...Try, Try Again.

 Today was the make-up day for my meeting with the vascular team over at Robert Packer Hospital.  As I mentioned in my last post, Dr. B cancelled at the very last minute last week so things got pushed to this morning. I arrived 15 minutes before my appointed time and then had to wait about 25 minutes to get seen by the nurse. This is unusual as the folks at Guthrie in general are usually spot on time--or have a damn good excuse for being late. I think today it was just volume as my appointment was for 11 am which i at the end of the morning crowd.

My vitals and other information were taken and then we got to see Dr. B and his Nurse Practitioner. The first thing Dr. B did was ask Terry all about her cruise to Puget Sound. (During the discussion he seemed to have forgot that he had scared me into staying home and sending Terry's sis as her plus-one. That was a decision that panned out when I had to visit the emergency room the day Terry left for the airport because of severe pain above my left knee.) 

W eventually got around to talking about first my previously operated upon left leg--and Dr. B checked the pulse all up and down that by-pass thoroughly. Then we started to talk about the right leg. It was his opinion--and I concur--that a by-pass around the two large aneurysms would be better than waiting for an emergency to occur that could cost me the right leg...especially, he hinted, since the left leg was still in doubt. should BOTH go, I would have no leg to stand on. (I know, I know. My bad.)

I was sent down the hall to have the right leg's veins and arteries examined and mapped via ultrasound. Dr. B and I then discussed the when: June 23rd at 6:00 am.

The it was off to pre-admissions for an ECG, blood test, a meeting with the anesthesiologist, and a thorough pre-op procedure discussion: What meds I need to stop and when, what foods and liquids I will be permitted prior The Day, and what soap to use when showering the night before and then the morning before surgery. All the good stuff I missed out on the last time when I walked into the Troy ER with a dark, dark blue foot and one doctor pronounced, "It's dead!" and then at the Robert-Packer ER with a "Rush!" order pinned to my pant leg.

We didn't get back to the parking lot until after 1:30 pm. We did get to have a fine meal over at The Grille. We also stopped at Bryan's Meats on the way home to pick up some nice steaks, American and Canadian bacon, breakfast sausages, and some award winning hot dogs. (The nurse said to eat plenty of protein because it helps in rapid healing!) So the day wasn't a total loss.