Pre-op mess

What a mess yesterday was! I knew we were in trouble when we arrived for my Pre-op stuff at 10am and there were 22 people in the waiting area and only a few empty chairs. I had a really had a hard time finding a way to sit halfway comfortably. After about an hour and a half of waiting, I told them my problem and they found me an exam room just to put me in so I could lay down. We did not see anyone for another hour. We were there a total of 4 hours, and when we left the waiting area was even more crowded than it was when we arrived.

There was a bit of a hiccup with my EKG. Let me start by saying, that in the end there was nothing wrong, however it took a while to get there. I am still not real clear on what happend, but evidently on an EKG there is a graph that shows what your heart is doing and there are words along side that interprete the graph. The nurse would not really tell us what the problem was, or that it existed, but I could tell something was going on. After doing my best interrogating, I determined that the words on the EKG did not match the graph. So they were indicating some problem that the graph was not. They kept asking me where I had had other EKG's and we able to get Northside Hospital to fax an old one over from surgery I'd had a couple of years ago, so they could use that as a baseline. The graph from both EKG's looked the same and the anesthegiologist determined everything was fine. I had about 30 minutes of freaking out, and then it was all over and ok. But it made for a mentally and physically exhausting day. I do not generally get that freaked out about things, but this really threw me for a loop.

I am both anxious and excited about Monday. I can't wait for the day to come and get this thing out of me. Of course I am apprehensize about the unknown -- will they see something else or have to cut into something they were not planning on? How bad is the pain and recovery going to be? Intellectually I know better than to worry about that -- they have done MRI's, CT's and are not even pulling any lymph nodes so they should know exactly what they are getting into. And there is alway more pain medicine, so I know I will be comfortable. I just need Monday to come and get this over with!

My brother Michael, Aunt Rhoda, Uncle Marvin and Cousin Gladys are coming in for the surgery and bringing dinner over Sunday night. Sydney will join us on Monday and stay with me overnight in the hospital for the first night or two. Then the sisters and sister in law (Cindy, Lisa and Michelle) start rotating shifts at our house for as long as Bob needs help after I get home from the hospital. I think we have things pretty much under control and work is in good shape. All I need to do is pack a couple of things and rest! And hopefully, soon, I will be good as new!

The next time we blog will probably be on Monday afternoon or evening, with Bob catching you up on surgery, recovery etc. So keep your fingers crossed for me on Monday! Have a good weekend!