Surgery tomorrow

You may remember in my previous post that I'd scheduled an appointment with the ENT to see about having tubes put in my ears. I have horrible Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, which makes flying a miserable experience. Let me rephrase that: It makes the DESCENT a miserable experience! Imagine someone standing behind you, stabbing ice picks into your ears, and that is *almost* the amount of pain I feel during the descent. Not only that, but I can tell you the plane is starting it's downward slope long before you can feel it.

Anyway, I was supposed to see the doctor yesterday (Weds), but--again from my previous post--I've been having a major small problem with short-term memory. It doesn't really matter if you, or Santa Clause is on my calendar. It doesn't even matter if I remember you NOW, because if my appointment with you is 3 hours from now, it's very possible I've already forgotten. I hear this happens when you have too many things going on at once, or when you have early onset Alzheimer's.

Fortunately I was able to get rescheduled for the last visit of the day today. The ENT agreed tubes were the way to go. Adults can usually have this done right in the exam room with a drop of local anesthetic to numb the ear drum. Yeah, that's great...unless you have Meneir's Disease! In that case, the numbing agent, which can cause the middle ear to become numb as well, can bring on a Meneir's episode. That would be bad!

Instead I was scheduled for surgery TOMORROW morning. Glancing at the clock, I see that's really "today". And, since it's after midnight and I can't eat anything now, I'm hungry. Perfect timing.

I left the ENT's office at 4:30, as the nurse said to me, you need to have a pre-op exam done before your surgery.

Are you KIDDING ME? Somewhere between now and 8:00 tomorrow morning I need to have a physical done? I went out into the hall to call my regular clinic to see if they could squeeze me in, but wasn't successful. I went back into the ENT's office to let them know I'd need to reschedule surgery. The doctor came out the waiting room saying, "C'mon, I'll do it right now and fax it over to the surgery center."

Have I mentioned I love this doctor? Have I also mentioned that I've been taking my kids to him for 23 years? SCARY! I told him that once during one of his recent visits with Angela. He looked at me, blinked hard and said, "I've only been in practice for 24 years!" So, we are officially his longest lasting patients! Great title to have, I know.

So back to surgery. It's on the OTHER side of the city. Beggars can't be choosers, right? Well, one small problem. Because I can't have a local anesthetic, I have to go under general anesthetic, which means I'm have to bring a driver with me. The ENT did say I *should* be fine, but they require a "responsible adult" to come along. Are you kidding me? I don't even know if I qualify under that category. LOL

Dean isn't able to get off work, so he and I spent all evening thinking of who I could call. Finally we got hold of his brother Dave who lives on that side of town. He'll meet me there and....oh yeah...Angela doesn't have school! So, he'll meet me there and hang out with Angela while I go take a quick nap. The ENT said, because I don't have fluid in my ears, just a stuck drum, that I shouldn't be asleep more than 10 minutes, so in theory I should be fine to drive home after I hang out in the recovery room for a bit.

Oh yeah...I was planning on going from there to school. HA! We'll see if that happens. If anything I can show my groggy face then go home and take a nap. Gotta love my very realistic expectations. After all, they're what keep me going!

By the way, speaking of math class, tomorrow I'll try to get THE MOST amazing math story posted! You won't believe your eyes! (my math professor sure didn't!)