Satomi's Cancer Blog

I just spoke with Dr. Chen.  She said the procedure itself went very well.  Satomi has been in recovery for the last hour.  There was no oozing of cement and she passed all post-op neuro tests (tickling her feet, etc.).  Post-Op treatment will continue for another hour.

Satomi is in pain as there are now (6) holes into her spine but that is suppose to pass in the next few days.  She is going to be admitted for observation likely just overnight.

We won’t know  how effective the procedure is until most of her localized pain has subsided-Typically this takes 48 hours.

I will update you all again after we get her into the hospital room.

We arrived at 7:30am. By 7:35am, I was perturbed, by 7:45am, I was aggravated, and by 8:30am, I was pissed.  This place doesn’t communicate between departments for crap.  Let me be specific so all of you can determine if I am being petty.

I spoke with 3 separate hospital personnel yesterday during our Pre-Op tests to verify where to check in this morning.  After these discussions, I confirmed which floor and desk was appropriate.  Everything was set and I was confident.  My ultimate goal in all this is to minimize Satomi’s walking and hopefully minimize Satomi’s back pain.

Upon arrival, we went to the Surgery Reception desk on the correct floor as verified yesterday.  They immediately sent us back to the main information desk stating that they can’t talk to us until we get an ID band.  Strike 1.  We go back to the info desk and they cannot find our information.  After digging, we were informed that we weren’t scheduled for an “operation” but a “radiological procedure” and sent us to Radiology.  Strike 2.  At Radiology, I explain the situation and after some confused looks, finally get Satomi’s ID band.  We were then escorted to Admitting Services-a completely new desk that we didn’t know we had to talk to at all-and Satomi was checked in.  We finally returned back to the Surgery Reception desk and was greeted with smiles.

Shortly thereafter we were escorted back into Pre-Op and was greeted by the nurses with “Wow, you guys are early!”  I explained that our procedure was at 9:00am and were instructed to arrive between 7:30am and 8:00am.  They disagreed and showed me their schedule:  “Satomi Okamoto-Vertibroplasty 11:00am“.  I continued to explain that we got 2 confirmation calls from the hospital last night and both said the procedure was at 9:00am.  They explained that they were OK with prepping Satomi and keeping her comfortable but the anesthesiologist was scheduled for 11:00am; No one was assigned at 9:00am.  I kept my composure but I was beside myself upset.  Strike 3!

The nurses worked on Satomi for a few minutes-IV line, vitals, allergy questions-the standard stuff.  Then Dr. Chen showed up.  I asked her about the procedure start time and she verified that her team was ready for a 9:00am start.  I pointed her at the nurse and asked for enlightenment.  The doctor was shocked and expressed her dissatisfaction.  She located her anesthesiologist (Dr. Bak) and brought him in immediately.  We were very lucky that Dr. Bak was available.  A few minutes later, Satomi was ready to go.

I gave Satomi a kiss and they rolled her away.  She was in positive spirits.  It was 9:10am.  Dr. Chen said it would be about 3 hours until we had some word on Satomi’s condition.

I don’t think my negative opinion of this place is unjustified.  Maybe you’ll agree with me.  In any case, I have the next 3 hours to find a “How are we doing?” box.

The pre-op tests went fairly well.  The day was long and the test was more complicated than I thought.  Satomi had an Adenosine Nuclear Stress Test to check her heart function.  Take a look here for more information on the test:  http://www.cardiosmart.org/HeartDisease/CTT.aspx?id=786

It took several hours and involved several periods of waiting.  I was worried that Satomi’s back would give out so I was very prudent with the hospital staff.  To last thru the longer periods, we had Satomi wait lying on her side on an exam table.  She made it through fine.

The Cardiologist reviewed all the test results and found nothing wrong.  I asked about the irregular EKG and all he said was that it was “irregular”.  Dr Chang was very serious.

He blessed the operation tomorrow.   Strangely, Satomi and I both are nervous about it.

[Update:  This morning our Radiologist, Dr. Chen, clarified the Cardiologist concern.  She said the EKG did have a minor irregularity but the review of the Adenosine scans created some confusion.  Apparently, Satomi’s tissue expander in her left chest showed up on the scans and given its location was being interpretted as a small amount of dead muscle.  It took them a while to remember that the expander was in place.  If it didn’t concern Satomi’s health, I would have considered it amuzing.  At the moment, I think these people maybe smart but don’t listen very well].

This morning I called the City of Hope regarding Satomi’s Cardiology consult.  Besides being on hold for 20 minutes, it was fairly easy to schedule her visit to the Cardiologist at 10:00am tomorrow.  That would allow us not to rush the drive and hopefully maintaining Satomi’s comfort level.  All seemed to be in place.

A couple of hours later, the City called us and explained that it was not to be a simple consult.  Satomi had to perform a non-threadmill cardiac stress test.  She had to arrive there by 8:00am for this test so that the results could be reviewed at our 10:00am appointment.  I was a bit surprised and bothered by, what seemed to be, a last minute change.  Not to mention that we need to leave the house by 6:30am to get there on time.

The stress involves an injection of Adenosine which stimulates the heart directly; no physical activity is required.  That was a relief.

I wonder why her heart has become such a concern?  I’m starting to get a bit nervous about the entire situation.