Last Post Before Surgery!

As I pack for my hopefully short stay at B.I., I realized that I never let you know how Saturday went.

Well, as everything else in our lives, complicated would explain it best.

We arrived right on time and no one was in the office; so after hunting someone down, filling out the forms (that I've filled out at least 150 times), the radiology tech said that she would be right back for me, so we sat down and waited. Approximately 40 minutes later I asked if the Tech had forgotten about me, she said no, but called out to make sure. A different Tech came out shortly after and said that it is not just a CT Scan that my surgeons want, but a complex scan that is not ordinarily performed. With all I've been through, I'm somehow not surprised! The tech explained that they were trying to get a hold of the doctors to figure it all out.

So again, we waited -- with the entertainment of a lady reading a restaurant menu for the half hour she waited and the man wearing the "old guys rule" t-shirt speaking openly about everything.

After a while a Tech came out to assure me that they were still working on it; they were figuring out if they will need one IV or two. So I immediately told them that it is always difficult to place an IV in me and that they might want to get started on one asap, just in case.
Nope, they didn't believe me. When I was finally taken back into the scan room, they had me lay down on the scan table and told me that they were placing two IVs, one in each arm -- AT THE SAME TIME!!! Seriously!! So I took a deep breath and went along with the craziness.

Right arm man succeeded with one stick, some fishing and floating. Left arm woman, not so lucky. Instead of going through all of the details of the left arm, I will just tell you that after 2 Tech's and an IV nurse -- which accumulated to 9 sticks (each with a lot of fishing and floating), I did not end up with an IV in my left arm.

The test was to check the veins in my chest. The contrast was supposed to be pumped through both arms (at the same time) and the scan would highlight all of the blood vessels that would be available in case I had to be put on bypass during surgery. So, with only one IV they would pump the contrast and scan, then wait just about 3 minutes (for the contrast to circulate) and then scan again. They chose not to tell me this option when 3 or 4 times I asked if the second IV was actually necessary.

We finally were able to leave B.I. at 5:25pm.

So Wednesday is the day. I ask you all to please be patient; with the understanding that I appreciate all of your love and concern. I am to arrive at 8:00am; however, my OR time isn't until 9:30am. The surgery is to last approximately 5hrs. John will update the website, but if I had to guess it won't be until evening.

I love you all! Let's hope this goes smoothly and that the surgery will rid me of all cancer Forever!!