The unmitigated gall!

Sometimes, it seems nothing goes smoothly. This is one of those times.

As you already know, since about last November my gallbladder and I haven't been getting along. I had scheduled surgery to have the sucker removed this Friday. I was nervous - hey, anesthesia is a scary thing - but I was pretty sure I'd be fine. It's a common operation, zip in, zip out, done. All was rosey in my world.

Until last Friday when the surgeon's office called. He's not available on the July 17; we can either make it July 16 or 24.

Great. Making arrangements wasn't easy in the first place. I have people taking off of work to take care of me, and now I have to re-arrange their schedules and my own. Thankfully, I have wonderfully flexible friends. But that's not where the headaches end. While I was on the phone with the surgeon, I asked them (for the second time) if I would need any pre-op testing to be done, and I was told the hospital would contact me but any testing would likely be done the day of surgery. It didn't seem right, but it's not like I was going to convince them otherwise.

Then I got the call from the hospital yesterday, confirming my surgery for Friday. No, I said, it's been rescheduled for Thursday. Well that will be fine, the OR is free, and as long as you've already had your blood work done ....

Wait, what?

Yeah, it should've been done last week or at the latest yesterday, in order for the results to come back in time for the re-scheduled procedure. And to top it all off, the referral I have from my primary doc is good for the admission date of 7/17 ... so before I let anyone cut into me, I figure I'd better get an updated copy, otherwise I really don't have a leg to stand on if the insurance questions anything.

Needless to say, I headed to Aurora this morning to have blood drawn and pick up a copy of the referral. Sounds like a simple thing, and it should've been, but the freakin' vampire who took my blood didn't believe me when I told her my veins can sometimes be challenging. Only after three tries and literal weeping (me, not her) was she able to get enough blood for the tests they need to run.

I am now out of patience. I look like a human pincushion, or a really messy addict. But my sister has assured me that on the day of surgery I'll get good drugs that will put me in a happy place.

As long as they can get the damn IV in, that is!