The surgery to remove my left tube was scheduled for March of 2022 - right in the thick of tax season.
I was told by my doctor that I wouldn't be able to perform with my band for about 5-6 weeks postoperative.
I had made arrangements for help with both my office job and weekend gigs.
One or two days before the scheduled surgery, I received a phone call from my doctor. She wanted to go over the bloodwork that I had done a week prior. She didn't like my kidney results.
The surgery was canceled.
Now, not only was I dealing with fertility issues, I was being told that I could be in early stages of kidney disease.
I had so many emotions. I didn't know what to think or how to feel. I had psyched myself up for this surgery, had everything in order for my absence, and then it all came crashing down in an instant. Plus, I had the new terror of possibly being in early stages of kidney disease. This was not how it was supposed to happen.
She wanted me to follow up with my PCP to have more testing done on my kidneys before we proceeded with the surgery. "This surgery isn't urgent. You have time." Time was something that I did not think I had.
Miraculously, I was able to schedule an appointment with my PCP the same day!
My PCP was happy to hear that I had switched my OBGYN, but was perplexed as to why the surgery was canceled.
He looked at my bloodwork from the prior week and didn't think that the numbers were off. But he had me give more blood to retest and also tested my urine just to be sure.
I had the results back within hours. Everything looked good (thank God!) and he had cleared me for the surgery.
His office faxed over my lab results to my OBGYN - maybe three times before someone from my OBGYN's office finally confirmed receiving the results. The kicker? When I got the confirmation, it was a month after my PCP's office had faxed over the information.
I had to constantly reach out to my OBGYN's office to see if they received the fax. Because I was swamped at my office job, (if you ever worked in the public accounting field, you know what I'm talking about), I couldn't keep up with checking in to see if a fax was received. I had to wait until after the tax filing deadline to resume reaching out.
The sad part is that the fax was received a month ago. Nobody reached out to me to confirm the fax was received, to go over the results, or give me the A-OK to proceed with scheduling the surgery.
In true fashion, the closest date that I could reschedule the surgery would be the end of July.
During those few months I had a lot of time to think.
I wasn't a true 100% for the surgery back in March (though I eventually talked myself into it until it was canceled). I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. (Maybe the surgery was canceled because I wasn't meant to have it?) And I really didn't want to miss 5-6 weeks of performing during the summer. Summer months are busier than the month of March, and we play more than just on the weekends. It would have been a lot of gigs to miss.
Something was telling me for me to cancel this time.
Because my doctor was so wonderful, I wanted to message her "directly" to let her know I wanted to postpone the surgery to September and my reasonings behind my decision. In my message I also mentioned that I would call to cancel the surgery.
Almost immediately, I received a response from her nurse letting me know not to worry about calling to cancel. She would take care of it. The nurse also said that the OR schedule for September wasn't available yet, but she would call me once it was so that we could reschedule the surgery. Perfect!
A week before my scheduled procedure I received a message through the online portal letting me know that I could check in for my upcoming appointment. Naturally, I panicked. I didn't want to be held responsible for not showing up for a surgery that I had canceled a month ago.
The next morning I immediately dialed the number I was given to contact the OR. It was early enough that it was before their hours, and I was prompted to leave a message.
Before I left a message, I dialed another number in hopes of speaking to an actual human being. (Why is it so difficult to speak to real people and ones who can actually help you?)
The woman on the line was very kind and helpful, though she too was confused about the scheduling/cancelation of my upcoming procedure. She could see no record of it being canceled.
She transferred me back to the OR line for me to leave a message.
I left a detailed message explaining my situation and asked that someone please call me back to confirm.
Though my surgery appointment had disappeared in my online portal just days before the procedure was to occur, I never received a call back.
I never received a phone call about the September OR schedule.
The trauma from my last OBGYN practice was still too fresh, and these miscommunications were triggering. Though I really liked my doctor, I knew I needed to find another practice.
A few months later I had a positive pregnancy test.