Count Down to Surgery

I have returned from another trip to Indy - this time for my pre-surgery testing and nutrition class.  The Lord continues to bless us on this endeavor.  First, He got me in for my psych evaluation the same day that we went up for the informational meeting in February.  Then, when we were able to schedule the surgery, He got us a date only 51 days away, instead of the four months off that we were told to expect.    I have to interject here that I know Dad would have had some interesting things to say about ME having a psych eval… AND the fact that I passed it with flying colors.    Anyway, the trip to Indy.  We had a lovely trip up to Holly's house.  Holly and Duncan weren't there, but Tom and Natalie welcomed us with pizza.  Tom even gave up his and Holly's bed for us, so no one had to sleep on the couch.    I had to be at the hospital on Wednesday at 7:45am, so of course I got there way too early - about 7:20.  Fortunately, it all worked out.  Since I was early, they were able to get me started early and I was able to get out early.  But I get ahead of myself.  First off, they wanted blood, and a lot of it.  Unfortunately for all of us involved, I'm not an easy stick, haven't been for many years.  I get this from Dad… another thing to thank him for!  And right as the nurse was, unsuccessfully, trying for the second time, the hospital chaplain came over the loud speaker and said a prayer blessing us all for the day… which was nice… and then when a second nurse came in to try drain me, the blessing was doing its job and she got all 8 of the vials filled.  I have a lovely goose-egg sized bruise as a souvenir, but still I count it as a success!   Then I got to go do respiratory tests.  I got to breathe into odd machines and receive my first take home gift of the day, an incentive spirometer.  Fun little toy, I get to start breathing into it several times a day to start building up my lungs so as to prevent pneumonia post-op.  Since I am not the best at it and since I do not want no pneumonias, I will practice it religiously.    So then I was off to go have my patient history taken.  I know that Dr. House says that all patients lie.  So I tried to be as honest as I could.  If I lied, they were lies of omission, because I didn't remember ever having an XYZ test before… and hopefully not overly important.    Up until now, all things had been easy breezy and I entertained my escorts and a fun time was had by all.  But then I had to go to radiology.  I knew there were x-rays involved, because I'd been told not to take any of my medicines for the day until after the upper GI.  I did not, however, know what was involved with an upper GI other than there being x-rays taken.   The first part, which was swallowing some crystals and then shooting a shot of water was nauseating, but doable.  The hard part was not burping because I'd been told that if I did, I'd just have to do it again.  So we wanted to avoid that.  Then came the barium.  It was super thick and there was at least ¾'s of a cup of it.  It took a bit of prayer and deep breathing to get enough of it down.  And then she wanted me to take another shot of the crystals because she figured, rightly so, I'm sure, that I'd lost some of my bubbles.  But actually, the second shot of crystals and the water helped get some of that barium taste out of my mouth.  Personally, I think they ought to give you the crystals after the barium.    So she took pity on me and instead of making me stand on the platform and then her moving the platform to a horizontal position, she just made it horizontal and let me lay down.  But then I had to roll over in a circle to make sure my tum was completely coated.  This was not wise on the tech's part because it was all I could do NOT to hurl all that barium (remember, this was all on an empty stomach) all over the machine.   But I survived and got to poop barium for the rest of the day, but you don't want to hear about that so..  The tests were done and it was 10:30.  My next appointment was to see a doctor at 12:30 for a physical and review of test results.  I was nauseous and hungry and I had two hours to kill, but no vehicle to travel in.  My Kindle and I trotted down to the cafeteria, which did not open until 11am and I read until the cafeteria opened.  I got me some chicken tenders, which were nothing to write home about… although one could point out that I'm doing exactly that… and some breaded mushrooms, which were fabulous!!  I haven't had the surgery yet, and I'd had my bloodwork, so I stopped in the gift shop and got some cookies.   I ate and read and felt much better.  I attended my appointment with the doctor and was okayed for surgery – but again, the Lord has made travelling down this road too smooth for me to seriously consider that I wouldn't have been.   Having passed the bloodtests, Mom, Natalie, Tom and I went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner so I could mark another item off of my Bucket List.  My friend/co-worker Shawna waxes so eloquent about this place every time she comes back from Indy that I knew I wanted to try it just once.  And I was not disappointed.  I discovered, though, that it is not the type of place to go if you want a quick meal, but it was very good.  I had Strawberry Lemonade to drink – yummers!, a dish of bow-tie pasta in a very spicy sauce with chicken for dinner – very good and I'm seriously bummed that I had to leave my doggy box in the Burns' fridge, and then for the piece de resistance, I had the Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake!  We all got different cheesecakes and tasted each others.  Frankly, I think Mom's Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake was the best of the four.   When we got home, Natalie and I relaxed in the hot tub and then I went to bed, having gotten up very early that day, not to mention having spent a good portion of it nauseous.   Thursday, Mom and I attended an all day class with first a nutritionist to learn about the vitamins that I'll have to take and the water I'll have to drink and the protein supplements I'll have to get in.  It was very overwhelming and we went to Max & Erma's for Tortilla Soup to recover.  Then we went back for an afternoon with the nurse – who basically read from a power point script.  Sigh..  The monotony was broken up by another nurse who had the surgery 4 years ago and she was funny and answered questions I didn't even know I had and we received a prayer and blessing by the hospital chaplain – I cried, of course.  (Hands up if you're surprised!)   Finally we hit the road for home.  The drive was uneventful and beautiful.  The cats were all pleased to have us return… except for Sophie who is still shunning me.  Sigh..   So it was a successful trip.  I'm glad it is over, because I think there was a wee bit of anxiety that for whatever reason I might not be cleared for surgery.  My bucket listing comes to mind as a possible reason!  So now we have 19 days until surgery.  I have a few items left on my bucket list.  And I have shopping to do… for vitamins, protein shakes, and baby food!  Any of the new parents out there have suggestions as to favorite baby food flavors?