafe area. Yes, I was the annoying person talking about extremely private issues on a mobile phone in a public arena. In my defense, one of the reasons why I kept moving through various areas in the store was to be where no one else was shopping. Except that during my movements through the store, with a cart, a large Early Gray tea dripped large drops of brown liquid on the front and arm of a new white sweater. After wrapping up my conversations, I found all kinds of delightful products to ease my pain. Thank goodness for shopping therapy, I feel much better now.
With my next surgery scheduled for Tuesday, I needed a physical in order to be "officially" approved for the procedure. My now healthy body passed with flying colors. While at the clinic, I was shown paperwork with my insurance information, and it looked fine to me. How wrong I was.
About an hour after leaving the facility, I am shopping in Target, enjoying a stroll through the underwear section when my phone rings. Of course, I can't get to the phone in time, and soon receive a cryptic message from an employee at the facility telling me to have her paged when I call back and her work schedule for the next few days. I return the call immediately. Turns out the woman works in the billing department, and is calling my insurance companies to get approval for the procedure (which was done months ago by my doctor's office). Without going into too much boring detail, she tells me she couldn't understand my different insurances and that I had almost needed to pay the hospital $5000 before my procedure. But, after leaving me the message, she soon deduced that I had two insurance policies, and was on the other line with my primary plan. The entire conversation unnerved me since she seemed to have little understanding of what I assumed were basic insurance transactions. And she chided me for never telling my primary insurance company about my secondary. Since the issue of introducing my two insurance plans had never come up before, I don't know why I should be scolded for it now.
About ten minutes later, I remembered that the procedure had been pre-certified by my primary insurance company, so I called her back. In the meantime, she seemed to have gained a better grasp of the situation. But I was still concerned, so I called my case worker. My advocate could already see the report of the call, and assured me that all would be fine. Especially since I have a history of a malignancy (guaranteed coverage!) and the procedure is outpatient (no pre-certification is needed). Go case workers!
So in conclusion, twenty-five minutes later, I am still in Target. Through all of these conversations, I am wandering from the underwear wall into the sock aisle (good discounts), passing through women's wear, and finally sitting at a table in the cafe area. Yes, I was the annoying person talking about extremely private issues on a mobile phone in a public arena. In my defense, one of the reasons why I kept moving through various areas in the store was to be where no one else was shopping. Except that during my movements through the store, with a cart, a large Early Gray tea dripped large drops of brown liquid on the front and arm of a new white sweater. After wrapping up my conversations, I found all kinds of delightful products to ease my pain. Thank goodness for shopping therapy, I feel much better now.
18 September 2008
My Hospital Stay -- the quickie version
So it turns out that a hospital stay is not very relaxing. Nurses, technicians, residents, and interns all wandering in out of your room at all hours of the night and day. During my stay, mid-afternoon was probably the best time to sleep.
My operation went very well, and the initial biopsy done on my sentinel lymph node during surgery showed a clean path which means that the cancer did not spread to the lymph nodes (for more information on sentinel lymph nodes, see
this page from cancer.gov).
Due to some unexpected bleeding in the middle of the night after my surgery, followed by my blood pressure dropping to below 90 for a brief period of time, my surgeon suggested that I stay another night in the hospital. I must say that if you need to have breast surgery, the Cleveland Clinic is the place to go. Warm blankets before, during, and after surgery. Plus the CEO of the CCF wants all breast patients to stay on the VIP floor, so that was pretty cool. I had my own room, and Brandon was allowed to stay with me (he slept on a fold-out chair). The VIP floor has it own menu, so I was allowed to choose my meals, which were very nice. I had filet mignon for one of my dinners. Sadly I missed out on my blueberry pancakes when it was thought that I might need to return to surgery due to the bleeding.
So the reason why I am behind in updating the blog is not totally related to my health. Hurricane Ike whipped through my little town on Sunday night. We received no rain, but heavy winds which the local paper reported as being as strong as 75mph. The electrical power to my house has still not returned. I've heard that it might return this weekend which is not good news to the person who had hoped to watch lots of DVDs this week. I guess it is a good thing that I also like to read and sleep.
My operation went very well, and the initial biopsy done on my sentinel lymph node during surgery showed a clean path which means that the cancer did not spread to the lymph nodes (for more information on sentinel lymph nodes, see
this page from cancer.gov).
Due to some unexpected bleeding in the middle of the night after my surgery, followed by my blood pressure dropping to below 90 for a brief period of time, my surgeon suggested that I stay another night in the hospital. I must say that if you need to have breast surgery, the Cleveland Clinic is the place to go. Warm blankets before, during, and after surgery. Plus the CEO of the CCF wants all breast patients to stay on the VIP floor, so that was pretty cool. I had my own room, and Brandon was allowed to stay with me (he slept on a fold-out chair). The VIP floor has it own menu, so I was allowed to choose my meals, which were very nice. I had filet mignon for one of my dinners. Sadly I missed out on my blueberry pancakes when it was thought that I might need to return to surgery due to the bleeding.
So the reason why I am behind in updating the blog is not totally related to my health. Hurricane Ike whipped through my little town on Sunday night. We received no rain, but heavy winds which the local paper reported as being as strong as 75mph. The electrical power to my house has still not returned. I've heard that it might return this weekend which is not good news to the person who had hoped to watch lots of DVDs this week. I guess it is a good thing that I also like to read and sleep.
08 September 2008
Tomorrow is a big day!
Later this week, I will continue detailing the order of events that brought me to this monumental change in my life. But tomorrow, I will be in surgery. I just called the hospital and my surgery is scheduled for 9:30am. I am to report to the hospital at 8:30am. Since I am not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight tonight, I am glad that the surgery is scheduled relatively early in the morning. And once I am in surgery, Brandon, my mother and father can go eat a huge breakfast, and I will be none the wiser :)
Earlier today I spoke with my physician's assistant who reassured me that the surgical scars will not interfere with my wedding dress lines. Phew! Last night I emailed a photo of the dress to the surgeon, who had promised to try to avoid cutting me in a way that would show any physical scars on my wedding day.
What I can't wrap my head around is how I don't even feel sick. I don't look sick. The lump isn't even painful. The bruise from my biopsy is the only visual detail of the horridness that is inside me. And tomorrow, I lose a breast. Very surreal, very surreal indeed.
Earlier today I spoke with my physician's assistant who reassured me that the surgical scars will not interfere with my wedding dress lines. Phew! Last night I emailed a photo of the dress to the surgeon, who had promised to try to avoid cutting me in a way that would show any physical scars on my wedding day.
What I can't wrap my head around is how I don't even feel sick. I don't look sick. The lump isn't even painful. The bruise from my biopsy is the only visual detail of the horridness that is inside me. And tomorrow, I lose a breast. Very surreal, very surreal indeed.
05 September 2008
Order of Events, Part 1
So... I randomly found the lump in my breast on the evening of 8/7. Thought it was a little strange, so I called my doctor's office the very next morning to make an appointment. Turns out, if you say you found a lump in your breast, a doctor's office will find an appointment for you very quickly (or least that is my experience). After a brief examination, the nurse practitioner decided the lump was worthy of further examination.
The earliest appointment I could get for a mammogram and ultrasound was the next Thursday (8/14). Having a mammogram is an odd experience. For those who have never had one, a mammogram involves having your breast squashed between 2 pieces of metal at a couple of different angles. For more information on mammograms, and a really great picture of one, go to:http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/mammograms/mamm_tech.jsp
The mammogram provides proof that a mass exists in your breast area. I got to see my mammogram immediately following the x-rays, and was shown where the mass is located. The technician was very nice and explained the whole process to me beforehand so there were no nasty surprises. The next day, I was a little sore.
Immediately following the mammogram, I had an ultrasound (aka sonogram); well immediately following the snacks. My local hospital has this great snack collection of fruit cups, graham crackers (and other carb delights), and tea/cocoa for the ladies waiting for their next x-rays. The ultrasound provides the radiologist with a clearer picture of the shape and size of the mass. The ultrasound told my medical providers that I should meet with a surgeon, because whether or not the mass was malignant, it needed to be removed.
My mass is oddly shaped. I think that I was told it was 1.6cm x 1.8cm. Basically, the lump was described as very worrisome. I wish that I could remember the exact phrasing, but I believe that "worrisome due to malignancy concerns" was the statement on my lab report.
So next on my medical agenda was an appointment with the local surgeon...
The earliest appointment I could get for a mammogram and ultrasound was the next Thursday (8/14). Having a mammogram is an odd experience. For those who have never had one, a mammogram involves having your breast squashed between 2 pieces of metal at a couple of different angles. For more information on mammograms, and a really great picture of one, go to:http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/mammograms/mamm_tech.jsp
The mammogram provides proof that a mass exists in your breast area. I got to see my mammogram immediately following the x-rays, and was shown where the mass is located. The technician was very nice and explained the whole process to me beforehand so there were no nasty surprises. The next day, I was a little sore.
Immediately following the mammogram, I had an ultrasound (aka sonogram); well immediately following the snacks. My local hospital has this great snack collection of fruit cups, graham crackers (and other carb delights), and tea/cocoa for the ladies waiting for their next x-rays. The ultrasound provides the radiologist with a clearer picture of the shape and size of the mass. The ultrasound told my medical providers that I should meet with a surgeon, because whether or not the mass was malignant, it needed to be removed.
My mass is oddly shaped. I think that I was told it was 1.6cm x 1.8cm. Basically, the lump was described as very worrisome. I wish that I could remember the exact phrasing, but I believe that "worrisome due to malignancy concerns" was the statement on my lab report.
So next on my medical agenda was an appointment with the local surgeon...
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