Prep For Surgery
Well folks I have already told you some of what I had to do to get ready for surgery... But I first had to recieve confirmation from my insurance company that they would help pay for the whole kit and kaboodle!
Waiting on the insurance company can sometimes seem to take forever. And because of the nature of this surgery, you have to prove sound medical reason for having it....I guess some people have it for vanities sake??? Some insurance company want you to be on a doctor appoved diet for a certian time period before you can have the surgery done....who knows all their reasoning. My suggestion...call you insurance company...find out what their guidelines are for this type of thing...and meet them before you go see the doctor. Just be sure to have some sort of written confirmation. I guess it took about 6 weeks for me to get approval from the insurance company. But once I had approval my doctor was ready to go! I could have had my surgery on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving! But I had already made arrangements to take the month of December off from work and I didn't want to leave any eariler and put my boss in a bind. So I chose to wait until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving...which was December 2, 2008.
Now when someone who enjoys eating and cooking as much as I do is faced with the fact that she is making a major life changing decision. She panics and tries to eat everything that she is not supposed to eat ever again!
Ok let me explain...after a couple of doctors appointments, this protien diet that you are on, and your impending surgery...you are gonna get a little nervous. My doctor also has you go through an education class a week before your surgery is scheduled. During this class you learn all you need to know about taking care of yourself post surgery. Also the dos and don'ts of what you can eat after you have had your surgery.
Now the big 3 no no's after surgery are Bread, Rice and Pasta. <Gulp!> Now I want you folks to set back and think about all the things that you like to eat...now how many of them contain one of these three ingredients??? If you were like me....most of the thing I like to eat or cook! I finally realized that these three foods are our main dietary problems in life and most of the time pasta and rice are just filler food. I have learned a lot over the past couple of years...trying to adapt what I cook to what I can eat.
Now getting back to preping for surgery. The main thing that my doctor wanted me to do was to follow his protien diet. As I explained in my previous post, it helps to prep your body for surgery by reducing the fat around your internal organs. It also helps to prepare your mind for how you will eat after your surgery.
I tried my best to follow this diet...and I would love to tell you how much weight I lost and how well I did....the sad truth is I failed! I couldn't tolerate that protien, it just made me want to gag...but I knew I had to find a way to drink the stuff because after surgery you become dependant on the it to get your daily protien needs met! So I made do on the salads...and tried to drink the protien....but didn't have much success. I finally found that I could partially tolerate the chocolate flavor if I mixed it with Skim milk....but it was still hard to swallow. But I tried!
Of course having a major holiday celebration and my birthday fall just days before my surgery...didn't help much either! I chose to get off my diet for the day so that I could enjoy that last holiday meal...I was sure that I would never enjoy one again! <laughing to myself at this point>. I found that when I fixed my plate at Thanksgiving that I could only eat a small portion of what I placed on it??? My stomach had already begun to shrink! I was excited to find out that my dieting over the last 8 weeks had paid off even when I was bemoaning the fact that I could not eat what I wanted! So I enjoyed my small portion and the birthday cake that my Momma had made for me in my favorite colors.....
 |
| Mama D and the Bear with my Cake |
I had done everything that I could think of to get ready for this day. My daughter was taken to Grandma and Poppa's house for the week. My husband had taken off work to be with/take care of me. Prayers were being said for mine and the doctor's safety. And I was following the doctor's orders to the best of my ability. I took the month of December off work...really not that big of a deal since I worked at a daycare that followed the school schedule and we miss two weeks out of that month anyways!
Tool Man and I drove to the next big town over the evening before my surgery and checked into the motel across from the hospital. This little motel is great, they have really economical rooms, and they are there for hospital patients and their families. It is a really great place! Since I had to report for surgery at 5 AM...and we live about 65 miles away at the time...well I don't want to get up at 3 AM to drive for over an hour! Tool Man and I checked in early then decided to get some Christmas shopping done! We knew that I probably wouldn't feel like it later in the month....so it was a good time! Besides I was nervous...and me being nervous in a small room with nothing to do is not a good thing.
The next morning I got up and took my shower with my special soap and off to the hospital we went! I was getting more nervous by the minute! There were two other ladies that I had met in my training class there with me that morning. All of us got there before the staff arrived for that floor. It is kinda spooky being on a deserted floor of a hospital at 5 AM....your imagination runs a little wild. I was very grateful for the steading influence of my Tool Man! He was wonderful through out the entire process! He even managed to make me laugh a couple of time...even though we were both sleepy!
When the staff got there, they took us back to small hospital rooms one at a time to check us in, let us change into hospital gowns, and get our I.V.s started. They of course ask you fifteen bajillion questions...some of which have already been answered...some you just wonder why they are asking you that! I then had the pleasure of taking a ride on the hospital bed to the pre-surgery waiting room. Weee.....I really hate not being in control of things...so this was not exactly fun for me!
Of course this whole time I am wondering where is my Daddy??? Tool Man is right beside me, Pop and Mom are taking care of Bear, and My Momma started a new job the day before and was in training...but my Daddy was supposed to be there!
Now the pre-surgery waiting room is one of those ward type rooms that you see in movies....a large room with a bunch of beds and the only thing between you and the person next to you is a curtian! There I met my favorite person! The anthesiologist! He of course asked me all sorts of questions then gave me a lovely pill that helped me to relax. I was getting super nervous by this time....was fixing to grab my hubby, my clothes and say C-YA! So the pill was a really good thing! About the time it really kicked into effect my Daddy shows up! I really don't remember doing much but giving him a silly/strained smile....the next thing that I knew Daddy and Tool Man were kissing me goodbye and I was being wheeled away for my surgery......
Until next time....
God Bless, Mama D
No comments:
Post a Comment