Pre-Op Appointment

So I got my Pre-Op appointment. To be honest I didn’t even know I would need a Pre-Op or even what one is!! (such a newbie to this whole surgery thing). Having read A LOT of Scoliosis blogs and forums (www.Scoliosis-Support.org  if you are keen to know) I realized I will need to have one of these. As I am in Thailand right before surgery for 3 weeks and then I go straight in I thought I had better let the hospital know.

My appointment is 18April at 9am, haven’t a clue what it will involve although I am sure I heard the woman mention blood tests which does not sound too cool. Anyway I am big enough and ugly enough to cope with that. Not much choice.

I have to say from the Receptionist, to the Secretaries to Mr Tucker himself everyone has been so helpful and lovely. They seem to understand how frightening it is and are just super friendly.

I am trying to get everything organized for before I go on holiday, I need a bed to be sorted out, my animals to be looked after, I wanna be packed, I want to have bought some kind of implements to help me when I get home.

Also I forgot to mention my dad, who I will be staying with when I get home, has decided that when I have my operation it’s a perfect time to move so he has found a new cottage and will be completing just after I get out of hospital it looks like. I really don’t think he realizes that looking after me is going to a nightmare. I hope I am not going to be too much of a burden.

Money Money Money!!!

Good Afternoon! So it turns out that BUPA will no pay for all my surgery fee’s as Mr Tucker doesn’t charge within ‘their’ guidelines. So there will be a shortfall to pay of about £1,500 and that isn’t including the out patients fee’s which will need to be paid by me when I am discharged as I have used up all my £1000 outpatients allowance on appointments and xrays.

Bupa’s recommendation was to find a different Surgeon. Are they crazy!! The whole reason to go private is to get the best possible Surgeon and not have to wait around. To be honest having my back operated on is biggest deal in my entire life and I have decided that the only man for the job is Mr Tucker.

Anyway I will discuss it with my dad and see if I can borrow the money from him. To be honest with you its not like I am going to be doing much for a good few months so it might be easy to save!, unless I go mad with bordem and get addicted to online gambling. If that happens I am in trouble as I have no self control with those kind of things. When I went to Vegas I was playing slot machines right up until it was time to board the plane (who has slot machines in an airport?!!! VEGAS BABY!!).

I am gonna try and ring Bupa and see if there is any room for maneuvering.

Scoliosis Surgery Blogging

HR were brilliant about the operation and its such a weight of my mind for them to be so supportive. The last thing I wanted/needed was to be a burden to work and worry about that throughout my recovery.

I haven’t really been about to think/talk about much else since yesterday it all seems so much more real now to have the date set.

So this morning I thought I would put my mind at rest a read some other Scoliosis Surgery blog and survival stories. There are some brilliant ones out there, and it really has helped me feel stronger and I kind of thing if they can get through it then why cant i?.

Laurens Scoliosis Blog Article

This is a blog post by Lauren, she shows you pictures and she looks AMAZING after her operation, all straight and just beautiful, I wanna be like Lauren, he scar has faded so well just a teeny tiny line. I emailed her to say thank you for being so inspirational. I really hope after my operation people will read this blog and it will help them just like everyone else’s blogs are helping me.

If I come across any other reading material that has made me smile I will pass it on…

If anyone reading this is going through the same things as me, or has been there, done that and got the tshirt then please feel free to email me on handscanderson@gmail.com I am quite surprised by the amount of hits I am getting already!

Dr's Appointment Results

Also my MRI results were normal which is brilliant, one less thing.

Mr Tucker seems so nice and has such a lovely sense of humour, he is very good at getting across the fact that it is a HUGE operation to undertake but also keeps it as light hearted as possible. He is also very honest about the complications that may arise and wasn’t shy is telling me how much pain I will be in (although I wish he had lied! Hahah).

He says that it shouldn’t really affect my mobility in anyway and I shouldn’t get any further complications throughout my life, in pregnancy etc (although having an epidural will need to be put in very low down, but its still possible which is good). Obviously in all major surgery there are risks but these seem minimal in comparison to what will happen if I don’t get it done.

He sounds like he does these operations ALL the time and I really am not a special case, I guess its like me processing a Travel Request form J just a very very complex one!.

So this morning I came in and told Lindsay (my boss/best friend) how it all went at the drs and she as always she makes me feel better and THEN I get a called from Sharon who is Mr Tucker’s secretary and she has scheduled me in for the surgery on 12^th May ARGH. That is 3days after Thailand, which I initially thought would be good but actually, lets face it I am going to be sunning myself petrified of going home!! Hehehe oh well I just need to harden the fuck up - as another one of my dearest friends would say.

My next 2 obstacles are getting it signed off by BUPA and talking to Jo in HR and getting my time off approved. Which reminds me the dr did say that I should be ok to work from home after about 6 weeks, well he kind of hinted that I could probably work from home before that but I think it really does depend, he didn’t really seem to what to be held to anything. Either way I love my job and I know I will be so bored (and probably in agony, ARGH) that I will actually miss everyone and working. 3 months off for getting your back sliced and diced really will not be fun.

Lindsay (boss) is going to speak to Jo (HR) this afternoon and I am really nervous about this so we shall see what happens there….

Tonight in honour of pancake day I am going to make my Timmykins a nice pancake with my posh frying pan and forget all about my curly wurlyness.

Day the of the Dr Appointment!

Today is the day, I have my MRI scan CD in my handbag, I have my dad coming to meet me at the train station and I have a nervous tummy.

It is the day for my follow up meeting with Mr Tucker to discuss the surgery. I am pretty nervous, I don’t know why!! Its not like he will get his scalpel out there and then and cut me open!, so goodness knows why I am nervous.

My kiwikins AKA my boyfriend is arriving back from the Kiwi Wilderness at 11.55am to be precise! That’s if his flight lands on time and then he needs to drop his bag off and get to the drs so I don’t think he will make it. Which is ok as I think that’s even more nerve wracking. Its weird, im weird J.

Will write again tomorrow after the appointment.

Open MRI Hamburger

I did it!!!!! So I managed to make it through the Open MRI. This may sounds like a walk in the park to some of you but for me being completely claustrophobic and having had the WORST experience when I last time tried to go through a closed MRI or as I like to call it The White Tunnel Of Death.

So anyway this thing was like a massive plastic hamburger and I was the filling, when I looked at it I really didn’t think that just the fact you could see out of the sides would make a difference, because I just hate the fact that there is something so close to your face and you cant sit up, if that makes sense.

Anyway the woman was lovely and talked me through everything for the first 45mins even though I was right under she let me have my head to the side so I guess it kind of helped that I sound see out and then by the time it got to the point where she strapped my head in and I had to look up I must have been quite relaxed because although I didn’t enjoy it and when I think about it now I tense up, I managed to do it!.

Yes I did think I may hypo ventilate but I concentrated on my breathing and I was so pleased with myself (as I was sure I was going to run from this place as fast as I could).

I have the CD in my sticky mitts and I will take this to see Mr Tucker on Monday with my dad and hopefully my boyfriend.

I wonder if I put the CD in my computer I will be able to see the images…. I might give it a whirl…..