The night before surgery . . .

I've sort of been out of the loop last night and today, so I'll have to catch up on everyone's blogs!

Here's a summary of today:

We left the house this morning at 7:00, drove to Omaha, and waited for our plane. We got there WAY to early, so we had to wait quite a while. We boarded and took off by 10:45 central time and landed in Denver at 10:50 mountain time. Just barely an hour in the plane, so that was great. The rental company was out of the type of car we had reserved, so we ended up with a free upgrade. We grabbed some lunch, and were able to check into the hotel a bit early.

I was scheduled for my pre-op appointment at 4:00. I received a call from Dr K's staff telling me he was running late in surgery, but that he should be able to still meet me at 4:00. Well, we screwed up. Dr K has an office that he does regular visits in, but he does the surgeries at a nearby hospital. Well, I didn't read over my stuff very well, and we just headed to the office for my appointment. When we walked in, the staff told us we were in the wrong spot!

I guess on these days that he does surgeries, he has the pre-op appointments at the hospital to avoid the drive in between. We had gotten to the office around 3:55, but the hospital was about a 20 minute drive. We hopped in the car, and got there as fast as we could. But by the time we found parking, and then figured out exactly where we were supposed to be, it was already 4:30.

Fortunately, he was still running behind, and didn't come out to see us (there was another patient waiting for her pre-op) until 4:50. What a releif for me! I HATE being tardy, and I would feel terrible if a doctor had to wait on me because I made a mistake!

Anyway, we had the first appointment, but we let the other couple go in first because they had a daughter waiting at the hotel. We had no where to be, so we just hung around in the lobby watching TV.

We finally got to truly meet Dr K at about 5:30. Let me tell you, I think I'm really gonna like this guy! He was VERY personable, and was joking and teasing the whole time. He told me what I have to do tonight to get ready - shower with special soap and drink lots of water. Tomorrow morning, I have to shower with the soap again and thoroughly wash my hair. I'm not to eat anything after 5 am, except for clear liquids. After 9 am, I am to allow nothing in my mouth but air. We are to report to the hospital at 11:30, and surgery is scheduled for 1:00 pm.

The procedure lasts about 45 minutes, and then I will be in recovery for an hour or so. After that, I can go home. I asked if I need to pee first, and he said "Nah, you'll pee, we don't need you to do it here!"

I am so much more at ease after actually meeting the doctor. They really seem to be taking care of me. I know Dr K's patients are happy with him, and I'm starting to see why.

All in all, this day has gone pretty well. The traveling was pretty much painless (I don't know how we ever did it with out a GPS system), my flub with the appointment location ended up not being a problem, and the doc that I've never met before seems like a pretty good dude. The only thing that I can complain about is the freakin' altitude. I live in Nebraska, you know, so we're pretty much at sea level. Any increase in altitude gives me a headache. This is the 3rd time I've been to Denver, and I always get a pounding headache. I brought this up to Dr K, and he suggested Advil and LOTS of water. He said if it's really bad tomorrow, they can send me home with an oxygen tank. I took the Advil a couple of hours ago, and I've been drinking water like crazy, so I honestly feel pretty good right now. We'll see how it is in the morning.

So, finally, I get to sign off by saying:

See you on the other side!