January 25, 2018 - Convenience for patients and their families
We have been taught that you should never make it public when you are going to be away from your house over night or any length of time. Greg's surgery was scheduled for Monday, January 15, 2018. We were expecting bad weather. We discovered that the hospital actually has a hotel room floor inside the hospital for patients convenience.
They call it THE INN. The Inn looks like an average affordable hotel room. Each room has two double beds and there are even adjoining rooms if a family is planning on staying during their loved ones surgeries. The Inn is primarily for patients who live more than 50 miles from the hospital. They charge $72.00 a night which includes tax. You can't get a hotel room downtown Nashville for that kind of money.
We booked a room for two nights, the night before the surgery and the night of the surgery. We managed to miss the snow on the way in but on Tuesday when we were supposed to go home, it was snowing and the roads were terrible. On top of that, the snow was heading toward our town and was expected to be much worse there. We thought about trying to get another night, rather than drive all those miles on slippery, icy roads. When we inquired, we were told that other patients were coming in for surgery so we had to check out.
They said we could hang around the hospital and see if someone canceled their reservations. If there was a cancellation, we could grab that room. After packing up and loading the car, checking into a different room, unloading the car and unpacking into a different room just didn't seem ideal. On top of that, we had 3 cats waiting at home for us. I can't remember the last time they were alone for more than one night and we knew we were going to get CAT-A-TUDE from them.
About the surgery
I was in the Chapel praying when the surgeon called and told me he was done with surgery. He said the tumor was large and we would have to wait for pathology for the results. He said they were sending Greg home with a catheter and that the catheter had to stay in for a week. I had to get my husband home on icy roads sporting a catheter all the way. He was having pain and spasms so I knew this was not going to be a fun trip home for either of us. Rather than waiting around for hours while the snow piled up outside, we decided to leave and were on the road by 9:00 a.m.
The side roads were dreadful. People, especially pick up trucks were fish tailing all over the place. I was more concerned with someone sliding into us than anything else. We drove 40 miles per hour on the Interstate all the way home but made is safe and sound. Now it was time for us to get Greg settled into our guest room. The catheter was on his left leg and normally he sleeps on the right side of the bed. He was having restless sleep and was up and down constantly, moaning and groaning so he figured I would get no sleep. WE both knew I would need to get as much sleep as I could so I could take care of him.
We have been taught that you should never make it public when you are going to be away from your house over night or any length of time. Greg's surgery was scheduled for Monday, January 15, 2018. We were expecting bad weather. We discovered that the hospital actually has a hotel room floor inside the hospital for patients convenience.
They call it THE INN. The Inn looks like an average affordable hotel room. Each room has two double beds and there are even adjoining rooms if a family is planning on staying during their loved ones surgeries. The Inn is primarily for patients who live more than 50 miles from the hospital. They charge $72.00 a night which includes tax. You can't get a hotel room downtown Nashville for that kind of money.
We booked a room for two nights, the night before the surgery and the night of the surgery. We managed to miss the snow on the way in but on Tuesday when we were supposed to go home, it was snowing and the roads were terrible. On top of that, the snow was heading toward our town and was expected to be much worse there. We thought about trying to get another night, rather than drive all those miles on slippery, icy roads. When we inquired, we were told that other patients were coming in for surgery so we had to check out.
They said we could hang around the hospital and see if someone canceled their reservations. If there was a cancellation, we could grab that room. After packing up and loading the car, checking into a different room, unloading the car and unpacking into a different room just didn't seem ideal. On top of that, we had 3 cats waiting at home for us. I can't remember the last time they were alone for more than one night and we knew we were going to get CAT-A-TUDE from them.
About the surgery
I was in the Chapel praying when the surgeon called and told me he was done with surgery. He said the tumor was large and we would have to wait for pathology for the results. He said they were sending Greg home with a catheter and that the catheter had to stay in for a week. I had to get my husband home on icy roads sporting a catheter all the way. He was having pain and spasms so I knew this was not going to be a fun trip home for either of us. Rather than waiting around for hours while the snow piled up outside, we decided to leave and were on the road by 9:00 a.m.
The side roads were dreadful. People, especially pick up trucks were fish tailing all over the place. I was more concerned with someone sliding into us than anything else. We drove 40 miles per hour on the Interstate all the way home but made is safe and sound. Now it was time for us to get Greg settled into our guest room. The catheter was on his left leg and normally he sleeps on the right side of the bed. He was having restless sleep and was up and down constantly, moaning and groaning so he figured I would get no sleep. WE both knew I would need to get as much sleep as I could so I could take care of him.
We had trouble getting some of the meds Greg needed because he had just had similar prescriptions filled. Our home pharmacy cooperated and once again I was in the car on the way to the Pharmacy on icy roads to get his meds. That was last Wednesday. The surgeon also prescribed some anti spasm meds for Greg because the spasms were awful.
I will try to do another update tomorrow to get you caught up to the present. I think there may be some photos on Greg's phone that I need to get on here. The pictures are of and from the room we had at THE INN at St. Thomas. On a light note, we had told a few people we were going to be staying at The Inn at St. Thomas and some folks thought we meant in the Caribbean. Gee.......wouldn't that have been nice to be at a HOTEL IN THE CARIBBEAN than in a hospital having CANCER SURGERY.
Here is our song - THE PRESENT- We wrote this song when my sister was battling cancer. We all should remember that nobody is promised tomorrow, that is why today is truly a gift we call THE PRESENT.
I will try to do another update tomorrow to get you caught up to the present. I think there may be some photos on Greg's phone that I need to get on here. The pictures are of and from the room we had at THE INN at St. Thomas. On a light note, we had told a few people we were going to be staying at The Inn at St. Thomas and some folks thought we meant in the Caribbean. Gee.......wouldn't that have been nice to be at a HOTEL IN THE CARIBBEAN than in a hospital having CANCER SURGERY.
Here is our song - THE PRESENT- We wrote this song when my sister was battling cancer. We all should remember that nobody is promised tomorrow, that is why today is truly a gift we call THE PRESENT.
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