Nancy ~
Your pre-op tests were similar to what I experienced with the exception that mine were mostly conducted outside of the hospital where I had my surgery - which is 32 miles from my home. I had a CT scan and chest X-ray done at a local hospital. The blood and urine work, EKG, etc were done at my PCP's office, for convenience. My neurosurgeon was fine with that. I did have a pre-op MRI scan at the hospital where I would have the surgery, approximately 2 days prior to the actual operation, even though my 'original' MRI had been taken only 3 weeks earlier. My neurosurgeon wanted to be certain of
"what the tumor looked like" before he operated. Since he did a splendid job, I couldn't complain. My medical insurance company probably wasn't as sanguine.
What I found interesting (in a good way) was that, overall, I was in pretty good health. All the blood/urine tests came back normal and the nurse in charge of taking the EKG seemed bored by the results, which, when I asked her, she mumbled
"perfectly normal" - as if she were somewhat disappointed. I won't bore you or anyone else with further details but it was sort of reassuring, at 63, to find out that I was in better overall health than I had imagined. You see, except for sporadic checkups, I had assiduously avoided doctors as much as possible and because I was fortunate enough not to suffer from back problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and all the other vicissitudes of late middle-age (or early old-age, if you prefer), I got away with it - for years.
You seem to have breezed through the pre-op process with flying colors and you're obviously ready, physically and emotionally, for the upcoming surgery, next week. I, along with so many others will be thinking of and praying for you, Nancy. I think you'll do just fine, as most of our recent surgery patients have. I look forward to meeting you at the brunch, April 19th.
Jim
