Adding Another Voice

11 days to surgery. Today was a visit to my primary for my pre-op physical. I knew the tests, came ready to have blood drawn and pee in a cup. What I wasn't expecting was for my primary to say "Everything is fine, but I want you to see a Cardiologist."

The problem is that a small sinus arrhythmia showed up on my EKG. Not a huge issue, until you combine it with general anesthesia. So my doctor wants to get a second opinion from a specialist.

This brings the number of doctors involved in this surgery up to six (not counting my primary and previous foot surgeon). My new surgeon has been consulting with my knee surgeon, anesthesiologist, neurologist, hematologist and now cardiologist. Luckily only two will be in the operating room, or it would be very crowded.

And I am left with six days to fret over this finding until my appointment with the cardiologist next Monday. Bright side is that my primary shares an office with a cardiologist, so I was able to make an appointment quickly.

I guess it's back to moving furniture to make my apartment more knee-walker friendly.

Happy Valentine's Day, I Want to Break Up

How do you break up with your doctor? Type that into Google and you get over 71,000 results. The few I looked at tended to be overly general, some simply said you should listen to your instincts without giving a real answer.

I did it by voice mail. I was ready to speak to the Office Manager, but instead I got her message. So I simply said "I have decided to switch to Dr. ___. Please forward my files to his office and needless to say I will not be coming to my appointment next week."

It's been coming for a while. This is, after all, the doctor who has had helped make the last year miserable. Thirteen months after my achilles repair surgery I still don't feel much of my foot and I have what my knee surgeon and new foot surgeon refer to as an "equine" walk.

If I'm honest, my new surgeon is the one I wanted to see two years ago when my achilles first tore, but I did not feel I could handle his nine-month waiting list for new patients. I only got to see him now because my foot issues were starting to impact my knee and my knee surgeon did not want his hard work to be for naught. He called the new surgeon and got me a jump in the queue.

So, now I have a new foot doctor, who on our first appointment scheduled me for an achilles lengthening surgery on March 2nd. He answered all of my questions, showed he had a sense of humor, and let me know he would be in contact with both my knee surgeon and my neurologist, before sending me to meet with an anesthesiologist to discuss how to ensure this surgery does not have an adverse effect on my already damaged nerves.

I have two weeks to get the house ready for the return of the knee-walker, stock supplies and get all of my pre-surgery tests and authorizations. This has to go better then the last time. If I'm honest, I'm terrified. I now have an awareness of all the things that can go wrong.

The new surgeon refused to openly criticize the old surgeon. The consulting anesthesiologist said the old surgeon should have told the old anesthesiologist immediately when I first complained of not feeling my foot. (Something the old anesthesiologist had also said.)

So I have broken up with my old foot surgeon and already started a new relationship. As with all new relationships you look forward, with high hopes and positive energy. Happy Valentine's Day.