Bumped!!

Jul 20, 2012

I was scheduled to have surgery yesterday at 12pm. I got to the hospital at 9am. Got checked in, gown on, pre-meds taken and surgery prep done. The nurse at this point informed me that there had been an emergency case that morning that required the operating room ( I later found out it was a patient who was experiencing post op bleeding after RNY) and that the surgeon was about 1.5 hours behind schedule at that point. In addition there was another patient  scheduled to have surgery before me who was still waiting. Dan ( the other patient) and I chatted a bit and exchanged our optifast diet experiences. I told him I was nervous and that the waiting was like torture. He wasn't nervous, his wife had the surgery as well as his uncle and both were doing well. I went back to my bed and decided to sleep so that the time would go faster and I wouldn't have to sit there ruminating. They finally came to take Dan up around 11am.  The nurse said it would be at least 2:30 before they came back for me. So, I decided to go back to sleep! I did sleep... but woke up around 2pm unable to sleep any longer. I didn't want to be awake because of course I started ruminating again...getting myself nervous.  My stomach was growling and my mouth was dry. Nothing to eat since midnight and nothing to drink since 7:30 am. Around 4pm my surgeon came by. My heart was pounding, I thought this is it! They're coming to take me up!! Instead she said, "I'm sorry but we won't be able to do the surgery today". She was very apologetic, she had tried to get the room for my surgery but they wouldn't let her book past the scheduled time because of other emergency cases. I had been bumped!! I felt like the floor had been pulled out from under me. I was told that I would have to wait for a cancellation to come up before I could get another date. She was aware of a potential cancellation the following Wednesday...another 6 days! I was so angry and frustrated I wanted to just throw in the towel. All the mental preparation and planning now had to be done again! I would have to take an extra week off of work, find someone to take my son yet again so that I would have a bit of time to recoup and purchase another weeks worth of Optifast. I went home feeling disoriented and royaly screwed up. Even though I slept most of the day I was exhausted and dissappointed. I wanted to just forget the whole thing, it was more then I could handle.

Between then and now I have done A LOT of retail therapy... and thinking. I'm ok now. I turned the negative into a postive as best I could. I will have a bit of time to relax before the surgery and to spend with my son. Get things done that I don't normally have time for. Being on optifast another week kinda sux but what's another 6 days when I've already been doing it 3 weeks? As for my son, his grandparents have agreed to take him for me again next weekend so I have some time to heal. I'm also hoping that when I go in on Wednesday I won't be quite as nervous since I've already been through part of the process once already.

The hospital called today and confirmed that I would be going in Wednesday and this time I will be first in line so that there is less chance of me being bumped again. So, four more days and I will hopefully be on the other side this time!! I am not throwing in the towel, I will be ready!!

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