April 9, 2007: The Longest Week

Well it has been a long wait for action to start. I tested on April fourth and won't get results until I go to my primary care physician on the twentieth for a pre-admission physical.

The hospital requires that I be healthy enough to be admitted? They are rather persnickety. The physical should be ten days before the planned procedure. That is close enough to be relevant. Too many things can change if it were twelve days, for example. Ten days allows time for additional lab results to return and be evaluated. I suppose if I were not healthy enough they would have to give me a death sentence by slow torture. I don't want to even ask about the possibilities. Why should that surprise us? After all, we have to prove to a financial institution that we have money before they will lend to us.

It isn't as though I am sitting around with nothing to do. I am going to work every day. Well, I show up most days. I haven't mentioned before how great my boss has been about this. She has not assigned any additional projects and allows me to go any time I need to for appointments. She has made this a lot less stressful than it could be. I have great co-workers who are taking over my projects when I leave. (one more stroke of good luck in my life)

I have had a couple strange phone calls to make. I had to call the urologists scheduler to set a date. The conversation, like most calls for an appointment, starts with, "When would you like to do the procedure?" No suggested available dates? Should I know what lead time is?

I suggest, "A couple weeks?"

And she sets me straight, "The doctors are famous for this da Vinci operation and people come from all over the country to have it done. We couldn't hope to have it done before middle of May. There is a possibility of April thirtieth if Dr. Troy changes his schedule. He is supposed to go out of town but may not go."

Well that changed my perspective and I kindly asked for the first available slot in mid May. I really don't want to wait that long.

I also took note of how important her role is to me. She has to work with her two doctor's schedules and the hospital schedule for the da Vinci surgical robot. And the only days they can use the robot are every Monday and the first, third and fifth Tuesday. She recited the rules to me about only clear liquids the day before. That would be water, apple juice, cranberry juice, NO orange juice or tomato juice because they aren't clear you see. And no caffeine, no carbonated drinks and no dairy. She will of course detail all this in a letter to me confirming my appointment. These rule must be very important because we covered them more than once in the conversation.

I should also stop taking my medications the week before, that are not for my heart . (You know the MI that was the first stroke of luck) Stop synthroid, Folbic, nuproxen, aspirin, Metformin, all herbals and supplements, Lipitor, zetia, tricor. Only take my Toprol XL, for heart rate, and Altace, for blood pressure. I don't want these in my system at the time of the procedure because they will react with what they need to administer then. This too will all be in the letter.

I commiserated with her on the difficulty of her role and thanked her profusely. Hoping for preferential treatment her lady. Please don't sentence me to death!