Pre-Op

My pre-op doctor's visit on Friday went well. It took a little over an hour. Doc's nurse, Flora, in keeping with the fairy-tale theme here (I honestly didn't intend that when I started this blog), looks like, I kid you not, one of the good fairies in Sleeping Beauty (Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather...yes, I got that from Wikipedia...Incidentally, Flora is the one who gave Sleeping Beauty the gift of beauty and is the one in red).

Flora gave me all of my prescriptions (she really IS a good fairy!) so I have to run over to CVS at some point and hope they're capable of providing me with Percocet, an anti-nausea thing that I don't really want to talk about, and Keflex (an antibiotic). There's also a prescription for exactly one Ambien tablet to take the night before the surgery. Since I have some leftover from the time I flew to New Zealand, I think I'll pass on filling that. And guess what! She also gave me a vial of arnica tablets! I actually found these at Whole Foods a few weeks ago and picked them up, but the ones she gave me are stronger, the 12c version. I need to start taking them three days before the surgery, and I can also use the arnica cream.

Aside from all the pills, I'm also supposed to eat lots of fresh pineapple before and after--it has a substance called bromelain that is supposed to help with the swelling. Not canned, frozen's a bit iffy, FRESH pineapple.

No makeup or lotions on the skin on the day of surgery. Wear loose clothes that don't have to go over my head. So much to remember to do. I also just took down my humidifier since that's supposed to help since you're a mouth breather there for at least the first day.

Then we took my "before" photos. I didn't get a copy of these so I will have to post my own for you all to see. Flora said, "I'll bet you're getting that bump taken down!" Sheesh, people, the bump wasn't what I noticed...evidently everyone else did!

We went over my last few questions. Salicyclic acid face wash is ok (aspirin is not, and aspirin is salicyclic acid, so I needed to clarify since the stuff I use has it in it). The tip of my nose will feel "woody" as opposed to squishy (I think this is sort of concerning, but it's not permanent). My nose will be numb for a while and then it'll start to feel prickly, which is my nervous system coming back online. I probably won't have to worry too much about makeup to cover up the bruises, but I can go to their in-house lady who does makeup if I want.

I filled out all of the consent and release forms and my medical history form for Sleepy, for which I did a full-on written freak-out about when I had my tonsils out and my heart murmur and that I get chest pains when I get really stressed out, blah, blah, blah.

After that, Doc came in and did some rah-rah and asked if I had any questions--I'm questioned out. I'm just ready to go. He said that my medical history isn't anything they haven't dealt with before, so I shouldn't worry.

Finally, I went over to the patient coordinator and dealt with the financials. I wrote out a check (it had to be a check) to Sleepy for $550, and wrote out another check to Doc for $4325 for the remaining balance of my surgery fee (I had to put $500 down). I'm committed. If I back out now, I forfeit 75% of the surgeon's fee and I'm too damn cheap to do that.