On the evening of December 30, 2020, I was sitting in the living room with my husband and mother-in-law. We were playing a board game after an enjoyable, not over-large, dinner when I began to feel some tummy distress.
On the morning of Monday, March 1, 2021, I had surgery to repair a hernia.
The path between these two dates…well, it would be as tedious for me to recount it to you here as it was to live through it, I suspect. But suffice it to say, living on an island without a hospital, or even an urgent care center…or even a clinic that’s open nights, weekends, or holidays…can make the simplest things extra-challenging.
It wasn’t until several weeks after the initial tummy distress showed up (fortunately, it had stopped hurting by then, as long as I didn’t poke at it) that we were even able to get it diagnosed. This involved off-island travel, to the hospital in Anacortes.
In pre-covid times, traveling by ferry between here and the mainland was part of the appeal of living here. Yes, the schedules can be inconvenient, and it can be hard to get reservations during the peak season–but oh, the peace, the serenity, the beauty. Especially when coming home: driving onto the ferry, parking, and heading up to the passenger deck was when all the stress of the travel and the traffic and the crowds just…fell away. We went to the galley and bought a snack and a glass of wine, gazing out at the gorgeous views in every direction; we often ran into friends on the boat; on quieter passages, we could read or nap or work some of the many jigsaw puzzles the ferry system leaves out on the big tables.
Not these days. Now, we must stay in our cars, safe and socially distanced.
And in the wintertime, sitting in a parked car on an open deck, it gets cold. You can’t run the engine, of course; so our car is well stocked with blankets, and I’ve recently discovered the amazingness of those little disposable hand warmers.
But it’s more than just “taking the ferry isn’t so much fun these days.” I was lucky, in fact, that my medical situation was not more urgent, that I have not been suffering for two months. In an emergency, we have “life flight” insurance and can be airlifted off-island. Routine things can be planned for and either postponed or dealt with when it’s convenient. But urgent, yet non-life-threatening things: this is where the system breaks down.
A little over a year ago–before covid, when having friends to visit was a thing–we had, well, friends to visit. They had traveled up from Portland to stay a few days and help replace our deck.
Sadly, one of them slipped and broke her ankle. We called 911 and the paramedics arrived within maybe fifteen minutes…but all they could really do was help her up and to a car, and to advise her and her husband to go wait for the next ferry, several hours hence. By the time they made it over to the hospital that evening, her ankle had swollen so badly that they could not operate then. She had to wait weeks, till the swelling went down; this has greatly delayed her recovery.
It was one thing to know that there aren’t any hospitals here, when we decided to move here. It’s been another thing to see how that all plays out in real life.
I am actually writing this post before my surgery. Yes, I know I said it already happened, but I don’t really know how I’m going to feel during my recovery, and I want to make sure this goes out on schedule without my having to think about it. If I’m up to it, I’ll come in and edit here and tell you how it went.
If not…I’ll update you in a couple weeks!
I’m not real worried about it. The hernia is above my navel, which is apparently where you want to have such a thing, if you have to have one; the surgeon is confident that she can repair it cleanly, and that my recovery should be relatively easy. I’ve had major abdominal surgeries before, for more serious conditions than this, so I have some idea what to expect. Yes, I’m older now; but I’m generally pretty active and healthy, so that should help.
I was actually more worried about the covid test I had to have before the surgery, than the operation itself. 🙂 Huge swabs up my nose all the way to my brain! Ugh!
Well, that test was yesterday (as I write this), and it was pretty much just what I expected: unpleasant, indeed, and over very quickly. When I got home, my mother-in-law said, “I hear you’ve been to the Poke-A-Nose!” Ha ha.
And I am pleased, and unsurprised, to report that the test came back negative.
So that’s it for our latest episode of Island Life…stay tuned for gripping reports of surgery recovery! 🙂