Pre-op

Today Krista and I spent several hours doing pre-op stuff. After we showed up for our appointment at 2 pm they sent me off to get another x-ray, and then we met with Dr. Mayo's nurse and then Dr. Mayo. He wants to try to do both surgeries tomorrow for various reasons; he'll decide once he gets in the joint and sees exactly how much damage he needs to fix. We're hoping he can do it all at once since it will be easier on my body.

Dr. Mayo was very patient with my questions and answered them all. We both really like him and feel confident in his judgment and abilities (as if we were qualified to judge a surgeon). He's done a couple hundred surgical dislocations and 600-700 PAOs, which is an awful lot of experience. A 21-year old man and his family we met in the waiting room was another testimony to his reputation, as they flew all the way from Ohio to consult with Dr. Mayo after three or four surgeries to his hip. The previous time we came to the office he had just performed a fix-it surgery on a woman who flew in from Michigan after two failed hip surgeries by another doctor.

I asked Dr. Mayo for souvenirs, such as before and after pictures of the joint, or a chunk of bone or cartilage. We'll see what happens.

From there we bounced around from station to station, getting weighed, an EKG, answering numerous questionnaires, signing several forms, drawing blood, etc. A nurse gave me a couple of packets of some kind of disinfectant that I'm supposed to use on my body from the neck down, in the shower, once tonight and once in the morning. An anesthesiologist asked numerous questions, particularly about my cold; as long as it's not a respiratory infection it needn't interfere with the operation.

I got to ask a nurse why I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight. The answer is that if I were to vomit while intubated (i.e. while I have a tube stuck down my throat) the vomit could go into my lungs and cause serious problems.

It's all so very interesting to me--the way our bodies work, the rationales for doing X or Y, how anesthesia works, etc. So interesting that Nurse Keri told me I was maxed out on questions and not allowed to ask anymore.