WHY KUMC SUCKS - Josh's surgery

*****edit when Josh and I talked this morning he thought I should amend this posting to let you know up front...this post has nothing to do with Josh, it's just my crappy experience waiting for him at the hospital. The post about Josh is the next one*****



So today's crap started out on Friday...Josh's surgery was set for Friday at 11:30am, we were supposed to be at the hospital at 10am to check in. Well come 5am I wake up and start throwing up, I'm sick. I try to take some zofran and lay back down hoping it's the same thing Luke had a couple days go (he threw up a couple of times, but was fine the rest of the day, and never had a fever) but an hour later I'm still very sick with throwing up and among other things terrible cramping in my stomach and back. Anyway we get to the hospital and ask the Dr. if we can reschedule, he says, "No problem I'm working for you" and we go home where I proceed to be sick the rest of the weekend (it got a little better every day that went by).

So get to today. We're now without the babysitters we had lined up for Friday, but our friends the Steffensen's agree to watch the older 2 until Josh's mom can pick them up after her Dr's appt. at 11am (which btw went good and she doesn't have to see the Dr. again for 3 months!!! woohoo). But now Josh has to be at the hospital at 6am...and that's not happening with 3 kids, I know I have friends, but 6am babysitting is something only family gets guilted into, and well we had tapped out family :o)

Anyway the plan went like this: Josh dad, Danny, would drop Josh off at the hospital at 6am. I would take the kids to the Steffensen's no later than 9am and head to the hospital. After Danny & Jeannie (Josh's mom) were done with her appointment they would pick up the kids and take them back to our house so Dani could take her nap and Luke would pretty much play and destroy his usual stomping grounds.

This is how it actually happened:
I didn't sleep at all last night, worry & Zack nursing every hour saw to that. I finally just decided not to pretend to sleep anymore around 7:30 when Luke woke up and started watching cartoons. I proceeded to get Luke dressed, then dressed Zack, finally I woke up Dani and got her ready, somehow this entire sentence in real life took me 2 hours. Already an hour past time to drop the kids off I finally back out of the driveway (in the meantime I have to get the doors to open under the layer of ice, and get the final trash bags taken to the curb for trash day). I make it to the Steffensen's at 10am, after grabbing the kids guilt McDonalds because this was the first time they were eating today.

I head for the hospital, getting about half way there I realize I didn't leave the door unlocked for my in-laws to get in, thanks to the neighborhood thieves I now make sure I lock my doors all the time. I turn around and then I call Jeannie to see if she has a key...she doesn't...but tells me not to worry about it they would take the kids to their house instead (more work for them, but it's her decision). I turn back around and head for the hospital once more. Then I look down and realize the diaper bag I've packed for Dani is still sitting in the seat next to me. So I call Jeannie again telling her I have to turn around anyway to take the diaper bag to the Steffensen's and give her another chance to change her mind about bringing Mr & Miss Distructo to her house. She still declines, but I do reassure her that while I'm a mess I did manage to remember to put the baby in the car.

So now I'm ANOTHER hour behind schedule, it's now 11am and I'm finally headed to the hospital. I get there and the valet tells me after I've already unpacked the stroller and bags and I'm getting ready to put the baby's car seat in the stroller that they won't park my car today because of the ice. It's their policy to only valet if you're going to the heart hospital or if the driver is in a wheelchair. I told him to keep the car, or have it towed I wasn't moving it. He reluctantly gave me a slip, I think he saw the devil in my eyes.

I make it up to the surgical floor and they can't seem to find Josh. He's not on "paper." Well I have to explain to 3 different people that his surgery was originally scheduled for Friday, but it was moved. They still didn't seem to have a clue, but finally a nurse came out and told me he was still in surgery. Ok, it's about noon now. The nurse told me to go grab something for lunch and come back and by then he would be in recovery. I went and grabbed an overpriced pudding, and tried to say hi to a few x-co-workers but they weren't there. When I got back at 1pm the waiting room was overflowing. The attendant in charge of checking on patients and telling their families how they are doing told me I could sit in a different waiting room about 20 feet way (surgical ICU waiting room instead of surgical waiting room) I was grateful because I don't much like nursing in public and to do it with a stranger in the chair next to you wasn't going to be easy for me. So the surgical ICU waiting room was pretty much empty. I waited, I asked a couple of times. I called my in-laws and told them about 2pm that I hadn't heard anything yet, but I would call them when I did. I waited some more...and then some more. I went down several times and chatted with the attendant and asked a couple of times if Josh was given a room number yet, and was told, "Honey don't you worry, I'm in charge of the rooms, when one opens up I'll assign him one and I'll let you know."

Meanwhile I find out I have accidentally left my cell phone in the van and didn't feel like having the valet go back and get it for me considering how I left things with him. Also I realized that while I had a laptop I couldn't use it because I didn't have the password...so it's just one thing after another.

So about 4pm a different nurse assistant comes down to the surgical ICU and asks the room if anyone was waiting for news about surgery patients. Another group of people say yes and the nurse asks them why they're in that waiting room and they say the attendant told them to, just like me. So we're both told we're in the wrong waiting room and they've been trying to "find" us (even though neither of us were lost). I was told to "stay put" and someone would be right back to get me. Well I think in the mean time the original attendant came by and asked me for the 5th time who I was with. When I told her she was like, "you come with me, your husband is looking for you!" So I pack up my stuff and follow her to the 4th floor, and Josh's room which he's been in for a few hours!!! I was so pissed, but then they tell me that I can only talk to him for 10 minutes because they shouldn't even let me in because I have Zack with me! I try to explain that he's breastfeeding so I can't leave him with anyone, but they tell me to keep it short.
I get in to Josh's room at 5pm. He's apparently been worried sick about me, even having them overhead page me (wonder why I didn't hear that???) and calling down to the ER to make sure something didn't happen. I'll write about Josh in another post (so you don't have to read this rant if you just want to check on him :o) I end up staying a couple of hours and get Josh set up for the night before I head home to put my rag-a-muffins to bed (found out Dani didn't take a nap for Grandma and made her chase her all day keeping her out of trouble...oh the life of a 2 year old).