Jo C.

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Had surgery on Tuesday 8/14/07 and it went off without any problems. Got to the hospital around 12:30pm (was scheduled at 3:30pm) didn't get taken back till about 2pm. My OH Mommy Janine was there to keep me company and was my angel. I don't think I could have gotten through it without her.

Was pretty thirsty and knew it was going to be hard without any water or anything to drink for a long period of time...I usually always have a huge bottle of water with me.

They got me ready for the OR and saw Dr. Suh about 20 minutes before 5pm. Dr. Feel Good came and asked me some questions about my history and asked me about any anesthesia problems....which I've never had.

So, here I go.. 5pm.. was scheduled at 3:30pm...oh well, he's a popular doctor. Was not nervous at all!! Till I moved from the gurney to the OR table. I started shaking like a leaf.. couldn't have helped that I was cold but I was now very nervous...seriously I wanted to back out I was so frightened, but I knew I got this far I needed to go all the way.

Dr. Feel Good put the mask by my face and suddenly I feel a tingle in my face..ooooohhh yaahhhhh it's time to go to sleep..don't remember anything after that

Don't know what time it was but I woke up in recovery and it felt like I had done a ton of tummy crunches!!! My mouth was sooo dry.. I knew this was going to be a rough road.

So they wheeled me up to my room where I saw my 2 most favorite people in the world..my hubby and son. They didn't stay long..just long enough to give me a kiss night night.

The nurse told me I was hooked up to a morphine pump and could have it every couple of minutes. Well, they didn't have a good enough dose measured in so it wasn't helping..they changed it!! THANK YOU!!!

They bumped it up to 2mg and boy was I happy. Hit that button and I was off to neverland to visit tinkerbell.

The next day was miserable. I couldn't have any liquids and was very thirsty. They brought me q-tips at first but that was nasty... then my bestest nurse in the world Misty brought me a toothette in cold water. That was the best!!!!

Dr. Suh got there and released me so I could take clear liquids which was the scariest thing I've ever done. First sip was scary then it was ok.

Pain was pretty bad.. I'm not going to sugar coat it. It hurt like hell. Still does sometimes. They took me off the pain pump which wasn't nice but gave me liquid lortab...eh...didn't work as well, as fast, as long, etc. but hey it was pain meds..couldn't complain!

The next day I was so ready to go home!! I wanted out of the hospital bed and wanted to get home so I could see my family. That is the best cure. So, Dr. Suh came in and discharged me and I went home.

So far it's been pleasant.. had a dumping experience with tylenol, had a wicked craving last night but all in all it's been great.

I am still real gassy (sorry..TMI) but sure that will PASS :) LOL

Best decision I've ever made. My hubby says he can already see a difference in my face.

Went to see Dr. Suh today for my last appt before surgery and all went well. Actually lost 1 lb...go figure! I was really sweating that one.. There was a lady there who had gained 20+ lbs since her consult and he cancelled her surgery.

All my blood work, pre-registration is done. Tomorrow I have the "Patient education class" @ 3p and I will be set.

I can't wait to join the losers bench.

WOWZA!

Friday August 3rd they submitted for auth
Tuesday August 7th I had auth
Tuesday August 7th I got my date
Wednesday August 15th my life changes and will never be the same again!!

Got my PCP on the ball again. I swear... I hate stupid people! They sent it into the medical group (Thanks to Araceli) and she sent it into the medical director I am so nervous..I am so excited..I don't know what I am!

Hopefully will have my auth on Monday or Tuesday and I'll be doing the surgery dance

Called Dr. Suh's office first thing this morning and spoke to the lovely Nita. She confirmed that all the reports were in and she would forward my chart to Dr. Suh for clearance. She wouldn't tell me if the psych had cleared me for surgery but I guess we will wait and see. I'm sure everything went fine..this is just my pre-op jitters kicking in. These gall stones are giving me problems everyday..everytime I eat.. I get sick to my stomach and feel like I'm going to vommit. Hopefully that will move things along a little faster. I'll call tomorrow afternoon and check to see if Dr. Suh has cleared me for surgery and hopefully they'll submit for authorization tomorrow as well. Well, that's enough for now.. I'll post when anything changes. Jo

WAHOO!! All the testing is complete. I had my EKG on 7/23 Monday and had to wait longer in the waiting room than the actual EKG took. Took longer to get me hooked up to all the leads. Oh well.. that's always how it works. Tuesday 7/24 I had my psych eval with Dr. Rob Solomon. He is a very nice, well spoken, professional guy. I very much enjoyed our session. He made me feel very relaxed and not like I was being examined under a microscope which is what I was afraid of. He did the ink blot test and apparently it revealed that I have many interests...duh...no wonder I'm so busy all the time. At any rate, he said I passed the "audition" and he'd send the info to Dr. Suh within the week. Tuesday night 7/24 I had my ultra sound of the abdomen. I thought he was digging for gold he was pushing so hard. He took tons of pictures and then told me he had to go back on my right side to look at something....ok...freak me out...is something wrong?!?!? Well, I have 3 HUGE gall stones which I had no clue! According to everyone..they'll take the gall bladder out at the time of surgery so I don't have to go through another surgery. Now it's time to hurry up and wait. I hate waiting..this is the hardest part. I'll update as soon as I get word from Dr. Suh's office that everything is in.

Greasing the squeaky wheel helped! I called McKinley yesterday afternoon and got them to help. They called Dawn and made her fax the paperwork immediately...she did. I had my auth this morning. WOOO HOOO 4 days from the day of the consult. EKG 7/23 4:00pm ABD US 7/23 7:30pm Psych Eval 7/23 8:30am Will post again after they are done.

Had my consult with Dr. Suh on Monday 7/16 and that went very smoothly and exactly as I expected. I am a candidate for surgery and he was going to send everything over to my PCP to get auth (tests, psych eval.) Let me start by saying, I am not a patient person. I get the info I need and push, and push till it's done AND DONE CORRECTLY. I called my PCP office on Tuesday 7/17 s/w Dawn the referral lady and she confirmed she had received the paperwork and would not be sending it in any time soon. She told me it would take at least 3 weeks to submit. WTF!!! NO WAY!! I'm not waiting another 3 weeks just to get testing done. I want to have this surgery before I go back to work in September. Soooo, I called IEHP and filed a complaint. Called my buddy who takes care of complaints and got them on the ball. She said it would still take another couple days for her to get the file and then she would do the best she could. I wanted this done before the weekend as I'm not waiting for the "process" I'm going to make the process work for me. I had the phone # for McKinley Medical Group and knew who to talk to. So, I called them. Spoke to a great lady Araceli (sp?) and she did not like what I was telling her. She said she'd call Dawn and call me right back...Sure enough.. not 10 minutes later she called me back...she said she spoke to Dawn and her supervisor and they would send in the referral ASAP and get it taken care of..I should have the Auth by Monday!! WOOO HOOO!! Finally PROGRESS!!

Went to see my PCP today and of course he gave me every excuse why they haven't sent my referral request in yet. I WILL BE PATIENT, I WILL BE PATIENT (Written on the chalk board 100 times) I've gained 4 lbs don't know why, how but that's ok. I haven't seen Dr. Suh yet so I have room to move a little. Just NO MORE after I see him. Pretty excited about the consult on Tuesday July 16th. Can't hardly get to sleep I am so anxious. Thank God for Xanax!!! Will post more after my consult. So far, looks like everything is progressing smoothly. Oh, yeah..the doctor took me off Prilosec and gave me a wicked dose of Zantec..hopefully it'll work. I hate this GERD crap!

Called my PCP office to check the status of the authorizations for the UGI, Abdominal US, Echo, etc. and they won't even send the request in till I see Dr. Suh for the consult. BUMMER!! I was really hoping to get all of it done before hand so I was ready to go when I went to see the doctor. Oh well.. guess I just have to wait.. I've already finished the seminar, I'm going to the support group thingy on July 3rd (does anyone know where they hold them in Redlands??) Then I see the doctor on July 16th. I've already finished the CXR, labs. The wheels keep turning.. hopefully nobody will hit the brakes. Best, Jo