I've Got My Surgery Date!!

The Hospital that I will have my Spinal Surgery

Hey Ya'll,

Well, this morning I made sure to wake up early enough to call in to my Surgeon's office to start the Surgery approval....I got the call yesterday that they received the information on what my co-pay should be for the Surgery, but that I needed to pay half of the amount first, before they would schedule the Surgery.  I don't know if this is standard practice now, but I do remember that when I had my Lap Band Surgery back in 2009, I had to pay half upfront then too.

So anyway, I had to wait until Walt got home from work last night so that we could decide how we wanted to make the payment.  So I couldn't wait to get the call in this morning....LOL  Once I made the payment over the phone, I was informed that I would be contacted by Kristin, Dr Lynch's Surgery Coordinator at some time today.  She finally called me, and we setup my Surgery for Dr Lynch's next available day for Surgery at the Hospital we chose....which will be Tuesday March 27th!!

Which will be 2 weeks from this coming Tuesday.  So now I am waiting to receive my Surgery packet with all the information on the Tests I need to get done before Surgery can be performed.  The problem is....I need to get the Tests done within 10 days of Surgery, but not less than 4 days before my Pre-Surgery consult (Friday, March 23rd), so that my Surgeon has all my Labs, X-Rays, etc in hand for review.  So this means that I only have a window of a couple of days to get it all done.  Since 10 days before Surgery falls on a weekend, and within that 10 days, I have only about 1-2 days where I can get them done in time to get the results to the Surgeon!!  Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place!! LOL 

AND....that Monday, we have a Dental appointment that we have been postponing for Months!!  So I hate to postpone it again, as then I can't get in until at least a month or more after Surgery!  And I have had a Toothache off and on for over a year!  But we didn't have Dental Insurance until this year....which is why we kept postponing it, then we had to postpone it due to weather, etc!!  LOL  So, if that Monday (the 19th) is D-Day so to speak, where I have to get the Testing done, then that will be a long day for me.  A Dental appointment in the morning, then several hours of Testing for Surgery.  But I will do it if necessary of course!! 

I am told that I will need to give a Urine Sample, have Blood Work drawn, Chest X-Rays taken, as well as special X-Rays of my Neck in different positions (flexed forward, backward, and sideways) so that the Surgeon can get a good look at the Discs and spacing, etc.  I was told to expect these Tests to take at least 2 hours or more....(sigh)  But I am thrilled to finally get this going.

And now I found out that my Cousin (who lives out of State and is in End Stage Cancer), and her Sister's (my Cousin's of course) and my Aunt, are all flying out to visit with my Dad over Good Friday weekend.  I wish that I could drive down to California to visit with them.  I haven't them for about 8 years.  But that would only be 10 days after my Spinal Surgery, and somehow I don't think that I will be up to driving 3 hours each way over a rough mountain road that soon after Surgery! 

My last Spinal Surgery, I only had 2 Discs Fused, and I seem to remember that I slept for a whole week!!  Plus, I somehow doubt that my Surgeon would give the ok to drive that far so soon after Surgery, especially in a Truck, that....well, drives like a TRUCK!!  So I am afraid that my visiting them is not going to be an option. (sigh)  Oh well, they are mainly visiting my Dad as this will be the last time they will probably see him alive.  Not to mention my Cousin, it will be the last time he sees her alive as well.  As they are both battling Cancer, I am not sure which one will go first.

I spoke with my Parents tonight, so that I could advise them of when the Surgery would be.  And I talked with my Dad a little about how he is feeling, now that he has started the Radiation Treatments.  Today was his 4th day of Treatment.  He didn't go into any details, but he said that he is still in tremendous pain.  So much so, that once he found out when my Surgery was going to be, he gave the phone over to my Mom.  And of course, he started to break down and cry when he tried to tell me that he wished that he could be at the Hospital for me, but there is no way that he can sit long enough to drive over the Sierra's to Reno.  I did my best to tell him that I knew he would be here if he could....but he just had to get off the phone.  It is so sad to talk to him and have him break down.  I wish that I could take some of his pain for him....I really do.

Well, it is getting late, so I better get off here for now.  I still have a lot of research to do.  We have decided to sell the Gold Wing, and instead of buying me the Can Am, we will buy me a small SUV or small Car.  We are looking at either the Honda CR-V, or the Subaru Forester or Subaru Legacy.  We are choosing between these, as they all are/or can be bought as AWD vehicles.  And they all have excellent reputations.  So, till next time.....

Aloha My Friends :)