6/15/22: Phone Calls

Before I had a chance to call my GYN surgeon's office this morning, to make sure everything is in order, the surgery coordinator called me!

She said I am all set for tomorrow, and she also shed some light on this whole "medical clearance" situation.

She said medical clearance is only needed if there's something concerning in my medical history, and the fact that I've seen a cardio-oncologist was likely what flagged me as needing it. Normally, the hospital would inform the surgeon's office about the patient needing medical clearance, and they would take care of getting it, but the surgery coordinator said no one told her, and moreover, she thought it was odd that the hospital would tell me directly, like usually it's something that happens behind the scenes, not something patients have to manage themselves.

Yesterday when I spoke with my oncology nurse after the cardiology appointment, she said she would reach out to the GYN surgeon's office to make sure they saw the cardiologist's notes, since she was basically just a middle man in all this. I realize now that my oncology office, and my oncology nurse specifically, were really going above and beyond by doing the job that the GYN surgery coordinator should have been doing. (My PCP office, on the other hand, was the least helpful of all.)

But I absolutely do not hold anything against the surgery coordinator, who sounded rather put out that she had been left out of the loop. She said she asked the hospital why she wasn't notified, and the person at the hospital seemed to say that they figured everything was all set because I already had an oncology appointment scheduled. But of course, the surgery coordinator knew that she would have been left holding the bag if I wasn't cleared. 

Maybe some people might think the surgery coordinator was being unprofessional by telling me all this, but I totally appreciated it!! I value accountability and transparency, and I feel better knowing what happened versus what should have happened. Having the full story made me feel like it's okay that I was overwhelmed by the last few days, because they objectively didn't go as smoothly as they should have, since I did fall through the cracks a bit. Once again, another clear reminder that we, the patient, have to be our own best advocate!!!! 

Anyway. The hospital was scheduled to call me between 2:00 and 4:00 PM, but they called me early at 1:45 PM. I'm a stickler for planning so I can't say I appreciated being called earlier than scheduled. Ha. They just confirmed my arrival time at the hospital, and also no food or drink after midnight tonight.

Oh, incidentally, I did get a notification from one of the online patient portals saying my covid test was negative.