THE Day

 I want to give this day a name, but couldn't come up with one. 

D-Day...no, that one is not right. It seems like death day. While that is a possibility, it is not the plan.

S-Day - S for surgery? Not quite right either.

P-Day- Well, that was the day before.

So, I am just going to call it THE day!

Now, bear with me. This one will be long. I can't even do a TL:DR, because it would be too long. I am going to start this one on P-Day (see above). The doctor submitted all of the insurance information way back after my appointment on December 4. On December 5 I got an estimate from the hospital for a grand total of $0. Not sure if I consider that lucky or unlucky. I had already started bulking up on the prescribed antibiotics and was about to start some of the other prep. I am pretty sure I was helping Hannah with her final dual credit assignment when I received a text. My estimate was now nearly $62,000. That is NOT a typo or exaggeration! See photo below: 

Before I could react, the phone rang. It was the billing office asking me how I was going to pay. Yeah, ok...let me just go to my money tree in the backyard. Nevermind...it is a dead tree. To try and make a long story a little less long, the insurance company still had not approved the surgery. It very quickly got dusty in my house. My eyes started leaking and I had a little trouble breathing. My dog kind of freaked out. I was trying to get on the computer to get information, but he kept jumping on me, trying to lick my face, and was trying to sit on me. So, I grabbed my phone and the computer and went to sit at the edge of my driveway. I called Marc. He called the insurance. I called the contact at the doctors office. She was also working on it. She was actually upset the hospital called me. The billing office told me they would cancel my surgery without payment. This upset the lady at the doctor's office even more. She said that she understood they have their policies, but to upset and stress out a patient right before major surgery was not ok. She told me to continue with my prep and show up at the hospital tomorrow. I was not confident the insurance company would get around to approval. I called the insurance company also. Each time I got to the end of what the person on the other line could do, I asked to be connected up higher. After about 2 hours, I had still not gotten a satisfactory answer. Many people were already on vacation and not answering their phones or the emails. They could see that my doctor's office had been sending emails all week to escalate the decision, but there was no evidence of a response. I finally was told that it was only waiting for the final sign off. Again, not acceptable in my mind. There were a lot more calls and texts that afternoon and evening. There were even more in the morning. It was even explained that they were overloaded due to people trying to get things done by the end of the year. My response may have been something along the lines of ...that is all well and good, but my surgery is a life saving surgery. I am not going in for a butt lift or tummy tuck. There should be a scale in which approvals happen and they should not just be sitting on someones desk waiting.  I even scoured the website and found other numbers to call. I left voicemails for all of the contacts I could find...I did make sure I didn't use the word "delay." I am not trying to get accused of making a terroristic threat! However, I did refer them back to their own website on their written policies regarding approvals. Enough of that. It kind of triggers me all over again. 

I was due to arrive at the hospital at 10:30 for a 12:30 surgery time. I had a bag packed, but I dd not bring it because I wasn't confident that I was going to actually have surgery. We arrived at check in. Of course I got nowhere with an outstanding balance. The nice lady...I so wish I could remember her name...kept checking with the hospital insurance people for updates. There were none. I called the doctor's office again. She assured me she was still working on it and on the phone with the  insurance company. My biggest worry was that everything would be cancelled. I was told to stay in the lobby and don't leave. So, that is where we camped out. 

A while later, Kim came by to visit and pray with us. I can't believe I am sharing this photo, because I look like I am dying. Well, then again, aren't we all? Every day we wake up is just one day closer to death...could be 4 years or 40 years... I am happy to say that I did not die this day! I am thinking this was around noon and as you can see, I am still in the lobby. Remember the nice lady? She still kept checking. She did come out and mention a loophole...I guess it is good I don't have her name. This information may get her in a tad bit of trouble. Anyway, she said I could get admitted through the ER and bypass insurance approval. Something to think about... The doctor's office wanted me to stay there. I kept checking my app to see if the approval was there yet. All I was doing by obsessively was wasting my battery and I didn't bring a charger. All of my chargers were in the bag sitting on my bed at home. Honestly, I did not trust Marc to keep up with it. Home was the safest place and they could bring it back once I was in my room. My middle children, particularly the older one, kept saying she was going to get me a wheelchair and wheel me back. She said this as people were being pushed out to their rides home. She was going to do some sort of hit and run to get the chair. It was really a running joke every time we saw one wheel by. Kim needed to go, but we got together and she prayed with us. I was beyond done. I hurt a lot. I was tired. I hadn't eaten since Wednesday, this was Friday. To say I was worn down would be an understatement. I was ready for the ER. As we were praying a wheelchair appeared. There is so much more to that sentence, but it was a you had to be there moment. I checked the app one last time before my chair drivers 'drifted' me down the hall and around a lot of corners. I got check in and triaged. I finally had my hospital bracelet making me official. I do not know how long this took, so I went back to look at text messages. Kim sent a message to the team as she was walking out at 1:05. I checked my app one last time. It was green! I think Samantha left me there to go tell Marc or there may have been a phone call. I don't remember. I just remember Marc, who had not drifted around the hospital and was not in the same area I was in at some point. We unchecked from the ER and raced back around the corner. My screenshot of the approval was at 1:07. 

I made it back to the nice lady. I would like to think I was all smiles and giddy, but my sickly looking self probably did not look as good as the relief that I felt. Amazingly, that approval was not in their system yet. I handed over my phone to be handed off to others to get the information. I was officially on my way all the way to the 2nd floor! 

2nd floor check in was not all that exciting, but we were probably pretty loud after the stress of the whole morning. Who knew we would all be excited for surgery? What happens next is a whirlwind of activity. The 2 hour arrival time before surgery was so all of the prep could be done. Well, that 2 hours seemed to be crammed into 15 minutes. I had 5 people in the room at the same time each doing their thing. I think I was signing and initially with both hands. I had one arm getting the IV in at the same time I was getting a shot somewhere else to prepare my abs for the nerve block. Then I had the guy there doing the nerve block. Each person was asking me questions to get their forms filled out. Someone else was putting on a sticker thing to monitor my vitals. Thankfully, no wires on that one. At one point my doctor popped in and said, "You finally made it up here!" He started to come in, but there wasn't room. I think I introduced him to Samantha and said Marc was in the waiting room. Then he said, "I'll see you later." Followed by "You will already be out though." 

My memory gets a little fuzzy after that. I remember handing Samantha my phone and telling her not to let Marc hold it. I made sure she had the numbers of people to call or text and the word for word update she would post on facebook. I remember getting wheeled out of the room. Then nothing.

I got a nap. 

Then I heard people asking me about pain and asking other questions. I remember giving thumbs up, thumbs down, and thumbs sideways. I was hot. I couldn't get those words out, so I was trying to get the heater gown thing off. I am pretty sure my eyes were closed. I don't think the nurses knew what I was trying to do. I did manage to finally say HOT. I felt them that the hose and blanket off. 

My next memory is in my room for the next 3 days. They asked about my pain and said they would give me more fentanyl. I don't remember if Samantha had a look or if she said something, but I quickly said that it wasn't that kind of fentanyl. 

At some point I got my phone and my bag. I think I answered some emails and text messages. My next memory was waking up at 1:30 in the morning thinking it was about 6:30 am. Woke up again around 3:30 thinking the same thing. I used that time to start getting my walking in. 

When I finally woke up at the right time, it was because I was having more blood taken. This was a daily thing. I am thankful that the phlebotomist was able to skillfully get blood from my dreaded left arm. I am also thankful that he was the one who showed up each morning to do the blood draw. 

So...surgery was successful.  What makes the surgery successful? My ascending colon including the tumor, which was actually 4.8 cm x 4 cm x 3.6 cm and 24 lymph nodes were removed, in addition to a section of the small intestine. The end of the small intestine was attached to my transverse colon. It is also successful, because I didn't die!

Pre-op diagnosis: Malignant neoplasm of ascending colon

Post-op diagnosis: Malignant neoplasm of ascending colon

Procedure: XI Robotic assisted laparoscopic partial right colectomy with removal of terminal ileum with anastomosis. 

That is a mouth full if you try to say it. 

Of course all of the stuff removed was sent off to be tested. I was told it could be about 2 weeks to find out the results. 

More waiting! This seems to be a trend...