Thursday's the day

I went for my pre-op testing today, and it was an all day affair. I got there at 10:30am and did not leave until 3:45pm -- and no time for lunch. As I learned when I had my leg surgery, there is a lot of sitting around and waiting with all this pre-admissions stuff. I was smarter this time and brought my laptop and got a lot of work done while I was just sitting around. Once I got to see a nurse all they did was ask a lot of questions, take a little blood and a chest x-ray. I got to forgo the EKG (after a lot of phone calls) because of one of the heart test I had a couple of weeks ago that included an EKG.

After that, I had to go to Dr. Miller's office (in the same building) and meet with Jim his Physician's Assistant, sign a lot of papers and go over the surgical procedure. While Jim acted as if the procedure was "run of the mill", I have to admit it is has me pretty scared. There is always one thing that throws me it seems, and this time it was the fact that I have to be in ICU at least the first night. I know it is good to know those folks will be watching me, but the seriousness of that kind of shook me up a little. They keep telling me it is "easier" than my leg surgery -- but I don't know if it is "easier" for the doctor to do, "easier" from a pain standpoint, or "easier" from an overall recovery standpoint (since I am still recovering from the leg surgery so I hope this one is better!). I think anything is "easier" as long as it is not happening to you!

Dr. Miller does not assign a surgical time till the day before surgery as things seem to change a lot. I am to call around 4pm tomorrow to find out when I need to be there. They told me if we did not connect to just be at the hospital at 5:45am. Of course I have an entourage coming for surgery -Bob, Cindy, Michael, Syd, Aunt Rhoda, Uncle Marvin and Cousin Gladys, but still I do not have a time to tell them to come. The procedure, a Thorocotomy, should take a couple of hours. I should be in a regular room on Friday. I don't know what the rules are about guests in ICU. I know last time after surgery they did let everyone come up for a little while once I had gotten into my room. Cindy was planning on staying all night with me, but I am not sure they will let her stay in ICU.

I have a few last minute work things I need to take care of tomorrow, as well as some personal stuff --including getting my nails done late in the day. No self-respecting princess checks into a hospital without first having a manicure and pedicure. Since I still have no hair (a little 5 o'clock shadow) I do not need to have that done now. Eyebrows and eyelashes are coming back like crazy -- and in the most inappropriate places!

I should be in the hospital till Tuesday or Wednesday. If I am out by Tues we have a flight on a private plane to take us to Destin on Tuesday night. If it is Wednesday, we either drive or stay home. We'll just have to take that one day at a time. I can't worry about that yet -- but I will go ahead and pack for the beach in case we need to make a quick get-away. I figure I am mostly just going to be lounging around so I will not need much in the way of fancy clothes -- gym shorts, sweats, and pjs.

Bob will blog with all the news as soon as he can on Thursday after surgery. We should know right away if any of the lesions are malignant or not, but will not know course of treatment till I meet with the oncologist (if they are malignant) in a couple of weeks. I am going with the plan that they are not right now. Then I will deal with whatever I have to in a couple of weeks.

Well it has been a long day --really a long week with everything I am trying to cram in. Maybe I will get some rest after surgery! Just as long as they keep the pain meds coming ahead of the pain.

Thanks again for all your prayers and good wishes! Have a great Thanksgiving!