Not Quite as Frightened
Wow. Only 2 days until I have open heart surgery...
I'm not feeling quite as frightened as I was yesterday. I had pre-op testing today and then I met with my cardiologist.
Remember that 7 AM blood draw I mentioned yesterday? Well, there was a "glitch" and when I checked in for the draw, they thought I shouldn't have it until the day before surgery (tomorrow). So I couldn't get stuck right away (oh darn) and instead went to my chest X-ray, and then back down to the vampire station. Then I had to answer "an easy question" (a quote from the check-in lady). So she hands the phone over to me and my cardiologist's Physician's Assistant asks me, "Have you been transfused or pregnant in the last 3 months?" Huh? Are you serious? Um, of course I said NO. (Although there was that time when I became "blood sisters" with my neighbor, Carrie...OH WAIT - That was NOT in the last three months. That was in the last six months.)
Anyway, things went fine. My cardiologist is the BEST. (Really, she is - she's the director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic). But she stayed and answered all of my questions and told me (quite a few times, actually), that I will be fine. She helped me to look forward to AFTER the surgery and how much better I'll be feeling.
I am a "classic case" and that means that my risk factor is less than 2%. I can live with that. (Get it? I can LIVE with that-oh, never mind. It's just my really dumb play on words.)
So I am feeling better about things. I'm still really nervous for Friday, but not so nervous about the recovery. My friends on the ACHA message boards have said that I should probably have a sense of calm about everything by the time Friday rolls around. I think I'll be feeling calm AFTER they give me the sedative when I check in.
Just think - less than 48 hours from now I'll have a new pulmonary valve. Wow.
I'm not feeling quite as frightened as I was yesterday. I had pre-op testing today and then I met with my cardiologist.
Remember that 7 AM blood draw I mentioned yesterday? Well, there was a "glitch" and when I checked in for the draw, they thought I shouldn't have it until the day before surgery (tomorrow). So I couldn't get stuck right away (oh darn) and instead went to my chest X-ray, and then back down to the vampire station. Then I had to answer "an easy question" (a quote from the check-in lady). So she hands the phone over to me and my cardiologist's Physician's Assistant asks me, "Have you been transfused or pregnant in the last 3 months?" Huh? Are you serious? Um, of course I said NO. (Although there was that time when I became "blood sisters" with my neighbor, Carrie...OH WAIT - That was NOT in the last three months. That was in the last six months.)
Anyway, things went fine. My cardiologist is the BEST. (Really, she is - she's the director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic). But she stayed and answered all of my questions and told me (quite a few times, actually), that I will be fine. She helped me to look forward to AFTER the surgery and how much better I'll be feeling.
I am a "classic case" and that means that my risk factor is less than 2%. I can live with that. (Get it? I can LIVE with that-oh, never mind. It's just my really dumb play on words.)
So I am feeling better about things. I'm still really nervous for Friday, but not so nervous about the recovery. My friends on the ACHA message boards have said that I should probably have a sense of calm about everything by the time Friday rolls around. I think I'll be feeling calm AFTER they give me the sedative when I check in.
Just think - less than 48 hours from now I'll have a new pulmonary valve. Wow.
posted by Julia Hart at
5:55 PM
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