One step closer now that pre-op visit complete....

So, the day has come and gone. I had my pre-op visit anesthesia crew and my surgeon and staff in Boston.
First up was my stop with the anesthesia crew at Beth Israel. I must say, I expected a little more information there but then again I am the type of person that expected a walk-thru of the surgical area and room, which clearly did not happen and was not going to.
The woman in charge of telling me what to expect was super nice and very patient with me, as I had what seemed to be 100 questions. While I am not thrilled with any of this, it was nice to hear how anesthesia has evolved over the years for the better and that I will fall asleep much quicker than I would years ago. Apparently once they wheel me through the doors to the operating room I will be out seconds later. The less I see, the better I guess.
I learned that with my surgery I will definitely have an epidural. I was a bit worried about a needle in my spine but fun fact alert....the needle actually does not go into the spine yet on the side of it and it is very topical in terms of where they put it into you.
What I was not thrilled to hear from Dr. M was the amount of "things" I will have attached to me after the surgery.

Here is what we got:

2 IVS
1 drain tube from the side of the top of scar
1 catheter
1 epidural line

All of it is just gross, but it is what it is at this point. After hearing Dr. Millis' enthusiasm for how much this surgery will help and amazingly improve the quality of my life, I can't help but kinda getting a bit excited for all of this. Especially since I am happy to hear that when I first wake up the epidural will still be in so I won't have mind-numbing pain.

For a while, I have been Eeyore...the woah is me, this is going to suck...But, the reality is, this surgery is going to give my life back in terms of being able to freely walk, run and be active for the first time without pain in a very long time.

I would say the highlight of the entire visit was the "crutch walk" lesson. It was also a highlight for my mom, but for her it was a comedy highlight. Rewind three days ago when I picked up a pair of old crutches in my basement at home and "practiced" using them around the house. I was WAY off base as to how I was walking. Fast forward back to the lesson. I have learned that I will be moving quite possibly slower than a snail. As it is I have two speeds, slow and stop. Now I will adopt two new speeds, stop and reverse. I am not kidding, this crutch walking will be a true treat for all those watching this big kid move along.

Now with pre-op over, I focus on that dreadful day...my blood donation on Monday. Second one and final one. We all know how much I am looking forward to that to be over!

Have a great day everyone....