Before my appointment, I met a lady in the office who is having surgery the day after me. She asked me if I was pre or post op. I told her pre and she looked surprised. That caught me off guard.
Dr. B. answered my burning questions. Remember, I said they were burning, not necessarily important. We talked about when I could drive and fly again. We talked about how I have always wanted to scuba dive. Hurray! I can do that after the surgery... though he did talk out the thought process to that answer, so I may look online to verify. We talked about vitamins for a while. There are SO MANY vitamin choices. I want to pick the right one, but there's no clear right one. I told him I had read that I would have to crush my pills for a few weeks. He responded, "Lies." Apparently, that's not true. Dr. B. is kind of like John Casey from Chuck with less spunk. In the show, John Casey is a very serious and cynical FBI agent who makes funny grunting sounds when he's not pleased. Dr. B. is oddly similar.
What else? I had to sign more papers than imaginable. I guess that's typical for surgery. I read my mom the list of things that I had to sign that could go wrong and even she laughed towards the end. It was almost like, "You could blink wrong and an eyelash could stab you and you can go blind." Alright, slightly less extreme, but not too far off!
We also got all of my pre-op scripts. Holy moly! Maybe I'll run through it all later this week.
Next, we went to meet with the anesthesiologist office. We got there early. The check in lady who asked to go by "Queeny" seemed completely put out. I tried to be funny and she was not interested. Finally I said, "You really are to busy to care right now, right?" (or something to that affect) and she said "Correct." Alrighty then! Jeff said I should appreciate her honesty and efficiency, but you know, sometimes people who are getting ready for surgery need a friendly touch.
Anyway, Queeny sent us to another lady to pay for some hospital charges. This lady was nice, but unprofessionally chatty (what a contrast?!). She told us of her friends who had the same procedure as I am having. She told us about her trip to Texas and how she swam with manatee's or something and how she wanted to swim with dolphins but couldn't because of.... zzz... What? Oh yeah. Chatty-Magee DID have some useful information. My hospital suite will be private (no roomy), have wi-fi, have my own thermostat and is on Dr. B.'s "floor." I'm not clear if he actually has a whole floor or just a wing of a floor. We'll find out. Apparently Dr. B. is very particular and everyone there does things how he wants them. I think that's fabulous!
Next, we returned to wait for the Anesthesiologist. During this time, we read my paperwork from Dr. B. and made fun of construction signs in the hospital. (See below)
When we got called in, we sat there while a very nice lady whose daughter is getting married and used to have blond hair but she died it brown for the wedding (people love to share) filled out some papers. She then asked me a few questions. She talked about how I can't have makeup, rings, or use hair gel the morning of surgery (WHAT? HAVE YOU SEEN MY CURLS?). She talked about my "wishes" if something were to happen to me. Then she left... I looked over my file and got to see my psych report! If that wasn't the most awesome thing in the world, I don't know what is! I got to read what my pre-op psychiatric evaluation said! Too funny. I said things I didn't even know I said. Apparently Jeff gives "neutral advice." haha I certainly never thought that; it's amazing I said it.
Finally an actual Anesthesiologist came in. She briefly went over my paperwork with me and that was it!
Overall, I feel really excited and slightly nervous about my operation. I'll be going in on Monday and coming out on Wednesday if all goes well.
