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.
No comments:
Post a Comment