Knee is Better - Surgery is a GO!!!

Had my pre-surg appointment with Dr Clements at UAB. Let me give you some details on that.

Showed up late and ended up waiting about an 1 hour on him. Go back to the exam room and it went really quick. Nurse Practitioner came in and said, "So, you are here for pre-surg on a lap band procedure." Of course, that is not ocorrect. She seemed highly agitated that the paperwork was not correct and started furiously going through it to correct the mistake. I told her that I was originally slated for the lap band but had changed through Jamie and had been approved for the bypass. Jamie failed to communcate that back to my chart. Not good.

Anyways, Dr Clements came back and read me the riot act on my surgery. 1% chance of death, etc, etc. I have noticed that everything here is very scripted. We did discuss my recent attack of gout and my concern that it was going to impact my recovery. I wanted a proactive plan to deal with it. He seemed to brush over that and I really didn't like that. Basically, he boiled it down to hydration and drinking your water. I know that it is not that simple and it irritated me that he didn't understand that I wanted a plan. He just doesn't understand the agony of a gout attack. Anyways, I let it go.

Of course, I got ready to go and was walking out the door and was then directed to go to pre-op on the bottom floor of the Kirklin Clinic. They sent me down to pre-op, which was an extremely irritating encounter. First, the front desk girl was browsing ads on the internet for real estate and there were several patients in line. The real estate browswer girl just kept going through her ads. It is never a good sign to see that going on in a work setting. If they are screwing off like that in the open, then the shop is probably not well managed and the experience is going to be really bad. The girl that worked with me handed me a bunch of papers and was told to go fill these out. I hate that. All of this stuff I have filled out at least 5 or 6 times. Why do they make me fill out the same papers over and over? If I am handed a form to complete a list of home meds one more time, I think I am going to just scream. You fill out all of this stuff and then they can't even be sure of what procedure you are having. Jeez. So, after 30 minutes or so in the waiting room, I go back to the back and am put in a very hot,stuffy room. Where I wait for almost 2 hours to see the anesthesiologists. Now, I know that this doc is going to talk to me the day of surgery. Why do I need to talk to them now? I ended up waiting in this room and finally at COB I get a nurse practitioner to come in and ask me a few questions about prior history and allergies. Then, she tells me I can go!!! I have waited multiple hours to talk with a doc that never shows up and then get a nurse asking me questions that I have already been ask many, many times. But, it is just part of the red tape with todays healthcare. It is no wonder that the cost of that is so very high.

Anyways, I did confirm the 12/31 date and got the list of things you need to do for the surgery. I guess I am ready to go. I am over most of the pre-surg jitters and am just now ready to get it done and over with.

This all happened on Monday.

Yesterday, I went to the Ortho surgeon and he said that I had either a Meniscus tear in the knee or either an extreme attack of gout. Gave me a steroid shot under the knee cap. That was painful. I am better now and the shot should get me through the bypass. I might have to have surgery next year for the tear. But, have got a short term fix for now to relieve me of the intense pain.