Today was my preop appointments with the surgeon and the hospital. Appt at the surgeon was for 9:45am, I was actually called back at 10:30. OK, first thing. How can a doctor be 45 minutes behind at 9:45am? Enough of that.... The entire preop with the surgeon involved signing another stack of forms regarding the use of a surgical assistants (and understanding that my insurance will probably not pay for this surgical assistant) One form said that if my insurance would not pay for this assistant, my bill from said surgical assistant would not exceed $250.00. The other form, for another surgical assistant group, said their bill would not exceed 10% of what the surgeon charged. I asked the nurse why the two forms? she said they would not know which group would send a S.A. till the morning of my surgery. :o)
After all that the surgeon came in and asked me if I had any questions. Then he brought out a rubber model of the stomach and small intestine and showed me what the surgery would entail. No surprises there!
The only question I had was regarding diabetes. Since the surgery eliminates diabetes in 98% of patients, why are people still dying from diabetes? I have lost three associates at my workplace in the 20-plus years I have worked there. All three were not obese, but had rampant diabetes. They lost feet, limbs, and eventually their lives. Why didn't the medical community offer this surgery to "cure" diabetes?
The surgeon smiled and said if he could absolutely prove why this bypass eliminated diabetes in practically all patients, he would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and be a rich man - and smiled. He showed me how the pancreas interacts with the stomach and liver, and how surgeons outside of the US are redirecting the intestinal tract to bypass the area where the pancreas secretes into the digestive tract. And with no stimulation, the pancreas does not excrete insulin - and that - they believe - is how this surgery eliminates diabetes.
He said that surgeons in Brazil and Europe are indeed performing this kind of surgery for problematic diabetes sufferers, but the FDA has not approved this surgery for that malady at this time. But if I walked in with the necessary cash and asked for the surgery, could "he" do it? He just smiled. It seems so odd that people are losing their lives to diabetes when there is a treatment that "might work" for them. I just don't get it.
I digress! Back to the exam. The surgeon pressed around on my liver and listened to my chest and shook my hand and said he would see me in a week. The entire exam took less than 30 minutes. :o)
From there I headed to my brothers house for a quick bowl of homemade soup (liquid diet!) Lisa Jones, my wonderful sister-in-law, made some wonderful tomato soup - oh my, it was good. It was better than good. It was amazing!
After that short break, I headed to the hospital for preop. Nothing surprising there other than the efficiency and friendliness of the entire staff at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, GA. They are just top-notch. The equipment is state of the art, even the chair I sat in for the bloodwork raised and lowered to bring my veins to the most optimum level for the nurse to draw blood or do the EKG.
The last lady in was from Respiratory. She said she needed to draw some blood for an "Arterial Blood Gas" test. an ABG. I didn't think anything about it till she opened the test packet and drew out a syringe with a very long but very fine needle. She then asked me to turn my left wrist over (palm up) and she felt around at the base of my wrist, then proceeded to insert that damn needle way up into my wrist! She did warn me - "big sting!" - before she assaulted me, but the big sting was a big sting! There was another nurse in the room with me interviewing me and she could see my face contorting as this ABG test went on. It turns out that the ABG test has to get blood from an artery instead of from a vein, like most blood draws are made from. Just thinking about that needle makes my entire left arm tingle..... well, she got her arterial blood alright. From there I went to xray for a cursory chest xray and then I was released.
I drank too much coffee today and my blood pressure was up (I gotta wean myself off caffeine), and my diet today was enriched by Lisa's Tomato Soup.
Calories 980; Carbs 180; Protein: 26. (Protein needs to be 95 or more. I did not make a Protein Shake today. I have to watch that! Protein ingestion will be quite important after surgery).
another cold and rainy day in NE Georgia. At least Lake Lanier is back at "full pool". It has been almost 5 years since the lake was at "full pool".
Oh, and the big date: Thu Oct 22 2009 at 9:50am is the surgery. I need to arrive 2hrs earlier than that, but no "bowel prep" prior to the surgery! Hey, I am grateful for the small things at this point. If all goes as planned, I''ll spend one night in the hospital and go home "around dinnertime" of DAy2.
Over the next few weeeks I'll post not only the present information, but also go back five months or so and discuss what has happened as I traveled from deciding to look into surgery till now. It has been an interesting trek! Stay tuned.
Gnight!
Steve
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Steve, you have to get your protein in! Why aren't you getting your protein shakes in? Do you not like them?
ReplyDelete