Since 2002 I have had seven surgeries, five of them ambulatory and in five different hospitals. One could say that I am connoisseur of New York City hospitals and their ambulatory surgical services. So I thought I knew what to expect when I arrived at Beth Israel Hospital for my surgery yesterday.
I was told an adult would need to be there when I woke up so they could take me home, because I would be too out of it to go home myself. I asked my good friend Ruthie if she would take me home. She offered to come to the hospital with me but since she was coming from NJ I didn't want to impose so I told her she didn't have to. I had to be at the hospital at 2pm, Ruthie said she would be there around 2:30 or 3:00.
I was also told to "not bring any valuables". So I did not bring some items I carry with me almost all of the time, such as my digital camera, or my ipod (I would have liked to listen to some meditation music before the procedure, oh well) and I took off all valuable jewelry. I did bring my wallet, which contained my drivers license, a credit card, metro card, and $5 cash. I never leave the house without these, especially when I go into Manhattan because one never knows when the bridges and tunnels may become inaccessible and I need to stay in the city for the night.
I didn't think twice about bringing these basic items because all the other hospitals had a cubby hole/locker to keep this stuff in while I was being operated on. I understand that this is not Fort Knox (hence don't bring ipod, jewelry, or digital camera) but basic items such as wallet and metro card would be reasonably safe.
So here I am with a nurse before the procedure asking me the usual questions: what medications I'm allergic to? When was my last surgery? etc. She then pointed to my bag to ask if I had any "valuables" in there to check into security. I told her that I didn't have anything of great value but I did have my wallet, credit cards etc. "We have nowhere for you to keep that stuff while you are in surgery."
I blinked. "You mean you don't have a small locker? All the other hospitals had one."
All they could offer was to check these items with security. This involved a security guard coming over, who could only take what could fit in 2" x 8" envelope, (and here is the real clincher) they would be taking the items, OUT OF THE BUILDING. This means that after surgery, the procedure that would leave me too doped up to know where I was going, I would have to meander through the streets of Manhattan looking for an out of the way security building to pick up my wallet and keys. WTF?? Needles to say, this wasn't an option.
"Well we told you not to bring any valuables."
Yes, but obviously I need these items to get to the hospital. They didn't say, "come to the hospital empty handed". They didn't say "you should have someone with you because there is nowhere to keep your stuff while you are in surgery". Had they told me this, I would have asked Ruthie to come the hospital with me.
I didn't know what to do. Ruthie was running late, and I didn't know when she was arriving. I tried calling friends but they were either not picking up the phone, or were too far away to "babysit" my stuff before Ruthie got there.
"Well you're just going to have to wait until my friend gets here so she can watch my stuff, or reschedule. This is absurd." And I refused to change my clothes or do any preparations until my friend arrived. Ironically there was a whole bank of empty lockers that were not in use in the changing room, and I had a combination lock in my bag that I used for the gym that I brought "just in case" but they wouldn't let me use it.
I learned from another hospital employee that they used to offer a locker to ambulatory patients but the "discontinued this" for some reason.
Meanwhile, Ruthie is stuck in midtown traffic, trying to get to me as quickly as possible so I can start the surgery. Fortunately Dr. Friedman was stuck in another surgery and was running behind anyway. So an hour before surgery I am standing in front of Beth Israel Hospital at 16th & 1st waiting for Ruthie to pull up.
This was totally unnecessary and could have been avoided if a) they provided a small and reasonably safe place to stash my wallet and keys before a surgical procedure, not an unreasonable request at all since OTHER hospitals do this and b) they had made it absolutely clear that someone should come to the hospital with me to hold my stuff because "we ain't providing it for you". Instead I was put in an extremely stressful situation before a surgical procedure. Thanks Beth Israel.
As for the surgery itself, it went rather well. I was in some pain and kind of sick yesterday I think from the anesthesia. Anesthesia robs me of an appetite so I don't want to eat. But other than that, I'm fine.
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