Monday, September 10, 2012

The past week has been somewhat stressful. Time is drawing nearer for surgery and of course my "to do" list needs whittled down. As luck would have it I had a sudden onset of a respiratory bug. Last Thursday a friend invited me to lunch. I shared that I wasn't feeling sick just felt I couldn't take a deep breath as if I had a respiratory bug brewing. She immediately questioned if it was anxiety about my upcoming surgery as she knows what a tough decision it's been for me. I assured her it wasn't.  I've had the same symptoms before and have been exposed to multiple respiratory infections from residents at work.  Sure enough by 11pm I had a fever. Rats!!! I called my family Dr. immediately Friday and he nor anyone in his practice had a sick opening. That meant urgent care which of course costs more. Bummer.  I had no cough and only a low grade fever. The Dr. heard no signs of pneumonia so ordered antibiotics for bronchitis. Fever for four days and my butt was kicked. Of course you can imagine what was in the back of my mind.

So today was my pre-op appointment. I immediately shared my recent illness and that I was currently fever free and feeling better. My surgeon wasn't too concerned but of course ordered a chest x-ray along with other pre-op testing. Surgery is still on barring abnormal test results. My fingers are crossed and I"m hopeful all is still a go but my sixth sense is worried about the x-ray.

We talked a bit more about surgery and his nurse took more photos. We discussed what size I hoped to be in the end and he showed me the pain pump I would have when I come home. I stressed I really don't want to end up larger than I was, my goal is to get some shape and hopefully be the same size. I will have four drains, the incisions, and the pain pump which will deliver marcaine into my skin. It's a numbing agent and should help a lot with my comfort level. Another perk is he went ahead and wrote my post-op prescriptions so I could have those filled and not have to stop on the way home. That did include an antibiotic as we had talked about. All in all my chest will look like quite a train wreck after surgery!

For now things are still set for next week on the 20th.  Now I just need to rest up and fully recoup.