Upcoming Surgery And Update On Parents

A Hibiscus Flower I photographed in Hawaii

Hey Ya'll,

I ran out of my Celebrex prescription.  Our Doctor wrote me a new one, but it appears that because of the type of prescription that it is, it has to be "approved" by the Doctor every 3 months!!  So even though she "wrote" the prescription, my mail order prescription company still had to have her authorize it!!  And of course, she didn't respond fast enough, so my old prescription ran out about 4 days ago....by the 2nd day of not taking it, I was in pain.  By this morning, I woke up hurting EVERYWHERE!!  My Back, Neck, Shoulders, Hips, Leg and Knee....not to mention a Headache!  So I am really hoping that it arrives in the mail tomorrow.  I know that the Doctor approved it, so I just have to wait for it to arrive! 

So, on to other things....like I said in my last post, I went to my Surgeon, Dr Kozar last week, and he is planning on taking my Band out asap....I think!  At any rate, he was planning on removing the Band, and revising me to the RNY (Bypass) at the same time.  But after discussing it later that night, Walt and I decided not to do the RNY.  At least not at this time.  So I called my Surgeon's office the next day, to informed the Surgery Coordinator that we only wanted the Band removed at this time.  She was surprised to say the least. 

In fact, when she returned my call to advise her of this, she assumed that I was calling trying to find out how soon the Surgery could be done, and when she would be sending in for my Insurance approval.  She was telling me that before she could send for the approval, I would probably have to go back to the classes regarding the life of a RNY patient, etc, that she would have to check with the Doctor.  She was about to hang up....when I managed to finally break in on her talking, and say that the reason I had called, was to let them know that I didn't want the RNY!  LOL 

So she said that she would change the Insurance request.  I doubt that many patients do this!  So I am hoping that the Insurance approval is as quick as it was for the original Lap Band approval.  Once all my pre-qualifications were done, and she sent in the Insurance request, it was approved within 1 week!!  If this is so, then it could potentially be approved as soon as this week or next, depending on how long it took, or will take, Dr Kozar to write up the information to be sent to the Insurance Co.  So with this, I will keep you posted....

****We found out that our Daughter Christa's, Mother-In Law, died suddenly on Friday evening!  She was only about 71 yrs old.  But from what Christa told me, apparently she had a Heart condition, for which she had a couple of Stints placed about 10-11 yrs ago.  Her Husband had been begging her to go in to the Doctor, as she was looking bad, especially since it appears that she stopped seeing the Doctor about her Heart condition, once the Stints were placed.  So they are holding her Funeral on the 3rd of March.  So of course, if my Surgery is approved by then, we will make sure that we will be able to go to the Funeral, to show our support to Christa, our Grand Kids and our Son-In-Law Mark.****

As for my parents, my Mom is doing about the same.  She is looking a bit better and sounds a little bit better on the phone.  But she is concerned about her procedure that she is supposed to have done.  It has been over a Month since the Doctor told her of the procedure she needs done, and was about to think that they had forgotten it, when she finally got information on where and when she was to go.  Unfortunately it is in downtown Sacramento.  Which is about 30 miles from their home, and about a good hours drive, assuming traffic isn't too bad.

So she may contact my Nieces, Son's, ex-teacher, who has been through these types of tests and is also helping my Dad through his upcoming Cancer treatments.  She is hoping that she can get the procedure changed to a Hospital closer to their home, since my Dad can't drive her anymore, and it is a burden trying to get reliable transportation.  My Daughter Christa would drive her for sure if she knew, and she had the car available, but my Parents won't ask her.

As for this newest Medical Condition that she is getting ready to have treatment for, I finally found out exactly what it is, and I had never heard of it before.  It is called Paget's Disease of Bone, and she has it in the Skull.  Apparently, if she does not get the treatment, she will go Deaf in one and probably both Ears, as it is located on both sides of the Skull.  I also found out that there is a high possibility of this being hereditary.  If you have a Parent or Sibling with this Disease, then you have a much greater chance of having it as well.  It is generally not seen in anyone under 40, but if you do have a close relative with it, then you should start testing about every 2 yrs after age 50.  So now I need to advise our Family Doctor about this as well, so she can watch for the "possible" signs in future Lab Work through the years.

As for my Dad, he is getting worse!  My Step-Daughter Kat, went to visit with my parents today on her day off from work, and all she said was that my Mom looked better than the last time she saw her.  What she didn't say was how bad my Dad looked.  It didn't need to be said, we know.  I called them yesterday, and my Dad answered the phone as usual.  But what was uncommon was that once he made sure that I was doing ok, and he told me how much pain he is in again with his Shoulder and Arm, he gave the phone to my Mom.  Which is totally unlike him, he has always liked to talk no matter what he felt like.  So it appears that he is spending a lot of his time in bed now, as he was in bed again when I called him.  Normally he is in his recliner watching TV.  His pain appears to have gone up a notch again, as the pain meds that he was put on, isn't controlling his pain anymore. 

Unfortunately, he doesn't start his Cancer treatments until the 28th!  He was told that once the treatments start, the pain should begin decreasing.  But he has to wait until then, and then who knows how long it will take for the pain to start to wain.  As much pain as I have been in through my life, I truly wish that I could take some of his pain for him, so that he could bare it!  Keep good thoughts his way, he can really use them!

So, it is getting late, and I need to go to bed.  Till next time....

Aloha My Friends