I Got the Call!

 

After almost 7 full months in the program, I got that long-awaited phone call today. You know, the one where they say, “Hi, I’m the surgery scheduler, do you have time to schedule with me?”

Heck yeah I do!!

It feels like it’s taken forever to get here, but it is suddenly moving at warp speed! So, let me back up just a tiny bit.

I had my final appointment with my surgeon last Monday. It took a total of 5 minutes because I didn’t have any questions and she didn’t have any concerns. So, she gave the green light to submit to insurance. Much to my frustration, the scheduler actually called yesterday afternoon in the 3 minutes I stepped away from my desk to use the restroom, and wasn’t able to call me back until this morning. It was almost painful how very little patience I had left! HA!

But we finally did connect today and my official surgery date is Wednesday, April 19th. A part of me immediately thought, “wow, why so far out?” Then she went over all of the “next steps” that I have to take and that thought quickly changed to, “holy hell, that date is going to get here fast!”

 

 

So, later this week I meet with my therapist, as required by my surgeon due to all of the big life changes. And a week from today I meet with a nutritionist and a dietician to go over my 2-week liver-shrinking liquid diet.

A week from tomorrow I start said diet. Just my luck, I’m switching to a liquid diet right before Easter Weekend! Nah, it’ll be fine. I’ll be enjoying the time at the cabin, hanging out with my parents, and just relaxing. I will also be doing whatever I can to keep my mind and hands busy so I don’t obsess over the fact that I cannot eat real food. It’s going to be a big adjustment, but I have Friday off because of the holiday, so I’ll take it!

The following week I will go in to my regular doc for my pre-op physical (I just had my regular physical, so it should take about 10 minutes tops). And one week later our youngest daughter goes in for her 3rd (and possibly final) infusion for osteoporosis. We get to wait a month after this infusion to get the test that will show if they are helping or not. But the infusion meds are always a little hard on her system, so I was already scheduled to work from home with her that week, which will lead me right into my surgery. POOF!!!

Like I said, time is going to FLY!!!

Even more than that, the time AFTER is going to fly because even though I’m off for FMLA while healing from surgery, the kids’ appointments continue, I have follow-up appointments, and my oldest has her national archery tournament in Kentucky over Mother’s Day weekend (I can only assume a man chose the date for this one). Then I’m back to work and my new, regular life.

So, in the meantime, I’ve been picking up single protein drinks here and there to try them out and decide which ones I like best, since I know they will be a big part of my two-week liquid diet, and my post-op liquid diet as well. I’m doing research to get a bit of a variety of things to drink over that two weeks because that is a lot of liquid meals for someone with texture issues. But then I tell myself to just wait for the pureed diet that comes after the post-op liquid died. **gag**

I will be strong and I can do this! These are minor discomforts in the healing stages of this surgery and I’m a big kid… I can overcome it all! I will try to remember to repeat this over and over through the next month or so!