The Process

I’ve been away for a week. And what an exciting week it has been.

Lessee….let’s start with the Girlie. As most everyone knew – her birthday was on the 30th of July. She was turning five. For her birthday we had been planning on going to DFW to visit with her Nonnie and Poppy. My folks. We were going to leave on Friday afternoon and come home on Sunday evening.

So I spent most of Thursday doing laundry and getting our things ready for the trip. I also spent Thursday on the phone with with the insurance company and the surgeon’s office, trying to figure out what they needed, would need, what hoops I would have to jump through.

One of those hoops was a seminar at the surgeon’s office. There was an opening for Thursday August 5th, would I be able to make it? Of course I said yes. I arranged with my parents to stay the entire week. Unfortunately, J would have to go back on Sunday evening because of work. But he could (and did) take that Thursday and Friday off.

I stayed the week with Mom and Dad. It was a tense, strange week. My parents and I don’t normally get along. Or to be more precise, my Dad and I don’t get along. He and I just irritate each other like no one’s business. Plus I was on edge from anticipation, so that didn’t help.
However, the Girlie had a fantastic birthday. Everything was pink. Her prezzies were gift wrapped in pink paper. The cake had pink icing roses. The decorations were shades of pink. Pink is apparently her signature color. *laugh* It looked like the house had been hosed down with Pepto Bismol. She had a ball. And she swam and swam and swam. She’s like *this far* from being able to swim without her floaties now.

At any rate, things went along and went along and *finally* it was Thursday morning. J and I got up butt-early that morning and headed off for Dallas, the Methodist Hospital. We had to be there at 8:00 AM. Ick. Mornings are not my best times. But we got there and got situated.

The seminar wasn’t bad. A little boring but otherwise OK. Maybe it was because I was SO sleepy from being up that early that I was nodding a bit. Maybe.
We (the group and I) saw the nurse who talked to us a bit about what to expect prior to the surgery and the day of. She also rambled a bit about some of the hospital’s amenities for those who would be having folks stay with them there. Then we had a nutitionist talk to us about the ramifications of the surgery on our bodies and our diet needs. Lots of protein is the big thing. Lastly an excercise fellow came in and talked about what we could and could not be doing immediately post surgery. For at least six months no yoga or pilates. Damn.
Truthfully, the excercise guy could have shown up for like 10 minutes and be done. I would have rather talked to the nutritionist or the nurse more but, hey! You takes what you gets.

After the seminar part, which lasted from 8AM til 12:30PM, we were released into the wilds. Lunch in a hospital cafeteria. Joy. Actually, it wasn’t bad at all. J and I had packed sandwiches so we just grabbed drinks and sat down. At 1:30 we had to be back in the waiting room where we would wait to chat with the surgeon, Dr. Rodriguez. And we were. And we waited. A loooooooooooong time. Like 2.5 hours. Finally, it was our turn. (we wound up being second to last to talk to him)
But when we got our chance, he was very pleasant. A bit taciturn but perfectly willing to answer my laundry list of questions. I had 23 of them which he went through and answered, writing down his answers on my little pad of paper for me. He strikes me as a very stern person who likes to laugh. Oxymoronic, I know but there you are.
We probably talked to him for about 20, 25 minutes. Then we went out and waited our chance to talk to the insurance lady, Melva. She was very nice as well. A bit soft spoken but obviously extremely competent.
She stated that she didn’t know if I would be able to be covered by the insurance because of the extremem short notice. For those of you just tuning in…If I am to have this surgery and have it be covered by the insurance company, it has to be done by the 29th of August. Yeah, three weeks away! Whee.
I told her to just go for it. I didn’t have any medical files with me as I have not ever been under the care of a PCP during my adult life. Plus a few other things were missing. Let’s just say that Melva was *very* skeptical about the carrier covering it. But she agreed to do what she could. I gave her the name of the Customer Care Rep that I had been in contact with and then left.

J and I headed home the next day (Friday) – it was a standard return car ride. Overall, the whole trip had been relaxing and fun. But very exhausting. I went to bed fairly early last night – like around 11PM. And I slept pretty good (for me) with only 3 wake up/dozing type sleep episodes. I was *still* sleepy when the phone rang at 9:23 AM this morning, waking me up.
It was Melva. She said that the insurance company is going to cover my surgery. Its scheduled for August 27th.