Last-minute flap

Some excitement last week, followed by a reprieve of sorts.  My surgery still scheduled for the 20th, but early in the week, they told me I had flunked a blood test and needed clearance from a nephrologist.  A Kidney doc.  Now I don't have the greatest relationship with my kidney doc.  When I called mine for a rush appointment, they told me the earliest I could get one was in June.
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(Why do I have a poor relationship?  Well, it feels like they mainly give gloomy warnings rather than useful therapies... grave warnings about how I'm killing myself with  diabetes... blood pressure... etc. It sometimes feels like the kidney docs are all operating a cosmic Ghoul Pool and the one who comes closest to guessing my departure date gets to wear the coveted black cloak for a week.  Or something.)
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Since my regular kidney doc couldn't see me for two months, I called around and got an appointment with a young guy  I'd never heard of.  To my shock, he was a good guy, told me I was doing a good job managing things, and the surgery would provide an enormous step forward in my health and lifestyle.  And wrote me the needed letter, larded with wonderful phrases like "Stable over last four years" and  "...no contraindications .."  I could have kissed him.  And that was my reprieve.


Bottom line:  surgery still on track for April 20.>
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Countdown to Surgery

April 20 is my scheduled date for Surgery.  Went in yesterday for the pre-op testing.  Started at 7:15 at the hospital, and finished about 2:00.  Wound up with a graduating class of four guys, and we went through together.  I gather this is an oddity; many of the nurses there to train us said they had never seen an all-guy group before.  Here are some of the things covered:

• Housekeeping details, like insurance, ID, co-pays, and release forms. Ah, yes, the release and consent forms.
• Lung-function tests.  Blow in the little machine.  Blow fast.  Blow slow.  Over and over again.  I passed, but had to promise to use a little torture machine (spirometer?) 100 times a day to keep lungs strong.
• Blood work and EKG.  Detailed medical history.  No surprises here.
• Met with MD for instructions on meds.  What to keep taking; what to stop (like aspirin) and what to reduce (like insulin.).  Good meeting, many questions answered.
• Nurse came in to review details of meds.  What to crush;  how to open capsules.  Why not to take whole pills (they can get caught in the surgically altered pouch) and how to swallow crushed pills (sprinkle powder on applesauce.)
• Dietitians Dina and Erin brought us order forms for high-protein snacks and drinks, along with samples.   I guess folks complain about taste, so they wanted to give us a preview.  Yummm.  Also diet log forms and day-by-day menus for post-surgical noshing.

At least one blogger gives the date of her surgery as the date she was reborn.  I need to take some picturea of myself, showing my fantastic physique (ha!) to document how I looked on my rebirth date.  These will become my "before" photos, and I'll post them for your amusement.