So today I reported to the hospital bright and early at 7:45 AM to start my pre-surgery testing and labs. They had to draw 12 viles of blood for all the blood levels, vitamin levels, thyroid function, and serum levels. Luckily the tech found a good vein in my arm and it didn’t even hurt this time. I have really deep veins so I usually get poked at least three times and they have to go deep which usually hurts quite a bit. The 12 lead EKG was kind of tricky because I have been rather blessed in the chest region and it was hard to find a spot to get a good reading so while it wasn’t quick it was at least painless. The pregnancy test was pretty simple- just pee in a cup. Since I had my tubes tied almost six years ago, I know there is no way I am pregnant. Granted I did take a home pregnancy test that I had sitting in the bathroom just to make sure on Sunday (it was negative of course) so that I wouldn’t have any random surprises. The chest x-rays were pretty straight forward as well. The one thing that did surprise me was the upper GI scan.

I assumed that they were going to do an upper GI scope where they shove the scope down your throat and into your stomach so I was worried if they were going to put me under for that because there is no way I could have tolerated a scope down my throat while being awake. Turns out they do it all through x-rays so I had nothing to worry about. You have to drink three different kinds of barium (barium crystals, thick liquid barium and thin liquid barium) and then drink some water to check for reflux. The barium crystals were the worst. They pour the crystals into a tiny bit of water and tell you to drink it like a shot. First off, it tasted awful. Secondly, the second you swallow it starts to make air bubbles in your stomach and your stomach fills up with so much air so quickly it hurts. Of course, you aren’t allowed to burp and relieve the pressure (though I almost burped in the doctors’ face which would have been mortifying). The liquid forms of barium also tasted pretty gross but it was over pretty quickly.

I had a lot of the same blood work done about two weeks ago by my primary care doctor and they were all normal so I am not worried about any of that and all of the other testing went well today so I should be all clear for surgery. I have my last appointment with my surgeon on Thursday!

pre-op testing TODAY; pre-op surgeon meeting in 3 days; nutritionist in 8 days, liquid diet in 11 days, Mom gets here in 14 days, surgery in 16 days!