Pre-Op

Tuesday, February 2, my Dad called me and asked if I would like to be anointed. I’m pretty sure everyone who reads this blog knows my Dad is a pastor, but just in case you don’t know, he is. He and the elders of the church have been anointing those who are sick or having surgery for a few years now. It’s a wonderful ministry. They follow James 5:13-16: “Are any among you suffering? They should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually sing praises to the Lord. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.”

I’ll confess, while I did want to be anointed, I didn’t at the same time. I can’t believe I’m making that public, but it’s the truth. While I do like to be the center of attention sometimes (come on, admit it, you like to be the center of attention too, sometimes!), I didn’t want to be the center of attention in this area. I confessed this to a co-worker and what she said really opened my eyes. She said to look at this as having to humble myself before the Lord. She was spot on. The devil was trying to sneak back in. I was not going to let him. I knew my dad wanted me to be anointed and I knew deep down inside of me that I wanted to be anointed, so I said yes.

I consider Wednesday, February 3, as the start of my pre-op appointments. That’s the night I was anointed. While I was nervous, it turned out to be the biggest blessing. I WAS humbled before the Lord. The 7 elders who could be there each had a different Bible verse for me that fit me perfectly. Each elder prayed over me. My dad anointed me with oil (straight from Jerusalem!) and he also had a Bible verse for me and prayed over me. It was very, very special.

Thank you, Laurie for writing down all the verses spoken so I can read them again!

Thursday, February 4, I went to work as usual. My department has a meeting with another department at 10am on Thursdays. I have worked closely with the people in the other department for 10 years now – we actually used to be a part of the same department. As the meeting was winding down, I was given a HUGE gift basket by this department. I was floored. I was speechless (which really doesn’t ever happen at work!). It contained everything from a yo-yo and a slinky, to crossword puzzles, to an HGTV blanket, to lotions, to eye masks, to the softest bear decked out in an HGTV shirt. What an amazing, unexpected, lift-my-spirits gesture this was. I want to publicly thank everyone in that department who contributed to it. It certainly brightened my day. Thank you!

Friday, February 5, I traveled to Vanderbilt for pre-op testing. As usual, things never really go as planned. :) My mom was going to take me, but then she caught a cold and was not feeling well at all, so my dad stepped in. Fridays are his day off. I felt really bad that he had to rearrange his whole day to take me (as he had already planned to do several things on his day off), but I am forever grateful that he did. We listened to Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift and Adele CD’s as well as Rush Limbaugh on the way there. There has to be a balance, you know! I introduced Dad to Provence Café, the café that Mom and I really like. He liked it too!

My first appointment was with my neurosurgeon’s nurse. But, before she came in, I spoke with Beverly who is a part of the research department. I’m going to be a part of a few research studies. I don’t have to do anything special or extra. They are going to take data from my surgeries and use it to advance the whole deep brain stimulation process. Tiffany, Dr. K.’s nurse came in after Beverly and she went over everything that was going to happen before, during and after each surgery. Most of it, I knew already from speaking with Dr. K. and from reading the materiel that was given to me. But there were a few new things. She said that I probably shouldn’t wear the wig right away, because it’ll probably be tight and they don’t want anything tight on my head right after the surgeries. They don’t want any infections. So, I may be purchasing more hats/caps. I do have one monogrammed baseball cap thanks to my friends LaTina, Rheagan and Will!

I have a feeling I'll be wearing this a lot!! Every southern girl needs a monogrammed hat!

I also asked Tiffany about exercise. I told her I ride a stationary bike. She said that was fine to do. Yay - that made me so happy!! She confirmed that I would be awake when rolled into the operating room for the February 23 surgery (the actual deep brain stimulation) and that I would be awake almost the entire time. I have to do “work” during the surgery. I have to follow commands and answer questions from the neurologist. I have to tell them if I feel numbness or tingling and other things like that. They’ll put me to sleep at the very end after I’ve done my work and they’ve done all the testing and placing of the electrodes, so that they can finish up. She said that the most painful part will probably be when they numb my scalp for the surgery. Tiffany also went over when I could drive or return to work. She first said not until 4-6 weeks after the last surgery (on February 29). I protested that a little bit. Then she said, “Well, you’re not our typical patient. Our typical patients are MUCH older and have Parkinson’s and are already kind of cloudy (with their minds) and the anesthesia just makes that worse , so I automatically say no driving until 6 weeks after. I’d say you could probably go back to work two weeks after the last surgery.” Perfect, as I’m officially on FMLA until March 16 – two weeks after the last surgery! This is a rolling FMLA though, if I need more time, I can have it. We’ll just have to see how everything goes. I also found out that the DBS device will be turned on 4-6 weeks after the February 23 surgery. This is fantastic, because I thought it was 4-6 weeks after the last surgery on February 29. Hopefully it'll be turned on by mid-March instead of mid-April.

The second part of my pre-op visit was to meet with a nurse practitioner and get paperwork done and labs taken. This was pretty non-descript. There’s really nothing to report. I filled out paperwork and paid a chunk of change (again, thank you, Lord for an HSA that I have been contributing to). I'm all checked in for surgery and I cut down on a LOT of paperwork that I would have normally had to do the day of surgery. I love efficiency!

These are like free movie passes, but not! :) I don't need a surgical pass for February 16th because that's being done in radiology.

I met with the nurse practitioner and she asked questions and listened to my heart. My blood pressure was taken and it was a lot lower then my previous appointment - 128/85. I was weighed, but the amount was in kilograms, so I have no idea what it actually was (and didn’t ask!). Then, I went downstairs to the lab and got blood taken. That took all of 2 minutes! Then Dad and I were on our way home.

Dad and I had some good conversation in the car on the way home. I am extremely thankful and blessed to have the mom and dad that I do!

The next step is to lose my hair. That’ll happen either February 13 or 14. Then, February 16 is the first “surgery”. I’m put under general anesthesia, screws are inserted into my skull (don’t worry, I won’t look like Frankenstein. The screws will not be visible.) and I’ll be given an MRI and CT scan. Please pray that I don’t get sick before this surgery and have to postpone, the weather will be good (no ice or snow) and that there won’t be any complications.

Again, thanks for following along and may God bless each and every one of you.