This Sunday, we made our way nearly 300 miles to Baltimore, Maryland for my pre-op appointments leading up to my surgery at Johns Hopkins in a couple of weeks. Our day started early with last minute packing and prepping the vehicle for the drive. I always over-pack for trips. It never fails! We were only going to be in Baltimore for one night, but of course, that equates to a few extra items *just in case*. I'm not going to lie, my bag of food out-weighed everything. Hey, a girl has got to eat.
We left the house fashionably late and before even making it out of the neighborhood, we realized that the insurance card in the vehicle was expired. Back to the house we went. After grabbing the new registration, we were on our way!
After a pit stop in Morgantown for food and bathrooms, we made our way on I-68 to Cumberland, Maryland. Traffic was light and with an abundance of snacks, time passed quickly. We were met with chilly temperatures and snow-covered grounds as we made our way into the mountains.
The further into Maryland and closer to Baltimore that we got, the heavier traffic got. Even with traffic and after our late start, we were making great time on the way, though. I felt like I snacked the entire way, but what can I say? I love pretzels and peanut butter!
Having made so many trips to Baltimore in the last 7 months, we have become pretty familiar with the route to Johns Hopkins Hospital. With that being said, we really had to rely on our GPS this trip to find the hotel that we were staying in the night before my appointments. As we made our way into Baltimore, it was a series of left turns, right turns, and left turns again, coupled with road work and detours galore! Traffic doesn't stop in the city, and thankfully my mom knows how to navigate her cities.
Finding our hotel proved to be a little more difficult than we anticipated, though. If you've ever used a GPS to navigate to a destination, you know that they have the tendency to startle you with "TURN RIGHT NOW!" This was the case as we approached the street that our hotel was on. The GPS dinged, so we turned. A couple of seconds down the street, we noticed a local resident pointing at us to get off the road. Confused, we pulled into the loading dock area of a nearby building, only to see a flood of cars fly by us going in the opposite direction seconds later. We had found ourselves on a one-way street with the help of our lovely GPS. Luckily, we had just nearly missed the pack of cars.
Back around the block we went, confused and attempting not to make the same mistake again! This time, we realized that there was a long driveway right next to the one-way street that we had turned down at first. That turned out to be the road that our GPS wanted us to take the first time. Finally, we were off the crowded streets of Baltimore and had found our hotel for the night.
After checking in and making our way through the parking garage, we found our room on the 11th floor and settled in. We were met with the most beautiful view of the harbor, which I believe I may have taken around 200 pictures of in a matter of a few hours as the sun began to set.
Seeing the harbor brought back many childhood memories of visiting the National Aquarium and Hard Rock Cafe when we lived in Southern Maryland. Not much had changed, bringing a sense of nostalgia.
As night fell, the city came to life in a new way. The tall buildings became dark silhouettes against the dark blue sky and the horizon became speckled with lights. If you have never been to Baltimore, the National Aquarium has waves that light up on the side of the building that are beautiful reflecting off of the harbor. As night fell, I probably took 100 more pictures.
I was not allowed to have food or water after midnight before my procedures, so I spent my evening snacking in anticipation of my cut-off time.
Now, I am someone who wakes up around 6:30 every morning and eats breakfast right away. So waking up the next morning and not be able to eat right away was a challenge. I diverted my attention from being hungry to the absolutely beautiful sunrise over the harbor. Our world is truly beautiful if you stop and look.
Our hotel was less than 2 miles from Johns Hopkins Hospital, but we knew better than to expect the trip to be short. We left the hotel early and made our way through morning rush hour traffic. It took us over 30 minutes to arrive, park, and make our way to the outpatient center. My first appointment was a fluoroscopy barium enema x-ray, which proved to be much more uncomfortable and painful than I expected, but nothing that I could not handle.
45 minutes later, we were on to appointment #2. My second appointment was a pre-op evaluation for my upcoming surgery in a couple of weeks. After almost an hour in the waiting room, I met with the anesthesiology nurse to discuss the details of my next surgery and ensure that I am healthy enough to proceed. It was here that we also discovered that I was not supposed to have my x-ray that morning. The radiology department had received the wrong order, resulting in a very painful and potentially life-threatening mistake. This mistake led us to question whether the scope that I had scheduled that afternoon was even necessary still. After a series of many phone calls and a meeting with the nurse practitioner, we learned that neither the x-ray or the scope were supposed to be ordered and that both procedures were a mistake.
My first priority after learning that I no longer needed a scope that afternoon was to find food. It was now noon and the effects of no food or water had left me weak and shaky. After a quick stop at labs for blood work and blood typing, we headed back to the car for lunch. After munching on some snacks for lunch, we headed out. Not even 10 minuted down the road, the nurse practitioner called, asking us to come back for an additional x-ray to ensure that no ruptures or leakages were caused following the improper x-ray earlier that morning.
Back to the city we went. This was definitely one of those deja vu moments. Weren't we just here?
I was taken right in for my x-ray and met the most kind and loving x-ray technicians. They made me feel comfortable and safe and made having to turn around and come back to the outpatient center not so bad. The x ray came back with good news and the hospital offered to keep me for a night to ensure that no problems arose. Trusting the x rays, we made the decision to head home with a watchful eye in case I faced any problems later in the evening and into the night.
The day may have been long and stressful and we certainly did not expect potentially life-threatening mistakes to be made at a hospital like Johns Hopkins, but the doctors and staff worked extremely hard to ensure that I was OK. I was shown authentic compassion and concern as a patient and that is the reason I believe they are regarded as one of the best hospitals in the world. I am unbelievably thankful to be under the care of the best doctors in the world.
I have been cleared for surgery in a couple of weeks and ready to begin the next step in my journey. Thank you to everyone who has shown my family and I tremendous support and love.