As most everyone know the day before a surgery you usually have to only have clear liquids. Especially if it is an abdominal surgery. So the 29th the day of my sons actual 12th birthday turns out to be clear liquids day for me. My kids get to choose what they eat on their birthday. He wants pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. My mouth was already watering for some eggs and bacon when he requested it the day before. I tried to talk him out of it and say do just pancakes (which I never eat anyway). Nope. He wants the whole spread. It as torture of me, but I did it! He got his favorite breakfast and I drank herbal tea.
Yes that's right. I was still feeling dehydrated from bowel prep day so I figured I should avoid caffeinated beverages since they tend to dehydrate you. So no coffee for me either. Kill.Me.Now! And wish my children luck to get through this day alive.
I drank tea and apple juice and ate jello. I tried several kinds of flavored broths. All of which were vile and horrible. I made myself some lemonade (powdered as no pulp allowed) and drank Sobee free water. I tried to lay low and stay away from the children because I had a caffeine withdrawal and hunger headache. Oh My... I was a bear to be around!
But today is the day I get the blood test results. My appointment was at 1:30pm. I was so nervous. And tired and hungry and dealing with some residual bowel prep day issues. LOL
I check into Spokane Plastic Surgery Office. Toni and the rest of the staff greet me warmly! I am starting to get excited. Everyone seems happy and that things are going well. Maybe my surgery will be a go! I sit down and hold my breath. I stare at my phone wishing that I would have brought someone with me to hold my hand. Very soon after that the nurse calls me back. It's Pauline. She is my Angel. And she's smiling too. My heart skips a beat.
She takes me back into the room and tells me to undress all the way and put on the white fluffy robe. This time I smile and say Ok. No period to contend with and I took extra time in the shower to trim the hedges and shave my legs. This time I am photo ready! I quickly get undressed put the robe on and sit on the exam chair and wait. It seems to take longer this time for them to come back in. I remember staring at the poster on the wall but I could not tell you right now what the poster actually depicts. But at that moment it was all I could stare at. And all I could think about.
Knock knock. I say to come in and Pauline my angel face nurse and Dr. Buchanan enter. They are smiling and start asking me how my bowel prep went. I know I made a few jokes about it, but I can't remember what I said. I told them I was starving and had a headache from clear liquids day. All I could focus on was the file in his hands. It holds my blood test results. Dr. B sits down and opens the file. I ask as nonchalantly as possible, "so how does my blood work look?" In my head it felt nonchalant, however I probably wasn't masking my true fear very well. I could tell by how quickly Dr. B. looked at me and then back at the file and answered, "they look fine. You're a little anemic but most post WLS patients are. It isn't anything to worry about as long as you are taking your supplements. You are taking your vitamins and iron, right?" I answer, "yes I am." And then I try again to be nonchalant and ask "So surgery is a go?" Dr. B looks up, gives me a warm smile and says "Of course". I look at Pauline and she is smiling too and nodding in agreement. A wave of relief and fear and shock rolls over me. I start to tear up a little bit. I told them that I didn't let myself believe it was really gonna happen until I got the blood test results back. I told them in short choppy sentences that probably only made sense to me about unmade freezer meals, and unplanned recovery time, and fear of being disappointed. I told them how they were making my dreams of being beautiful and healthy and fixing my body images all come true. I'm not sure that they understood the gravity of what I was saying or how deeply I was feeling my emotions in that moment. But they nodded along and smiled and reassured me that all was well. Surgery was gonna happen. Tomorrow.
Dr. B wanted more pictures. Hopefully he will burn the period panties pictures from our first encounter and replace them with the lovely clean shaven version! We discussed some specific questions I had about my scar, went over recovery instructions and some other stuff that seems unimportant right now. They gave me some very simple instructions on what to wear (loose fitting comfy clothes), to shower but not wear perfumes or lotions, to leave jewelry at home. They told me where to check in and at what time. 9:30 am. And before I could even think twice I was headed back out the office door to my car.
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