Are you kidding me?

Between yesterday and today I have spent so much time on the phone coordinating amongst the various medical groups for my upcoming surgery. The surgery will be on Monday May 4th. There are several pre-op tests and registration that must be completed STAT. I had my first set of lab work done today. Tomorrow I head to Hoag hospital for a chest X-RAY (it's a bummer Jay can't do it himself) and EKG. Then Friday I'm off to UCLA to have a" type and cross," basically a blood test to type my blood (which I already know!) and be sure what blood types I could receive in case I need any blood during surgery. We tried our best to have all pre-op tests completed here locally without having to take a trip to UCLA, but unfortunately policy prohibits me from having the this test done here locally. Mom asked me today if they expect I'll need blood, but I don't know. She also inquired if I'll give my own blood for my surgery and I replied with a big "heck no!" I remember giving my own blood for my pacemaker implantation surgery and I hated it! I felt awful. I wasn't dizzy or any like that, it was the ongoing pulsating that drove me nuts! I guess I'm a wimp with the little things. Friday afternoon I call UCLA and will be given my actual surgery time and when I need to arrive to register with admissions. I'll be sure to post this info as I receive it.

There have been many of you who have been praying with us and sending love notes, blog post comments, and emails; thank you and keep them coming. You can pray for my nerves which seem to be kicking in now that I'm doing the "pre-op" work because it's making it all so real now. Also there are some of you who have been asking about visits and meals during recovery. As of now Jay plans to take Monday & Tuesday off work. I'd love some bits of company during the rest of the week and we'd both appreciate meals. Please contact us to coordinate this. There are no words to describe just how grateful we are. We are so blessed to have each of you in our lives.

I've realized that the mailbox can be your friend or your enemy. It was wonderful to receive the letter of authorization approval earlier this week. Yet last night I admit I was fuming and annoyed when I received a Federal court jury summons! Are you kidding me? It's a month from now which means I should be medically cleared. Yet, if I try to postpone it, I'm afraid it will come at the beginning of fall when we have two destination weddings. So at this point I think, I just need to do it. It's funny, but sad at the same time. I mean, what else does God plan to do to keep me from finding a social work job? So far it's been death, declining economy, drop in the job market, taxes, surgery, jury duty, weddings, ...? Maybe I should take a poll of what's next? Then again, maybe I'd rather not hear what wacky ideas you might think of (and no, I'm not kidding about that)!