I have a date this Valentine’s Day. I plan on wearing a very revealing gown for the doctor who can’t keep his hands off of me. He has told me he plans on strapping me down and having his way with me. I was also told to pack a bag because he is not letting me go home afterwards.
Yes, that’s right boys and girls… I am scheduled for surgery #4 on Friday. It’s an in-patient procedure. Even though we have been trying to schedule surgery this week, so I had my fiancé take his last week of vacation because we were sure it would be this week, my idiot primary doctor couldn’t pull his head out of his ass long enough to sign my pre-surgery clearance. Did I mention my fiancé is due back at work on Friday?
Because I wasn’t stressed out enough my doctor decided to make matters worse by making me think there was something wrong with my heart and the foot surgery was the least of my problems. My EKG test came back abnormal. Instead of redoing the EKG test while I was still hooked up to the machine he decided to freak out and send me to a cardiologist insisting that I go the same day.
I go to the Cardiologist that afternoon. I met with the first doctor who tells me they are doing an ultrasound on my heart and if that comes back normal they will clear me for surgery, if it doesn’t come back normal they will request a stress test. Cardio doctor number 2 does the ultrasound, refuses to tell me anything about it and schedules me for a stress test the next morning. He tells me he is ordering a nuclear stress test instead of a regular physical test because my foot is broken.
I go home that evening and try VERY hard not to freak out. I get schedules all coordinated so that I can make it to the test on time. The next morning I wake up to discover school is a 2 hour delay for the children. Which messes up the whole plan and I end up calling my mom to wake her up and beg her to come to my house and get the kids off to school. Everyone is taken care of and schedules are once again adjusted.
The stress test is a fasting test, so I am not allowed food or drink before I go. Mind you my meds make my mouth drier than the Sahara. Add to this the stress of the morning and not allowed coffee before getting in my car and driving in morning traffic towards DC to get there. I am injected with dye and then sent to the waiting room that is filled to the point that there are no empty chairs. I am then allowed to have water. We all sit together in that room for the next 4 hours! I was then called back for a set of pictures and then released to the real world where I am told to grab a cup of coffee and a quick lunch and to return in 30 minutes. YAY COFFEE! I return to the office and was immediately called back.
I was injected with the nuclear drug that causes your heart stress and then… I kid you not, they still put me on a treadmill. Yes I am wearing an air cast. Yes, I have told them repeatedly I need them to sign off on my foot surgery. Yes I pointed out the reason they ordered a nuclear test was because my foot is broken. And still, I am on a treadmill. And by the way if you want to know how that nuclear test feels, it’s like an elephant sat on your chest without warning and makes you suddenly dizzy (which is why I almost fell coming off the damn treadmill). Another set of pictures after that and I am on my way to get my blood work done that the doctor needs to have the results on the next day. The stress test took 5 hours in total.
After all of this is over, I left a message with surgeon letting them know what I had to do before primary doctor can sign off on surgery. I also let them know about treadmill. He was not a happy camper. The next morning I go back to my primary guy who ordered all of this crap. I tell him about the test, now he’s pissed off they put me on a treadmill. He FINALLY signs off on the surgery and they found no problems with my heart.
We have been planning surgery for over a month to perform this surgery this week. Since the day he told me we are doing surgery this week, I have had 3 appointments with my primary guy, blood work, urine test, 2 EKGs, 1 stress test, a second appointment with my surgeon, 1 appointment with my pain management guy, and a nerve test at the hospital. Also got fiancé to take this week off, trying to get kids schedules to coordinate with his days off, and get all meds refilled and packed. Surgeon got the clearance form on Thursday of last week, I called Friday to confirm they received it. I don’t get a call back until Monday, and the only day we can get an operating room this week is the one day I asked not to have surgery because I know the man is going back to work on Friday.
One would think this story is finally coming to an end, but wait, there’s more! I go to refill my pain meds. Same prescription for the same amount as last month. My insurance paid for these meds last month. This month however, my insurance will only cover 90 of my 120 pills prescribed. If they fill 90 I will not get the last 30 pills I need. They charge my insurance $90 a month for these pills. So I ask can I pay for what the insurance doesn’t cover. No, I cannot do that. But I have options, I can try to get the dr to preauthorize it with insurance, I can get the 3/4 of prescription that insurance will cover, or I cam pay for the entire thing which will not cost me $90 but will cost me over $400.
This is my life lately. Nope, nothing to stress about here! I am not looking forward to this surgery, but damn I will be happy when it’s over.
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