So I got my pre-op appointment on July 10th. I went there 2 days ago. I thought it would be a quick consult with a nurse and some bloodwork. It turned out to be a 5 hour affair at the hospital. It started with my consult with the nurse. We talked about the procedure, my pre-op bowel prep (more to come later on that, my ultrasound and MRI results again, breastfeeding on the medications, my medication list, and recovery restrictions. Ugh! I was concerned about my surgeon's desire to wedge my right (healthy) ovary. She said he had notes stating he would only remove the left ovary if necessary - but he would leave the cervix, uterus, and right ovary alone so I could preserve fertility. Also - instead of taking my mass out and giving it to the pathologist while I was under, they would just remove it and end the surgery. Then if it turn out to be cancerous, we can make decisions afterwards. I am feeling so much better about that.
I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to breastfeed during this process. I'm also worried about breastfeeding after - since I'll be on percocets or Lortabs.... but I will talk to my OB. As for the results - well this thing is the size of a peach. If I didn't know better - I'd swear it was getting bigger!! Anyway - it needs to come out. I still don't have any cramps, pains etc. It's hard to believe I have something this size inside of me and I can't feel it!
So here's the worst piece of news in all of this - I have 6 weeks of restricted activity. I cannot lift anything for 6 weeks! That means I can't lift my daughter for 6 weeks. I'm going to have to delay her potty training because of that. I also will have to take a 6 week hiatus on my running :( I am going to have to see if between my daughter's nanny and her baby sitters if we can get a rotating schedule that works - because I can't really do much as a mother if I can't lift anything. Ugh.
After all the consult stuff - I went over to hospital admissions to get started. The admissions was straight forward, but they convinced me to do an advanced directive. I always wondered what that was. It's basically a document determining how I want to be cared for in case I'm incapacitated. Furthermore, it identifies a health agent to speak in my behalf. So no laughing, but I thought about how my husband is going to be my health agent and we just took out insurance policies on each other LOL!!! Doesn't that sound like the beginning of a story on Investigation Discovery? LOL! Fortunately there's a clause in there for the doctor's to supercede your health agent's wishes if they feel that your health agent isn't behaving in your best interest. Sheesh!
After the admission, they gave me a green hospital band so I could be admitted for my pre-op labwork. I went over to admissions where I got a $970 bill for my coinsurance ( 10%). Thanks crappy US medical care system! And that's with pretty decent insurance! After I finished with the financial team ,I began my trip through the maze of the hospital.
For starters, I came up on the wrong elevator. I ended up in some lab. I pinned down a nurse and she walked me over to the pre-op area. I checked in and sat down. I realized that I was exhausted and started dozing in the waiting room. Finally they called my name 30 minutes later. I was taken back to sit with a very pleasant and bubbly nurse. She gave me a urine test, blood pregnancy test, took about 6 vials of blood, and gave me an EKG. I have a lot of cleavage, so she had to lift one of my boobs to get a good reading - awkward!
Finally she reconfirmed my information and gave me a red hospital band. She explained that they did a type and screening on my blood and blood would be pulled out of the bank for me for my surgery in case I need it. She explained that I cannot take the band off until after my surgery. If I did, my surgery would be cancelled / rescheduled. So here I am walking around with a hospital band for 10 days. When she was done, she sent me off to get an X-Ray. That was ridiculously fast, and then I was done!
Of course with my luck, with all the zigzagging across the hospital, I forgot how I got back to the car. I finally made it out of the hospital only to find myself 2 blocks of so from the parking deck! I dragged myself out there and got in the car.
I think before all of this - I mean I knew I was going for surgery - but this feels so much more significant than the previous ones. I'm just so ready to get this over with and to get a real diagnosis!
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