the NIGHTMARE of pre-op testing

I headed to Richmond yesterday morning with Slim Fast in hand.  I sipped away at my meal replacement in naivety... besides water, this would be the ONLY thing I would ingest until returning home at 8:45pm!

My appointment at the surgeon's office with the nurse practitioner was scheduled for 10:20am but I was told to arrive early, so I arrived at 10:10.  They didn't call me back until 11:10... so I had lots of time to make new friends in the waiting room.  The nurse practitioner was super nice.  And I haven't gained any weight since I was there last time... even though I ate like a heifer the week of Thanksgiving (knowing that I had to start starving myself this week).  So that was very exciting!!  Found out that I will come home with a pain pump/numbing agent in a FANNY PACK (totally sexy, right?!?!) that I will have to remove myself.  Yippee...  Anyway, this appointment was fairly uneventful aside from the fact that it took about an hour and a half.

So, down to Pre-Admission testing I go.  (It is now about 11:40am)  Gave them my name and waited...  They called me to pre-register around 11:50 and then I headed to the Pre-Admission Testing (PAT) nurses.  (Time: 12:00pm)  The waiting room is FULL and NO ONE is talking.  Now, if you know me well, you know this was KILLING ME.  I'm naturally a "Chatty Cathy" and was dying to talk to someone - ANYONE - as I waited... and waited...  Didn't get called into a room until 12:45.  My RN was named Victoria and had to have been from Ireland or Scotland or somewhere because she had the most FABULOUS accent and was a total riot.  She starts putting my orders in and realizes that the doctor's office did not send all of the orders for labs they needed to draw and flips out.  It's funny to be sitting in someone's office and hear them repeatedly mumble "shit" in a foreign accent.  Anyway, 30 minutes later, we still don't have orders for the lab work, so I'm told to wait in the lab waiting area. (Time: 1:15)  Long story, I know... but y'all need the details, right??  SO - they didn't even call me back to start my lab work until 2:40!!  I was IN TEARS because I was just so frustrated at this point.  Remember, too, that I haven't eaten anything...  After drawing 7 tubes of blood and giving a urine sample, I still had to go for a chest x-ray and an EKG - AND my 4-hour mandatory pre-op class started at 3pm.  I left PAT at 3:05pm.

My pre-op class was amazing, though.  I feel MUCH more comfortable and prepared for the surgery.  The class was instructed by a bariatric nurse and dietician.  If I'm not ready now, I'll never be.  It's going to be a rough road but one worth traveling.