This week at the hospital…
I had a patient with breast cancer. She wasn’t admitted for that, but it was a concern because she had plans for surgery to remove a lump in a few days, and there was tremendous anxiety around the fact that this hospitalization may change the timeline for that already anxiety-inducing surgery. On top of that, she was an anxious person. You see where I’m going here? She had a lovely husband, whom we’ll call SuperGuy. SuperGuy was an incredible advocate; trying to suss out the details, asking clarifying questions, and ensuring his wife understood the answers. I did a few simple things that made a real difference in the icky hospital stay/panic-inducing scenario:
I provided information about the current diagnosis, how it affected the surgical situation, a