Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." Genesis 9:13

Saturday, May 03, 2014

Not yet

I thought I was starting to get used to the situation with my brother.  It will be a month tomorrow morning that the middle of the night phone call came.  Since not a lot has happened in that time while we wait for the grand jury to indict I really thought I was getting used to it, while knowing that it would get very hard again when he was indicted and then again when the trial comes.  I dread the trial.  I suspect that my own secrets will be brought forth (not by me, from the psychologist) and I hate that thought. 

Then the last few nights have been tough. And today I had a minor meltdown.  It is just so hard to feel so torn.  I feel like I am a barrier to my mom helping him in the way she wants to.  And that is not a good feeling.  Yet I also know that the support she gives him is probably not good either.  It is so confusing and I cried long and hard this afternoon.

I'm finding this surgery stressful to prepare for.  My surgeon was not very detailed in what is going to happen.  His nurse, who I am supposed to use for questions and the like is not very helpful.  Thus far she told me on the day we spoke to schedule and go through pre-op requirements that since I forgot to have him look at a nodule on my Achilles that I needed to make an appointment to do so because I'd need to sign another consent document to have that surgically repaired.  Fine, I did that and she called at 7:30 that morning wanting to know why I was on the schedule.  I told her it was because she'd said I needed to and she said she'd take care of it and call me that evening.  Two days later I called her and she hadn't talked to the surgeon but decided it wasn't necessary and I could bring it up in the OR.  She explained that this is scar tissue from tearing my Achilles (I can't believe I was weightbearing on this ankle a week after I hurt it 4.5 years ago given the damage).  Which is good to know, but I don't think I can sign a consent in the actual OR.  I am worrying excessively about this because I don't want another surgery and this lump can be the most painful part of the injury when nothing is acute.  So I used a new feature in the patient chart feature and sent a note to the Dr.  I seriously doubt it really goes to the dr, I think it will probably go to that same nurse, but I just said I was not trying to be argumentative but I didn't want to not be able to have something done if it could be and that I was happy to come up to see the surgeon to sign consent if needed but that I wanted to be sure this wasn't missed, leaving me to face more surgery in a year.  Not telling him was a mistake but I did tell the resident who forgot also so it wasn't just my error and when the dr only spends 5 minutes with you it's hard to remember everything.  He is nice but his bedside manner leaves a bit to be desired.  He has explained almost nothing about the procedure or post op and I won't see him or anyone from the office again until surgery unless they decide to have me sign a consent to shut me u.

  He is going to be about a cm away from the nodule anyway, so he might as well keep cutting and get it out if that is possible.

I think the nurse has classified me as annoying anyway.  She didn't know what at MAOI was and keeps forgetting about it and what it is and she doesn't really care  and thinks they don't need to know because it is an anesthesia problem while it is really a anyone-who-treats-me-problem.  It's frustrating.  But if they don't want people asking questions they should give more information and if they don't like non-traditional medical situations they should quit medicine.  Plus, call back when you say you will, consult with the dr when you say you will or I quit trusting you.  This will improve with Dr. Brain gets involved but right now I'm stressed that they will not pay attention and give me something I can't have or do something dumb like not removing the nodule and then going back in next year to get it ou

Anyway, I took a full dose of valium last night that really knocked me out and then I got really upset and took klonopin a while ago.  I'm feeling kind of sleepy so I think I'll head for bed early.  Maybe it will help me to relax a bit.''

I will end with this thought:  Crime hurts your life, your family and your friends far beyond what you think it will.  Don't do it.

3 comments:

Jean Grey said...

Many surgeons spend so little time with their patients these days. I expect wrong diagnoses when I get a referral from a primary care doctor. But increasing I am getting wrong diagnoses from hand surgeons- and I don't think that the doctor was stupid, I think that they just didn't take the time to do a real eval and really listen to the patient. And so I catch a lot of what they miss because I have more time. Of course I get paid a lot for an eval (relatively speaking). Surgeons make most of their money with the surgery, not the office visit.

Unknown said...

Jen, please try to process things without "borrowing trouble." Today has enough trouble of it's own, to paraphrase scripture.

More specifically, it's not even certain that your brother will HAVE a trial. It's entirely possible that there will be a settlement of some kind. Further, from my experience with family, trials can be postponed over and over and over again, 22 months in our case. It takes a lot of work to stay grounded in a healthy life when so much is at stake but everyone will be better off if you remain as stable as you possibly can. Living in DREAD of unknowable events is not a burden you're meant to carry.

I care about you, dear friend!

Love, Michal

Unknown said...

Guess what scripture came through by a text from a friend today? Wouldn't you know it? I am sure the Lord is speaking to me, too. I woke up this morning with a phrase circling in my mind. I realized that it was "If I do not live in joy, I am stealing from the Lord." I'll be pondering that for awhile. I fret often and constantly work to lift my thoughts to things above. On the other hand, I have a lot of anxiety that I have to work much more diligently to accomplish practical things.

Here's the scripture:

"So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and sufficient for each day is its own trouble."

Matthew 6:34