We're all set!

Apr 02, 2010

I paid my surgical fee on Wednesday.  I wasn't required to make a down payment and they weren't asking for the money until about a week before surgery (my date is 5/5/10), but as soon as I had it, I wanted it out of my hands.  There is, of course, a record of the transaction and I've been in touch with the international office at the hospital, so I'm comfortable having sent the money.  Now I don't have to worry about some unexpected expense coming up and pulling money out of my surgery savings.

Speaking of which, I was able to save all but $1000 of the money I needed.  I took out a loan for that last $1000.  I'm so happy that I'm not putting myself in major debt for this surgery.  Thank you, Mexico!  I'll have that $1000 paid off before the summer is up. 

So, here it is.  My surgery is paid for, the passport is in my purse, the flights have been booked (Thank you my Angel, Stephanie!  She bought the plane tickets.  How cool is she?!), the hotel is booked (again a huge thank you to my Angel, Stephanie, for going halfsies on the hotel when she didn't have to.), and if you haven't figured out yet that my ANGEL STEPHANIE is the best angel EVER, she also rented a limo to take us from her house to the airport in Indianapolis, which is normally over an hour drive.  But we'll be comfortable and stylin' the whole way there.  This girl knows how to get and be pampered.  She has mapped out where the closest grocery store to our hotel in Monterrey is so we can stock up on sugar free popsicles.  She's even put together a sort of surgery care package for me with a bariatric cookbook (I love, love, love to cook), and bariatric chewable vitamins.  Oh, and tomorrow, we're going to Indianapolis to a health food store there that allows you to try before you buy their protein mixes.  Best angel ever?  Oh yes, she is!

I'm a little nervous, of course.  We fly out a month from tomorrow.  The past 5 months since I booked the surgery have absolutely flown by.  I find myself at that point now where I need to make all the little arrangements.  I need to buy the groceries I'll need for my pre-op and post-op diets.  I need to figure out what exactly I'm taking with me.  I need to download skype on my home computers and my iPod so I can talk to my family.  I need to decide how I want to handle the spending money situation (take cash? exchange for pesos? call my Visa company and tell them I'll be using my card out of country?  all of the above?).  And, because it's the responsible thing to do, I need to set up the legal paperwork that would give my mother temporary legal custody of my kids while I'm in Mexico and permanent custody should the worst happen.  I don't anticipate the worst happening, but it should be planned for.

I ask my coordinator and surgeon a lot of questions these days.  Thankfully, they patiently answer all of them.  I can't help but wonder if they see my name in their inbox and think "Oh geez, it's her again!".  I google as much as I can when a question pops up, or I ask people here on OH, but there's just SO much information out there that I think it creates more questions than I originally had.  In all honesty, I think I know everything I need to know, I'm just nitpicking now.  I'm so preoccupied with the surgery.  It's all I think about now.  I'll be glad to be on the other side where I can let my brain relax... a bit.  Ha!

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