Words: Be Careful

During the days of Marsha's hospitalization we listened carefully to all the things that the doctors and nurses had to say. We had been told that certain things would happen before Marsha was released from the hospital. That became a problem as we waited and waited for them to be checked off of Marsha's list only to continue waiting. It became clear later that some were to be rapidly accomplished in an hour before her discharge. The most difficult not to check off the list was the supposed schedule of tests and the in hospital meeting with the oncologist that was supposed to happen before she went home. It looked like Marsha was going home tomorrow and she had not seen the oncologist so we thought that might delay everything. We began to hound the staff for all these things we had been told would happen only to be disappointed. I've been with people going through this and I've told people to be pushy to get things done and questions answered, but sometimes I think hospital people lose sight of how important all these things are to their patients. It is such a daily routine to the medical personnel that they miss the importance to the patient and family. You can see they don't understand your frustration. While that was happening it was still upbeat this day because we thought tomorrow was escape day.