Rosemary Kirstein

Yes, it’s true.  Surgery is postponed AGAIN.  Dammit!

This time it had nothing to do with me…  there was a mixup between my surgeon’s office and the surgical center.

There were three of us scheduled for surgery today; and three of us were waiting around in in the pre-op area, in various stages of getting ready for our various procedures… and around 7:30 AM the staff  started  looking at each other sidelong, going, “So…where is Dr. L?”

Someone from radiology came by at 8 and spoke to me, saying that even though my needle localization (which would not be done by my oncology surgeon, but another doc) was supposed to be at 8, they wanted to wait until Dr. L himself actually showed up. Because needle loc is no fun, and we don’t want to do it before we really need to.

Which was a good call on her part because:

The surgeon was on vacation.

Apparently, contrary to what everyone else thought, his vacation last week did not end on Friday.  Apparently, it continued into this week too.

I’m not angry, just frustrated.

Everyone was falling all over themselves to apologize, they were all so very sorry… And I know perfectly well how one small miscommunication can have a domino effect, and turn into big misunderstandings all around.  I blame no one!

Mind you, if they had gone ahead with the dreaded needle localization and then found out… yeah, you would have seen me mad.  I bless that person from radiology, who said, “I’m going to wait until I see the whites of his eyes.”

But I wanted this crap to be OVER WITH!  Dammit.  No sleep last night, no food, no water since 5AM.   Angst galore over the needle loc (which I would be awake for!), worry about the results of the sentinel node biopsy before the surgery, worry about the surgery..

All that angst, and then no payoff!  I get do to it all again!

Thursday.  We’re rescheduled for Thursday.

The only bright spot in all of this:

Remember that ticket to Night Vale Wednesday night, that I couldn’t give away?

Yeah.

I’m going to Night Vale.

Ha!

I want to thank all of you for the kind and encouraging comments and notes you’ve sent me, here and on Facebook, and by email.  I can’t reply to each one individually — there are too many!   But your concern and your good wishes mean a lot to me.  It’s amazing to me that so many of you care about me and my work.   Amazing, and heartening, and it helps me be brave.

Thanks again.

UPDATE:  Surgery was postponed again!   (see the latest blog post).