Pre-Op Appt

10 days prior to surgery, i went up to BOS to meet with anesthesia, give 2nd pint of blood, meet hip team, and meet PT.  i was told the day would run from 7a-3p.  pre-op days (and other non-new patients) are on tuesday. we arrived to the pre-op room around 6:40am.  since patients waiting for the OR are in the same room, there is no food or drink allowed. nurse mary took me in to do health records and vitals.  then i met dr bulich for anesthesiology discussion.  dr bulich is also a product of Dr Millis PAO.  hers was done over a decade ago and took something like 12hrs but she's happy and walks great now.  dr bulich ordered an EKG for me, which turned out normal.  we signed insurance and payment papers.  a notary had to be present for one of those documents.

off to the blood center, and i didn't pass my hemoglobin test (my reading was at 9 and they want minimum 11).  Dr Millis asked if i ate my iron pills, and i said the blood center lady told me not to bother.  he looked bewildered, wondering when do they ever tell someone not to bother with the iron pills.  so i was told to eat 2 iron pills a day (with a laxative) up til 5 days prior to surgery.  since CHB is a teaching hospital, they do different studies and such.  there was a woman there who is following PAO patients so i had to fill out a questionnaire and answer some questions for her.  the hip team took thorough angle measurements of flexibility/mobility for both legs, as well as girth measurements. i got blood drawn for labs, and after doing some Q&A with PA erin, i did my first PT session with jaime.  we went over how to walk with crutches and getting up and down stairs. we were done with pre-op at around 12:30.

i spent the next few days making sure insurance would cover my surgery.  this required CHB to submit procedural codes and get pre-authorization from insurance.  a week before surgery and the pre-auth wasn't even on file!  of course i called 3 people everyday until my insurance confirmed that the pre-auth was cleared.  good thing, esp since my total hospital stay for 6 days was $50k!