How’s that for a mouthful or nose-ful (really bad joke)! Well, this is what Aaron is having while I am writing this. Poor thing! Of course, reading this was not very encouraging:
Procedures:
31256 Nasal Endoscopy Maxillary
30110 Excision, Nasal Polyps Simple
31255 Nasal Endo W Ethmoidect Total
61795 Brain Surgery Using Computer!!!!! What the heck??
What they meant was that they were going to drill through the polyps and then using a vacuum, suck it all out of his sinuses. But since that is close to the frontal lobe area, they code it this way. Sheesh!! I mean, really!! A guy is going to have his nasal passages cleared out and suddenly thinks he is having brain surgery!
Aaron hates hospitals and doctors – so you can imagine this trip to actually have surgery – like asking him to swallow a bucket of nails. I can somewhat understand the frustration of it all though. The term caregiver is somewhat loosely used here. It seems more like caretaker of papers that you sign would be a more appropriate term to use.
We get to The Surgery Center in Oakland this morning, only to find a tiny parking lot that actually has Valet Service, in case it gets full, which is bound to happen as soon as the Center opens. We park on the street, walk in and fill out a little sticker with his info. Then wait for the receptionist to call him – 20 mins. We then get called to the desk and here begins the saga of the signing. He is asked to sign a paper regarding his insurance, a paper regarding his rights, a paper regarding his contact info, a paper regarding his allergies, a paper regarding his anesthesiology, and a paper regarding his co-pay, which it turns out is $1000 out of pocket!
We then wait for a nurse to come and get us to take us to a separate room – 20 mins. The nurse was nice and somewhat helpful but guess what – she also had a clipboard jammed with paperwork. Again, Aaron signs similar paperwork. When he asks how much the procedure costs, no one is able to tell him. He gets a bit upset. I would be too. As he is signing the paperwork, we find out that he could have a separate co-pay for anesthesiology!! Why don’t they tell you these things – it sure goes the rounds of PCP, insurance company, ENT specialist, Surgeon and Patient and in all that time, no one tells you that you have separate co-pays for each procedure they perform on you!!!
So we get done with taking all his vitals etc, and then are shown into another waiting room and given some hospital gowns for him to wear. We are told to wait – so we wait for about 45 mins, only to be told that the doctor is running late with a previous surgery and was still in the OR. So we wait another 20 mins. Then the parade of papers picks up again – the nurse comes in – Bob – who is about as subtle as a blow in the head with a sharp object – and provides no information but gets all the signatures required “by law”. Then he leaves. In enters the anesthesiologist, who seemed a bit more tolerable and friendly than Bob, and explains the procedure of anesthesiology.
In this time, Aaron and I have played silly games, read magazines, lots of hugs and kisses and reassurances that things will be okay and he will recover, and a quick, prayer for the same things mentioned before. So Bob returns to take Aaron away to the OR. We hug and kiss and I tell him that everything will be okay.
I am outside in the waiting area, hoping that things really will be okay. I hope he gets his sense of smell and taste back and that he has a quick and full recovery.
Will keep you posted – now I wait – for 3 hours.
