WHAT???

This morning I made Jim a big breakfast that had to be finished by 7:30 (8.5 hours before the planned surgery). He was really tired and went back to bed after breakfast. At 9:25 we got a call from Mike (Dr. Sauter's secretary). He said Jim was scheduled for blood work at 9:30 and to see Sauter at 10:00. WHAT??? No one communicated this to us. Nothing was on the portal last night when we checked. Was he still on for a central line placement? Transplant floor? Mike put me on hold and Kathleen came back on the phone. She was apologetic but wouldn’t even let me vent my frustration and concern. She kept talking over me and making no sense. MY HUSBAND IS GETTING READY TO UNDERGO THE CHALLENGE OF HIS LIFE AND THERE HAS BEEN A BREAKDOWN OF COMMUNICATION. NO ONE HAD THE COURTESY TO CALL US OR EVEN PUT THE TIMES ON THE PORTAL. NO ONE FROM THE TRANSPLANT TEAM EVEN CAME TO VISIT JIM ONCE IN THE HOSPITAL OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS. BARBARA, THE TRANSPLANT NURSE COORDINATOR, SHOULD HAVE TOUCHED BASES WITH US. OR A PA OR NP...SOMEONE!

Jim had to wake up and quickly get ready for the 10:30 blood work and 11:00 meeting. As it ended up, there was no blood work drawn and we saw Sauter closer to 11:30-11:45. He examined Jim’s underarm and said very few words then rushed out of the room to check on the surgery time for the central line. We never saw him after that. Twenty minutes or so later a young woman came in and said we could go to interventional radiology now. That they could take him now. WHAT??? What about the 8-hour time frame of not eating not to mention Jim was drinking a cup of water because he could until 2:00. Boy have they had a breakdown of communications. This is the worse time to do it. We should be feeling strong and safe and confident about Sauter and his team going into this transplant. Now Jim is doubting him. I believe he is an excellent doctor otherwise Horwitz would not have asked him to take on Jim. We are keeping the 4:00 time frame and walked back to the apartment. Jim immediately lay down on the couch and went to sleep. 

So here we are. It is 10 pm. Jim and I are sitting in a room on the recovery floor. Actually Jim is in a bed. He had the central line put in and everything was fine with that. He has been in the recovery room since 6:00. The delay is his room is not ready. They have to move someone to another floor and then clean that room before moving Jim to the transplant floor. This is crazy. Luckily we brought Jim's night medicines with us and he took them. Most importantly the antibiotic that he needs to keep steady in his bloodstream to fight the infection he has. Hospitals do not want you to take your own meds but too bad. By the time we get up to the floor too much time would have passed. 

Stress was the last thing Jim needed to begin this transplant process. Hopefully once we get on the floor things will run more cohesively. Didn't mean to sound like a whiner but today was not a good one.