Tomorrow's The Day
August 28, 2006.
I have to be at the hospital very early Monday morning (5:30 AM), as I'm the first one up for surgery (at 7:30 AM.) That means I have to get up at 3:30 AM and leave the house at about 4:30 AM. The hospital is about a forty mile drive one way and should take about 30-45 minutes tomorrow, since we'll be on the road before the rush hour begins in earnest. The highways will be uncrowded, since this is the last week before Labor Day weekend and folks are probably taking last minute summer vacations and trips down to the Jersey shore.
My medical insurance company relented and agreed that everything my surgeon wants to do to me on Monday would be okay with them. I'm cleared for surgery. They had given me a bad time about coverage at the last minute, but all is well now.
I went down to the hospital for my last Procrit shot Friday morning. My doctor and I talked on the phone for a while Thursday night. He said he was looking over my last lumbar MRI in preparation for my upcoming surgery, and he noticed that my bottom screw (L5 to L6) is loose. He said that even though I'm fused completely down there, he'll be taking out the loose screw and replacing it with a bigger one. He explained that it just needed to have a bigger hole drilled, would only take about five minutes more of surgery time (as if I had someplace else to go on Monday ;-) but he'd rather do it now than wait to see if I ever have a problem with it. He said it could be irritating and causing me some of the back pain I'm presently having and really should not at this time from the last fusion. Good idea, so that's what we'll do. I'll still have the hardware from L4 to L5 removed so he can fuse L4 to L3. With all that's going on in my back, I'm going to need a road map. I wonder if I'll need a brace after all, even though he initially said no.
I hope to be sitting on my back yard deck this time next week, fingers crossed. The only thing I dread now is the long, boring hospital stay. I've got plenty of stuff loaded onto my iPod, so I hope that will keep me occupied enough to not get homesick.
I have to be at the hospital very early Monday morning (5:30 AM), as I'm the first one up for surgery (at 7:30 AM.) That means I have to get up at 3:30 AM and leave the house at about 4:30 AM. The hospital is about a forty mile drive one way and should take about 30-45 minutes tomorrow, since we'll be on the road before the rush hour begins in earnest. The highways will be uncrowded, since this is the last week before Labor Day weekend and folks are probably taking last minute summer vacations and trips down to the Jersey shore.
My medical insurance company relented and agreed that everything my surgeon wants to do to me on Monday would be okay with them. I'm cleared for surgery. They had given me a bad time about coverage at the last minute, but all is well now.
I went down to the hospital for my last Procrit shot Friday morning. My doctor and I talked on the phone for a while Thursday night. He said he was looking over my last lumbar MRI in preparation for my upcoming surgery, and he noticed that my bottom screw (L5 to L6) is loose. He said that even though I'm fused completely down there, he'll be taking out the loose screw and replacing it with a bigger one. He explained that it just needed to have a bigger hole drilled, would only take about five minutes more of surgery time (as if I had someplace else to go on Monday ;-) but he'd rather do it now than wait to see if I ever have a problem with it. He said it could be irritating and causing me some of the back pain I'm presently having and really should not at this time from the last fusion. Good idea, so that's what we'll do. I'll still have the hardware from L4 to L5 removed so he can fuse L4 to L3. With all that's going on in my back, I'm going to need a road map. I wonder if I'll need a brace after all, even though he initially said no.
I hope to be sitting on my back yard deck this time next week, fingers crossed. The only thing I dread now is the long, boring hospital stay. I've got plenty of stuff loaded onto my iPod, so I hope that will keep me occupied enough to not get homesick.
posted by Karen | 2:09 PM
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