Anna's surgery update

It's 7:19am. We're at surgery check-in and have been waiting a little over half an hour. We were supposed to be here at seven, but got here a little early. Mostly, we're bored and sleepy. And hungry, of course. Anna's not allowed to eat; I am, but didn't think I had time before leaving in the morning (having gotten up at 5:41am). I woke up around 1:30 with an allergy reaction of some kind - two more arson fires were going then, both within two blocks of my house. I'm really glad we're moving. I think the reaction was to the smoke from the fires. Anna's reading, which she finds difficult without her contact lenses.

7:35. There's no wifi here. No wi-fi and no sleep and no food makes Dara zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I'm also reading - when not typing in this thing - I bought a book and a report on Wal-Mart's wages and benefits structure in California. (Summary: extra reliance on state support programmes such as low-income health coverage results in a minimum estimate of $86M/year in indirect subsidies to the company. This is a reliance on public services that Wal-Mart actively encourages.) I'd start reading my book, except we could be called at any time. La.

8:08. Anna's dressed in Hospital Uglies and we're waiting for the nurse to pick us up again and take us to the anesthesiologist. They'll wire Anna up then and she'll go into surgery while I'll go to the waiting pit. They're expecting it to run two hours, right about, though it could take longer than that under the right (wrong?) circumstances. By Noon, theoretically, she'll be in her room, and I'll take off to move some of the big furniture (e.g., the bed) with Paul's help. Hopefully, it won't rain - today is the first day rain has been in the forecast for weeks, and we really need it, and I'd love to have some, except for the whole "moving the bed in an open truck" thing. Blah.

I think the whole hospital must be a big Faraday cage. Not just no wifi, but no cell phone access either. Surprising.

9:42. Sitting in the surgery waiting area. Anna's turn didn't come up for an extra half hour, so they're telling me to wait for first word around 11:30.

it was kind of appropriate that the nurse who came to take us down to the pre-surgery waiting area (a different place than we were in the priour note) looked kind of like Morpheus. It was mostly the glasses and lack of hair, but it was still funny.

Other than that, nothing to report except for lots of waiting. No wi-fi up here, either, but at least we're out of the Faraday cage. I think I'll try again to write a new letter. This'll be the third one I've started since the last time I actually got one out.

11:44. No word yet. Stupid surgery. Stupid lag. Stupid tired. At least the laptop battery is holding up well. I phoned Mimi and asked her to clear out a bit of tree debris from near her apartment - it's potentially too tempting to the arsonist. Read the first six chapters of Move Under Ground, by nihilistic_kid, and it's good so far, but now I'm too sleepy to read it properly. So.

11:50. Called up to the desk. Anna's in the recovery room. Her surgery took "a little longer" than expected. I suspect but do not know that this means they had to take out her entire thyroid and that they found evidence of cancer in the large lump. ;_; The doctor may and may not call in the next 15-20 minutes; I'm supposed to wait around here that long, then if there's no word at that point go away for an hour, walk around, get lunch, and come back.

12:05. OKAY that was wrong. Yay! They only took out the right side; the lump was "HUGE," and with boatloads of blood vessel mass going through it, but the cross-section check still showed no cancer, so the left side is still in. It'll be another week before they know for sure, because they have to do a lot of other cross-sections and testing, but so far, so good. It took so long just because of the size of the mass - she said it was like taking out a baseball.

She's going to be in Room 712, in Seven Southwest, which I think is southwest wing, floor seven. She'll be really groggy but should be there by 1pm. I'm going to go try and find a wifi spot so I can post this.

EDIT: That's at Swedish Hospital, Seattle, Washington.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Anna's room now 716D

The hospital has changed Anna's room assignment; it's now 716D, though still in 7SW. The direct phone number is 206.386.6874. She can take calls but can't talk much, if at all. All the talking she can do is in a whisper. However, if people want to call her, that's good.