Getting Ready for Surgery
As soon as my first doctor visit was over and I had made my decision, I began to get everything lined up. It was really a lot of work. First came the insurance. The doctor's office handled all of that, but it took about 2 weeks to get the approval. But it finally came and my surgery date was set for Nov. 6. I had my interview with the nutrionist on Sept. 15. She was really helpful and sent me lots of material in the mail to help for after the surgery. Later the same day I went to see my primary physician who was very helpful through the whole process. She rewrote all the presciptions that I needed to get the testing done, as my surgeon is not a local physician. On Sept 19 I had my upper GI series. Doing the test wasn't too bad, except that I was sick with a bad cold and was feeling really tired and achy and that made moving around on the table harder. Drinking the barium was no so bad. But the bad part was after the procedure. I was terrible constipated, despite taking the complimentary milk of magnesia, it was truly an ordeal. Perhaps I didn't drink enough fluids before and after, but I hope to never go through that again. Then on Sept 30 I had my interview with the psychologist. She was really nice and said she thought I was a perfect candidate and I would do really well. I agreed! Later that day I had my EKG, which was no problem, other that waiting in the doctors office for almost an hour waiting to do a 5 minute test! He did tell me there was nothing wrong with my heart. Only one thing left to do, the cardiac stress test. Now everything so far had been a relatively easy procedure, but this was a different story. First they took a scan of my heart in a normal state, no problem. I had the adenosine stress test so next they had to start an IV and after two tries, they called in the chemo nurse. Now I work in the hospital where I was having my test so I know all theses nurses, so you can imagine it was a sticky situation. But Peggy from the chemo clinic was fantastic and painless!! But now came the test. We had to wait almost an hour for the Doctor to show up, which was ridiculous. Then they began the infusion of the adenosine which puts stress on your heart just like vigorous exercise and increases your heart rate. The infusion lasts 4 minutes but it seemed like much longer to me. At first it just felt tingly and a little pressure on my chest. But as we went on I was having trouble breathing but they raised the bed and that helped a lot, don't do it laying down flat. Then my legs were cramping and my arms were hurting, and they told me to wiggle my fingers and toes and that helped, but it was a very scary feeling. Of course they kept telling me it was normal and I was doing great. I was very happy when it was over. I left for a little over an hour and they told me to eat something fatty for lunch so the pictures would turn out better when they did the after exertion scan. So I went to McDonald's and ate a double cheeseburger, can't get much fatter than that. Came back and fininshed. When I got the results it said everything was normal. Yeah!! With all this behind me it was time for a previously planned vaction to Louisiana, which was planned before I decided to do the surgery. Now I haven't been home in almost 2 years and I do love Cajun food. So I decided this was my farewell to food tour (thanks Carol for the idea) and I would enjoy myself. I knew when I returned to Kona, I had to lose 5 to 10 pounds, as I had been instructed at my first office visit, prior to surgery date. But I thought that would not be a problem. So I thoroughly enjoyed my trip, saw lots of friends, ate whatever I wanted but didn't pig out. It was great. I only gained 3 pounds, maybe I had dessert a few too many nites, But now it is the weekend before my surgery and I have lost 9 pounds, so I lost more than 5 pounds from the original weight and have been sticking closely to a low fat diet for two weeks. There is also an emotional preparation and I haven't really felt a lot of stress about that. I am sure this is what I want to do and have had only a few little second thoughts. But they are fleeting. I have some anxiety about the surgery itself, I have never had any surgery and just the idea of general anesthesia is a little scary to me, especially since I work in a hopsital, ( I'm a pharmacist), and I see what some anesthesiologist do and the mistakes they make, but they haven't killed anyone, so I guess I'll be ok. Preparing for after the surgery I thinkg will be a one day at a time process. I don't know how else to do it, because I don't know how I'm going to recover, how I'm going to feel, how I will handle the pain (although I have a really high tolerance to pain and I'm not really worried about that) or how tired I will be. I have read lots of other peoples accounts and the biggest thing I have learned from that is everyone has a different experience. So, this is it, I'm off Tuesday
morning to fly to San Francisco. All my test results are in, I have pre-registered
at the hospital, my hotel reservations are done. We arrive late Tuesday
evening, and my biggest worry is that I have to eat airplane food all day
on my last day to eat because I have to be on a liquid diet on Wednesday
and npo after midnight. We'll pick up on the night before the surgery if
I have internet access at the hotel. If not I'll post after the surgery
is over. Wish me luck!!
|
