Home away from home

If it seems silly to think of a hospital as home, then you really don't know Yale-New Haven Hospital....but you will when you read my story.

My husband and I knew little of Yale-New Haven Hospital, as my husband had never been in any hospital and I had only been in our small town hospital to deliver our babies some 30 odd years ago. All of this changed in October of 1996, when my husband, Marvin, was diagnosed with a thymoma. Our hometown cardio thoracic surgeon referred us to Dr. John Elefteriades. Dr. E (as we now fondly refer to him) was calm and reassuring as he explained the procedure Marvin would undergo. On October 15, 1996, Marvin was admitted for the procedure. Dr. E told us to expect the surgery to take a couple of hours, so my sons and I were quite surprised to see him coming down the corridor about one hour into the surgery. Expecting good news we were shocked to learn the Marvin's tumor was much larger then anticipated and that it was in fact malignant. Dr. E asked what we wanted him to do. We told him that we brought Marvin to Yale-New Haven and to him because they were the best, and that we wanted him to save Marvin's life. Six and one half hours later, Dr. E returned to tell us that Marvin was alive, but in order to remove the tumor, he sacrificed the left vocal chord and the left phrenic nerve. He had performed a truly miraculous procedure and now we would just have to wait and see. After a month in CTICU, Marvin was on a respirator and had a "g" tube inserted for feedings and was still nonresponsive. Dr E advised us that he was going to call in Dr. Lynn Tanoue and Marvin was then moved to the MICU under the care of Dr. Tanoue and Lynne Maccubbin (his primary care nurse). If in the trying times of your life a rainbow should appear...our rainbow came in the form of the two Lynnes.

Dr. Tanoue never for a single moment believed that she wouldn't bring Marvin back to us. With the help of her partner, Dr. Mark Seigel, they went on to diagnose Marvin with Myasthenia Gravis. Slowly with the aid of medications, plasamapherisis and radiation therapy, Marvin began to come around. When Marvin realized what had happened to him, he fought back with all the strength he could muster. Those wonderful respiratory therapists worked with him encouraging him, cajoling him and assuring him that he would again breathe off that respirator. We spent four months in the MICU and that became our home away from home. Dr. Tanoue—this little woman was our tower of strength. She pushed for Marvin with every ounce of caring and knowledge she possessed and we carry her in a special place in our hearts to this day. Our other Lynne, Marvin's primary care nurse, gave new meaning to the caring and nurturing nurses give their patients. Nothing was too much for her if it made Marvin comfortable. If that wasn't enough, she always had time for our family to explain the progress (or on some days lack of progress) Marvin was making. She so impressed my older son, that when David's first child was born she was named Lauren Lynne after nurse Maccubbin. She has truly become part of our family.

While many people contributed to Marvin's recovery, there is one more special person I have to mention. All those long days and nights we spent in the MICU, we were so fortunate to be able to have the very strong shoulders of the then student chaplain Maureen Gilmore-Hebert. Maureen stood by our family with that endless supply of tissues, strong shoulders and the sense to let us cry it out when that's precisely what we needed.

Five years have past. Marvin no longer has a "g" tube. He breathes on his own, and eats anything he wants and our life has gone on. He was able to see the birth of two granddaughters (the light of his life), the wedding of his younger son and the celebration of his 60th birthday party (attended by both Dr. Tanoue and Nurse Maccubbin). Marvin is still followed by Dr. Tanoue, and we still make many trips to Yale-New Haven for CT scans and such. I still think of it as home, every time I go through that revolving door.

Marvin and I met when I was 16 and he was 20. We married four years later and went on to have two wonderful sons and daughters-in-law and two adorable granddaughters. It was always my dream for Marvin and I to grow old together. Thank you, Yale-New Haven Hospital, for making that dream a reality.

Susan Goldstein
Waterford, Conn.