Finding new friends in Family Waiting Area | yosoyrosa's Blog

When we arrived at the university hospital, we were early at 6:45.  Admitting was able to bring us in within minutes of signing in at the desk, and we were given a hospital map and told to report to Radiology.  We checked in there, and were told that we were scheduled for 10:00, and no preliminary work was called out for us.  They had the blood workup results on file, and nothing indicated the need for a hydrating IV, so we got to sit, and wait, stomachs grumbling since we had left a few hours earlier and had been fasting (no food or drink) since 8:00 the previous night, doctor's orders.

The first step was to get my husband dressed in his hospital gown with a robe and pants, then they led both of us to the procedure room.  There were to procedure rooms joined in the middle by a control room with windows between for the Xray techs.  Each procedure room was really impressive, with a big C shaped scan and several TV monitors mounted above the patient table.  The anesthesiologist went through a patient survey while the room techs were preparing two carts with a variety of devices, drapes etc.  The mood was very lighthearted, and we met the attending doctor and another assisting that I assumed to be an intern he was so young.

I was advised the procedure normally lasts an hour to an hour and a half once patient prep was completed, so as soon as I was asked to leave I headed out to the cafateria.  A few phone calls, croissant and coffe later I headed back up to Radiology.  There I was told that there was no ETA, and they would call me in the family waiting area. 

The waiting room was an experience.  Chatting up the lady next to me, I found her husband had received a transplant as a Stage 1 candidate since he had internal organ failure after a ruptured appendix, dificult infection and shut-down after large doses of antibiotic were used in another facility.  She and her daughters had watched while he was on a countdown survival, with an estimate of life ending in just a few days when a donor match was located.

Another woman appeared and sat in our little circle on a footstool, her husband had Hepatitis B with aggressive liver cancer, treated by another facility with chemo-embolism that had gone bad, severely damaging the femoral artery.  The referral to the university took several months, and on their first visit she was given the news that her husband was off the list for too many tumors and damage.  Not willing to accept an estimate of months to live they travelled to Singapore where a family member was a donor for a living transplant.  Back in the states with complications, both transplant facilities advised that he needed another transplant, but would be put on the list again after at least one year tumor free to confirm the cancer had been eradicated.  We cried together as she said "I feel like I should have push harder to get him in here quicker"

Checking my watch, it had been 2 hours and still had no word about my husband, and this story shook me up.  This is when I heard the third woman telling of her daughter's brain cancer, an active teacher that loved her life, she was a 13-month survivor of the same disease that Ted Kennedy was in treatment for.  Her participation in a study had been cancelled when they found another growth, so today was a series of tests to determine the extent of treatment success or failure.  Across the room was another couple that were here for follow-up, they had all played cards together in the family waiting just a year ago, and had not seen each other between visits.  The daughter appeared to gather her belongings and head up to the doctor's office.  She was about my age, and looked very strong and heathly, with close cropped hair and a quick smile to the group of 'new friends' her mother had made.

At three hours, I started to press for a status of the procedure, and a few minutes later the nurse came to get me.  As it turned out, I would be with my new friends off and on for several more hours.