Surgery?

This morning, after Josh dropped the kids off at school, we unpacked and reorganized before driving to the Clinica Sanatrix for Josh's scheduled surgery this afternoon. As we were registering, there seemed to be some confusion. We thought the surgery was scheduled for 4pm, but the administrator told us 6pm. We thought the procedure was outpatient, but the administrator told us that Josh would be spending the night... the last patients get discharged around 8 or 9pm. We arrived at noon (wondering why he needed to be there so early), and found out they were planning to do Josh's pre-op tests. Josh already had his pre-op tests done at Bios last week -- a complete blood work-up and an echocardiogram for a total fee 59euros.

The main issue, however, centered around the fact that Josh did not want to spend the night in the clinic. Once contacted, his surgeon said he could go home after an afternoon surgery but of course it depends ... on a lot of things, and unfortunately a morning slot in the operating room would not be available. The administrator insisted the doctor was nuts because there was no way Josh would be walking out of the clinic today if the surgery started after 2pm.

After much discussion back and forth, I think the administrator took a liking to Josh, made a couple of phone calls, confirmed an operating room for tomorrow at 10am and then told the doctor when he would be doing the surgery. She was clearly in charge. So that was our first surgical experience in Italy: "can you come back tomorrow?" Actually, the flexibility is impressive.

Incidentally, as it relates to costs, a room at the clinic for an overnight stay is just 180 euros. However, staying overnight mandates a 20% IVA tax on the cost of the whole procedure. So, on an 8000 euro procedure, staying overnight means paying an extra 1780 euros!

Neither of us had eaten breakfast (Josh was forbidden pre-op, and I abstained in sympathy), and suddenly, we just got our afternoon back. So what else is there to do?... but go out for lunch. Pastis Bistrot is rarely disappointing. Now that the summer heat has set in, they are no longer including hot foods for their buffet. But since they know us, the server just asked what we wanted and offered to have it prepared for us.

I still had to get to the market to reload the fridge.

Avery had his last soccer practice after school today, and there was to be an awards ceremony afterwards. Since Josh wasn't at the clinic having his surgery, the whole family showed up to watch Avery play. Well, guess what? He wouldn't. As soon as he saw his parents and sisters come into the gym, he became more interested in sitting with us, and stopped playing. This was obviously disappointing. We ended up taking Avery home early and he didn't participate in the awards ceremony. I think he didn't know what he was missing.

Olivia and Charlotte had burgers before going to swim practice. Avery joined them for an early dinner since he was clearly very tired. I think he was off his schedule over the weekend and any lack of sleep has a significant (negative) impact on his behavior.

The weather has become hot during the days and perfect in the evenings. We ate dinner outside, and contemplated tomorrow.