Didn't realize how long it's been since I've been on here.

Well, towards the beginning of June I received my loan money & paid the individual fees to Harrison Hospital, Olympic Anesthesia, and Pacific Surgical. Also sent all the consent forms, etc.

Heard from Michelle after she got the paperwork & she set me up for 7/27.

Got a call from the anesthesia folks for a pre-op appointment. Set it up for 7/21.

My husband started work at his new command in June. I think he was a little skeered to tell me that his new boss said "no" to the 27th. Thanks.

(All of this was originally mapped out/planned with the notion that my husband would be getting home from deployment mid-July & have some vacay before starting at his new command in August. Love how the military seeps into and infects every aspect of a family's life. .....And people have the nerve to say I have nothing to do with the military - only my husband does.)

Aaaaanyway...

So we decided he'd talk to his boss the next day & I'd call Michelle. Dr. Neal only does surgery in Silverdale on the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays of the month. So I was looking at pushing it to August. Just ducky.

The next morning Michelle called me before I had a chance to ring her. She had great news! They had a special going on - if I were to move my surgery from Silverdale to the South Sound Surgical Center in Olympia & schedule during July...I'd get $3K back!

Woo-hoo!

Had to wait a couple of days to hear back from my husband's boss before I could call Pac Surgical back. One of the dates Michelle mentioned was the 30th & the boss said that was ok. Whew!

Michelle was on vacation when I called back. Peggy was filling in for her. She was super nice! She helped me get everything squared away & said she'd mail me a final checklist & info on what amounts need to be paid to which people in Olympia.

Wish I'd double checked about refunds & what needed to be done for the Silverdale cancelation. Still haven't received refunds from Harrison Hospital or Olympia Anesthesia yet. Plus my Silverdale anesthesia pre-op appt wasn't canceled (I got a reminder call the day before & the lady asked if I was sure it was canceled...)

Got the checklist & payment instructions in the mail a few days later. Also had a prescription so I could get it filled ahead of time.

Called the new anesthesia peeps & paid with a CC over the phone. Pac Surgical was going to take my refund & forward it to the Surgical Center. I had a small balance left w/ them so I mailed that off the next day.

My son & I were actually going out of town for a few days to see my family, grandparents, aunts, etc. My husband couldn't go because of...the military. The location was 5 1/2 hours away, but because it was out of state he'd have to get special permission. This command is so much more restrictive on travel rules than any other we've been to.

So, I filled my mom in on everything. I bounced the idea off her of whether I should call about a different prescription. She thought I should.

The one I received was for Lortab & Zofran. Well, Zofran does absolutely nothin' for me. I've never taken Lortab, but after I looked it up I saw that it's part of the hydrocodone family, just like Vicodin. I can't take Vicodin.

I listed that on my new patient paperwork & took it to my consultation back in April. I remember Dr. Neal commenting on it - right after I listed the "no-no's" I wrote "I prefer to use Percocet & Phenergan in their places".

Always nervous that I'll come across sounding like a drug-seeker, but it's not that at all. I've had 6 other surgeries, been pregnant w/ nausea that put me in the hospital, have had gallbladder issues with nausea that put me in the hospital, and have thrown my back out umpteen times, etc. so I know what works & what doesn't.

I still remember Dr. Neal saying "ok we can do that!" in the consultation - about the substitutions.

So, I got brave & called Michelle to ask about a different prescription. She said that she'd run it by the dr in the morning since he had already left for the day.

The next day though... I got a call from Heather on my cell phone. She said that the dr would just give me a new prescription the day of surgery. "Ok, sounds good! Thank you!"

This got me all suspicious-like See, I hadn't heard from Heather before, and the ladies I had heard from always called my home number. Got me wondering if they thought I was a drug-seeker so they had a different person call, and call to my cell phone maybe hoping to just leave a message in case I was going to be argumentative. Oy.

The straight-A/goodie two-shoes girl inside me didn't want people thinking that I was a druggie or something gross like that :eek: So I decided to send the original prescription back. I had no need for it.

Honestly though, I didn't know (still don't) if it's ok to just shred an un-needed prescription or if it needed to be accounted for since part of what it's written for is a narcotic.

Then today (7/28) I got a call from Karen. She sounded kind of stressed (maybe a little frantic too??) She said she needed the last page of my consent form. I said that I mailed everything in last month with my payment. (Said that like 2 or 3 times *cough, cough*) She said that Dr. Neal had the surgical files & the stuff may very well be in there, but she needed the last page for her stuff, for my protection, can't do surgery without it, etc.

Had to rush out of the house & go to town so I could fax it over. I offered to e-mail scanned copies of the documents. (I always keep copies of everything.) She really wanted it faxed.

Made it to Staples & faxed it just before 4:30. I can't remember if Pac Surgical's office hours are until 4:30 or 5pm; either way I made it in time.

Oy!

So, right now I've really got to (get off the computer!) hurry up & do all of my last-minute cleaning, organize all of my 1st week post-op food so my husband will be able to find everything easily, and do about a zillion other things.

This last week my sheer delight has started to turn to delight/worry. Even though I've had 6 surgeries before (4 of 'em were laps), I'm a little nervous about going through it again. Also nervous about being able to do everything right.

Plus there's a little anxiety because I know that the following weekend we'll most-likely have to see my in-laws for their anniversary. Get-togethers with them always revolve around food, and these are the primary people I'm NOT telling about my surgery. I'm going to be hitting the ground running, eh?

The weekend after that is my son's birthday. Usually my family comes from out of state to our house & my husband's family comes from their place about an hour away. I don't think I can handle that.

My husband of course doesn't think it will be that tough. Riiiight... All the regular pre-company cleaning/organizing, plus birthday stuff, while being still early out from surgery, and having to hide all that from half of the guests. No thanks!

I hope we can break it into two celebrations. Might need to anyway, because my mom might have to work that weekend. We'd need to go to their house if we want to see them then. My husband's family won't do anything if it's remotely inconvenient or anything that doesn't directly benefit them personally... I would think time spent at a grandchild's b-day party would benefit a grandparent, but...

So, I s'pose I should wrap this up and get my rear in gear. So much stuff to do before Friday morning!