March 12, 2009

Today was pre-op lab work and class day. I was at the hospital from 7:15 am until 4:30 pm today ... and I "dragged" Steve along with me all day! (He was great actually ... only fell asleep once! ;))

First I had blood work drawn. It was shocking the number of vials that they needed! It was at least 12 vials! Then they wanted me to pee in a cup. The only problem was that they didn't let me drink anything after midnight ... so that wasn't happening! lol! Then I had to go do a bunch of pulmonary tests. That involved breathing into a machine that would graph my lung capacity in a couple of different ways. The tech for that was really nice and we had a good time chatting! Then I had to get a chest x-ray and an upper G.I. test. After that test, I finally got to drink some water! It did the trick! ;) The final medical test for the day was an arterial blood draw, which is from the wrist. NOT my favorite, but also not the first time I have had that type.

Next was an appointment to talk to the money person at the clinic. Our insurance does cover this operation, but we needed to pay for a years worth of support group and personal trainer fees. $240 is definitely worth that! We put it on our health savings account card, so it was not painful!

After lunch, we had 3 classes. The first one was with the personal trainer. It was very interesting and informative. I look forward to working with him! The second class was with a nurse who explained the surgery and recovery aspects very well. It was great for Steve to be able to hear facts. So many people like to tell the stories of what they have heard, and quite frankly sometimes is is complete misinformation. The third class was a detailed description of how our diet will progress over time and what we can expect. This was also helpful for Steve, because he does almost all of our grocery shopping!

It was a long day, but a good one! :)