Paperwork Again?

For anyone who has had surgery recently, if the surgery doesn't kill you, the paperwork or pre-operation activities will. We have visited so many doctors, filed so many papers, and jumped through so many hoops, it makes me tired to think about it much less have done it.

This week alone, we have visited two doctors, 3 medical centers, and filled out so much paper we must have killed at least 50 trees. We found out on Monday that Bob had to "bank" 1 pint of blood for his surgery. This had to be done at least 1 week before surgery, so it had to be done by Wednesday, which meant Tuesday because we both work on Wednesday. The scheduler was out of the office until Thursday, so we had to go get the paperwork, go to the blood bank and wait until they could take us. Bob had to be fasting; it didn't open until 9 and we didn't get through until after 12; he had not eaten, and I had a Dr's appt around 1. So, it was probably close to 3 by the time we finished everything and went to eat. Bob was nauseated and very light headed. The paper work they gave us with all the information was old and none of the numbers were in working order. It turned out, after going through several agencies and 411, we found out the local office of the blood bank was about 2 miles from our apartment, not downtown like the paperwork indicated.

Just to get off today for his pre-op procedures, I can't even begin to remember what all we have done. He DID get to eat before hand this time, so it wasn't so hard on him physically, but we spent all morning at the office and filled out even more paperwork. Bob said they tested so many parts of his body-some he didn't even know he had.

Try to coordinate time off between two different places of work, not to mention getting all the paper work in for the surgery. What a nightmare. Our company works with 3 different scheduling programs that do not talk to each other and Bob's primary work company uses 1 program and deals with 2 or 3 different departments. We also have had to apply to 2 different Federal Programs and 2 insurance companies. If the aliens who bombed the twin towers had to have dealt with all the people and paperwork we have, they would have given up before they could have gotten any where.

We finally got home some time after 2 and we both collapsed from exhaustion. I slept for several hours and finally got up to do some laundry. KFC seemed like a good idea. "Someone" came over and had dinner with us. It was good to see him. He's been on a cruise and brought back presents. (Always nice) He probably knows what I like better than anyone else and I always love his presents. I got a silver Mayan cartouche with my name on it; Bob got a cruise-line t-shirt.

Wed is the "big" day. I plan to spend the night with Bob after the surgery. One of the problems that we had not thought of was "What to do with Wiener." I finally figured out that the lady who cleans our apartment and keeps my life on an even keel can come and clean that afternoon and give the dog "potty" breaks, and a friend is going to stay all night here. I should be home some time on Thursday, if all goes well. We have a lot of people around the country praying for us at this time. It's great to have friends who are close enough to be concerned with all that happens in my life. I don't know what I'd do without them.