Yesterday we spent several quality hours at the doctor. First Walter got to stand in line to be given a special 'purple card' so that he could go to the physicians office and get checked out before coming back down to the same office where we would be seen. I am sure there was logic there but I missed it. I also did lots of benchwarming - 'oh look there's two seats together, I'll go grab them' instead of standing in line.
First we met with the surgeon's physician's assistant who gave us the surgical consent, the pre-op prep, the bad news that he will have a catheter for several days, and the over view of the schedule. Arrive 1.5 hours before surgery, 3+ hours for surgery, 1-2 hours for post op and then into a room where I can see him.
Then we went back down and exchanged the purple card for an orange card and got to sit in another waiting room. Then we met with an anesthesiologist nurse who did all sorts of poking and prodding and answered more questions - currently we are scheduled for the first thing in the morning surgery which means be there by 6 am which is exactly what we wanted.
The interesting part of all this is if it was me, I would have answered all the questions differently (any previous surgeries or hospital stays, medical allergies, etc). He has never had surgery or been hospitalized. The only sedation given was for his colonoscopy and endoscopy last year. I don't know being on the other side of the caregiver/patient role is a little freaky.
Both people we met with were careful to say that if only in the section of colon they remove, this would be considered a curative surgery. But there lies the 'if' that is unknown until the pathology report which is about a week after surgery. Grrr!
We came home and in some ways I felt better about the whole thing and in others my stress level grew significantly. Triple grr!
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