No, I am not talking about operating on children. On Friday it was suggested that I have arthroscopy on my left knee. On the following Wednesday I had to have obtained a pre-op physical (my physician was on vacation way beyond that date), have an EKG, and a blood test, all results to be at the surgery center the day before surgery was scheduled. Additionally, I was to register several pages of information and medical history on the Internet. This last I did, but missed the proper source (given as an unfamiliar acronym) so it lived for a few days in a totally inappropriate data base, corrected opnly on the day before surgery.
The doctor covering for my own vacationing doctor had a far more gracious and caring manner, and was about 6'3" tall, young, gentle, male and gorgeous. Much more pleasant to look at than my pint-sized female doctor who is cool (as in temperature). I slid out of having to have a chest xray since I would not be having general anesthesia. My head needs as little chemical mind bending as possible.
The lab told me I should have fasted for 10-12 hours in order for them to accurately check my Vitamin D level. The tech was annoyed that I had not fasted and I gave him my time schedule and said if it didn't show properly, I had no time to fast, get back to redo the test and get the results to surgery when they were calling for them. He softened when I told him I had known about the surgery only since Friday and today was Monday. I thought I already deserved a purple heart for getting this far in so little time.
Just to be certain that everything was in, I had the doctor's office also fax the reports to me so that I could bring a hard copy, in the event there was a snafu.
It seems all systems are go. I'm told my knee will be 'cleaned out', whatever that may be. I will be there at 9:30 AM, taken to surgery at 11, be through by 11:30AM and allowed to go home on crutches at 12:30 or 1 PM. If anyone can think of anything that makes one feel like something rolling off an assembly line, I am hard put to think of it. Nevertheless, I am happy to have a surgeon who works for a National Ball Team as well as a regular private practice, and thus, does many of these operations.
Tomorrow's blog will prepare you for all the details should you ever find yourself in a similar situation or want to fill out your trivia database.
1 comment:
The lab technician is crazy. There is no reason why pre-operative labs would need to be done "fasting" - we send people for them all of the time. They just have them drawn on the way out of our office. "Vit D" - this is a pre-op lab? Never heard of doing that. Of course this wouldn't be the time to be worrying about your usual "wellness" labs like Cholesterol and blood sugar, the usual culprits that require fasting.
Post a Comment