We're home

We never did get the phone call we expected letting us know about the surgeon.

What happened though was this . . .

All around the hospital, they have computer monitors that give you directions where you need to go. You can also punch in your medical identification number along with a PIN and access your account, which brings up a list of your appointments. On a whim, we accessed E.'s account and discovered that his Monday appointment with the medical oncologist was no longer on his schedule (presumably because the oncologist was referring him on to the surgeon). We also discovered that an appointment is scheduled with a surgeon, but not until Wednesday, June 24th. Furthermore, the appointments on Friday, June 19th and Monday, June 22nd are still on the calendar as well.

We were hoping to talk to the surgeon earlier, at least prior to the appointments on the 19th and 22nd to see if the recent procedures E. had performed in Reno would suffice and we could forego those appointments. But, it is what it is.

Based on the new schedule, we determined it was cheaper to fly home than to hang out in Houston waiting for appointments. Additionally, we have munchkins on the homefront to think about too.

Anyways, we are home.

Tomorrow we will call the hospital and hope to get some questions answered . . . Is there any way we can use the information we brought with us from Reno instead of having duplicate procedures performed? (The oncologist did inform us that the surgeon may want to have the procedures duplicated to have up-to-the-minute information on his hands to better plan E.'s surgery.) Once we meet with the surgeon, is there a tentative timeline for surgery? (Are we talking 5 days, 5 weeks, or what?) And what about recovery? How long is E. expected to stay in the hospital post-surgery? How long is E. expected to stay in the area before he can travel home? And then there is the issue of E3 . . . what areas of the hospital will E. be in? and can I be there with E3? Is it going to be workable to leave E3 in the "day care" for little bits of time or would he be better off at home? (As much as I don't want to leave E3, I also want to be available for E.) And of course, there are all the other children we need to think about too, as well as travel and lodging arrangements for ourselves.

So much to plan for. So hard to plan though when so much is unknown.

As E. says, we just gotta roll with it baby.