Heading to the Hospital

Yesterday morning, we arose at o'dark thirty... unfortunately, not all that bright eyed and bushy tailed... so we could head north to check into the hospital for Sheila's third surgery related to recurring breast cancer. 

I don't think either one of us slept all that well. I admit that I was a bit anxious and I know Sheila was a bit anxious too. Plus, I was concerned about oversleeping since we needed to get up so early. We arose on time, however, and were headed to the hospital within 45 minutes.

We arrived at the hospital before sunrise and long before anyone else so we were treated to an empty parking garage and a front row parking spot...

We headed directly to the Registration Desks to check in for today's surgery. While checking in, we had a nice conversation with the registration administrator about yoga, strength training, the kids, the grandkids, cruises and visiting Disney...

After registration, we made the short walk to the end of the towering lobby to the Surgery desk to begin this next phase of Sheila's cancer treatment and journey...

Waiting to be called in to Pre-Op... I think Sheila is checking her messages as the sun rises outside the windows... this was her last chance to check messages and make a quick post on Facebook before her phone needed to be put away...

Within a few minutes, we were ushered into Pre-Op...

Things are still moving along very quickly. There is a whirlwind of doctors, nurses and technicians buzzing around us and even keeping in touch whenever we are away from the hospital. This is sort of a good thing though... it sort of forces us to focus only on one step at a time.

This particular morning, however, the focus of our concerns probably seemed a bit strange and perhaps a bit misplaced. Rather than being focused on and vocalizing concern about Sheila's recurrence of breast cancer, removing the tumor, radiation therapy, and chemo therapy, we may have seemed significantly more concerned about Sheila's history with post-op problems. We were concerned about minimizing these problems but the cancer concern is still deeply and darkly present. Nevertheless, it felt a bit silly to be sounding more concerned about post-op issues rather than the cancer itself.

That being said, we both know that Sheila's team of doctors is among the best and they were showing their strengths on this particular morning which was very comforting.