MINOR SURGERY

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.