First things first. The deets on the surgery. June 16, 2010 @ Nyköping Sjukhuset (Swedish for hospital). I am to report for duty at 7 am sharp. Did I mention I live about 1 hr 10 mins from the hospital? Aren't I the lucky one!! Surgeon is Per Lundqvist. Getting the lap band done laproscopic. And I should expect a hospital stay of 2-4 days.
Now onto today events!
Met with phys. therapist first. She just gave me a flyer to show me how to get in and out of bed, and the necessity to move my feet and toes as fast as possible after surgery. Then I started drilling her with questions about limitations and exercises for me to do one one leg or in bed/sitting since I have foot surgery on June 28th. Should have seen her. Poor woman. She was seriously struggling to answer my questions. I genuinely felt bad for her. But I needed to know I could things beside sit in bed for the first few weeks after both surgeries.
Then went up to meet with the nurse. She gave me the deets on the surgery, and I tried asking her a bunch of questions. Some she attempted to answer, others she told me I'd have to ask someone else (usually either under surgeon or dietist). But a series of questions came up that I thought were quite important.
Q: Is there any forms I need to fill out regarding my wishes pertaining to organ donorship, do not resuscitate, living will, consent to inform (about my condition), etc.?
A: We don't have those things here. Protocol is always to save life. If you want something else we can put into your journal (electronic record of all my medical info).
Q: Is my sambo (boyfriend) legally allowed to make medical decisions for me in case I become unable to?
A: I'm not sure of the legality. Ask the under surgeon (to which they had no clue either).I asked tons of questions, but those were the ones I felt were most important and was a bit leery about the answers.
After that I moved onto the EKG, and then to the under surgeon. The most exciting thing that happened there was when the woman asked about diseases and allergies, and I told her about celiac's and gluten (which I also mentioned to the nurse and filled out in my pre-op general health survey paperwork). Her response was simply ok. Which I then stipulated that all medications must be checked first and foremost that they are GF (gluten free) before administering or prescribing. She gave me a stunned look. So then I explained to her what happened last month when the ER doc prescribed me some meds that had wheat starch in them. Which I didn't discover until I got to the pharmacy and was filling my script and asked the pharmacist to double check they were safe. Upon inspection we found that the original script was not GF nor was a similar med from another manufacturer. I ended up having to go back to the ER and wait 5 hrs to meet with another doctor just to find out that besides those 2 pills there was no other option for me. So no medicine for me! That part didn't bother me so much as the massive waste of my time. Anyway. So then the under surgeon goes "Oh I hadn't even thought of that!! I'll make a note in your journal"
Next and last stop, the anaesthesiologist. Same set of questions from him as the previous people. And just told me that I'd be getting knocked out with general anaesthesia and would be groggy and not feeling so hot the first day.
So there's the excitement of my day in a nutshell. I was a bit bummed I didn't meet with the dietist as I have a ton of questions. I meet with them after the surgery while still in the hospital. But the nurse did her best to answer some of my food related questions regarding food consistency and stuff. I would have liked to meet with my actual surgeon to discuss a few things about the procedure with him that I hadn't thought to ask during the consultation 9 months ago, but alas, that didn't happen either. Oh well.
Now, those of you reading this back in the states are probably thinking I'm nuts to go into a surgery without filling out a million forms and what not. But that's just the way things are here. It's very centralized. All my info is put on the computer. Only the docs can view it, with my permission. And I'm guessing the lack of CYA paperwork is because malpractice and major medical disasters aren't really a big issue here. Haven't heard too many stories of a doc cutting off the wrong appendage or anything yet. And the surgeon doing my surgery did the bypass for someone I know and she is very pleased with the results. So I'm not that worried. My biggest concern is with the medication. Making sure it is safe for me. :) And of course how to pass the time when I'm stuck in the hospital for a few days. Too far away for friends and Nick's family to really come and visit me. But oh well. Got to pay some kind of price right?
-FXA
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