Many have been following my journey with endometriosis lately. If you're unaware of what this surgery is, refer to my previous post: "What Endometriosis Feels Like.... for me."
This post is all about the preparation: how I came in contact with this surgeon, how I went about booking flights, hotels, etc., what I ate during my bowel preparation, and everything leading up to the surgery.
I'm sharing this very personal information because I don't want others to suffer like I have. Just having a diagnosis gave me hope. Learning about solutions to heal my body from being in a constant state of pain made me eager. My daughters are at risk of developing this awful disease. So here I am ready for surgery, 3 months after stumbling upon this life-changing information and I'm trying my best to document all of it. Because living life with 17 years of unexplained pain is not OK.
First, I've had some people ask me how I even scheduled surgery with this out of state surgeon. That information is explained more in detail in my blog post mentioned above. Basically, I was referred to a facebook group called "Utah Endometriosis Support." I got to know some of the women and went to a support group meet-up. I wanted to have surgery with Dr. Jeff Arrington because I personally know women who've had surgery from him when he was in Utah. So I contacted their office by googling The Center for Endometriosis Care in Atlanta GA. Then I called the number like the homepage said to do..... lol. It was that simple! Kind of... after contacting them they sent me a lengthy email with lots of instructions about obtaining my medical records. I did that and mailed them in. 2-3 weeks later, Dr. Arrington emailed me and we talked about my symptoms. He told me that I probably have endometriosis based on my symptoms, and recommended I fly out to Atlanta for the surgery. Endo can only be diagnosed with a laproscopy, so instead of getting that done in Utah by a doctor that can only diagnose and not treat the disease, I decided to just do all of that in Georgia.
The Center for Endometriosis Care (CEC) contacted our insurance to verify everything would be covered. Because we have a share-plan for our health insurance, we had to play the middle man at times, but it wasn't a big deal. CEC sent me a list of CPT codes. I contact the pre-notification department for our share-plan insurance and gave them the codes. 2-3 days later the insurance called back saying everything is covered and approved. :)
The next day I called back the CEC scheduling department and booked my surgery. The soonest available days were either my brother's birthday or mine. So I made the wisest choice and booked it for my brother's birthday. ;)
Within the hour of scheduling the surgery I started searching for flights. I found Delta to be the cheapest... surprising, I know! I'm just glad it wasn't frontier or some other crappy airline that offers no tray, beverage, or baggage. Because we all know Adam would have selected those flights! lol.
I was so frustrated trying to book flights because I didn't know when I'd be returning. During my surgery, I may need a bowel resection which could make me stay in the hospital 3-5 days longer...
I'm some-what old school. I appreciate technology and being able to visually see information, but I do so much better when I can speak to someone on the phone about it. I would almost always choose to do something over the phone rather than online... which is strange coming from a millennial. I'm so glad I called because they were so helpful! They helped me book the flight I was looking at gave me a "medical rate." This allows our flights to be modified or cancelled with no fees. I also bought a return ticket with this rate for my mom because she might have to fly out if I stay longer. Adam will need to go home for work and I can't discharge from the hospital or fly home alone. So luckily, my mom is a flight attendant and can fly out here to help me.
Phew, we're all covered there! Unfortunately, I didn't do that with the hotel. Today the CEC staff told me that most hotels will do the same. Our ghetto hotel looked nicer online and can't be cancelled. :/ Oh well, I'm only here to poop tonight and then we'll be at the hospital tomorrow night and can book another hotel if we need to stay longer. Here's a helpful tip: Look for hotels near the hospital that offer free shuttles. It will save you tons of money in car rental or uber fees.
Anyways, our flight left Wednesday night at 5:13 pm. Everything worked out flawlessly. I was able to help the girls pack their suitcases for 4 nights at Nana's house, pack Eli's many things, and our own carry on. I had to squeeze everything of mine and Adam's into one tiny bag because it would be too hard juggling multiple bags since I'll be in a wheelchair for our return flight. We couldn't risk checking a bag either because everything I'm bringing is to help me recover after surgery.
Ladies who've had the surgery recommended these items:
-Gas x
-Rice bag heating pad thing that can be microwaved. The weight of it helps the trapped gas that gets stuck in your shoulders post-op.
-Heating pad.
-Peppermint Tea
I would add a couple more things to the list:
-Depends and light pads
-Diaper rash cream or hemorrhoid cream
-Eye Mask
-Ear Plugs
-Preggy Pops or some anti-nausea medicine you can suck on.
So the day before flying out, everything was perfect. I was able to do special time with both girls. Norah wanted to make eggs and then she wanted me to tickle her... and we played hide-and-seek. I had more time with her because Hal was at school and Eli was napping. Then I built a lego castle with Haleigh. Eli fell asleep at 1 and woke at 1:45 just as we were loading up the car and ready to leave for Nana's. We had a slight meltdown about envelopes that Haleigh NEEDED to put her drawing for Nana's birthday present in. (Yes it's her birthday this weekend too and she's graciously watching out kids.... but that's a grandma's dream anyway... isn't it?!) And I gave her a used one that had a sticker on it....which was "unacceptable." So after 20 minutes of a screaming meltdown and trying to calm the freaked out baby... we were on our way! Half way there, we realized we forgot the pack and play.... and Adam threw away the garbage bag full of brand -new barbies still in the boxes (that Nana had purchased from us a long time ago but we keep forgetting to give her... long story...) and all of Eli's brand new diapers.... because it "looked like trash." So a panicked text went out to neighbors asking them to NOT take our trash cans to the curb.... we threw away "valuables" that we will retrieve when we return. haha. Insert crossing fingers emoji.
After dropping off the kids, Adam's dad (Pa, as we call him) hopped in our car and we drove to the airport. It was then... in the silence of not being distracted by helping kids... that my raw emotions flowed down my cheeks in the form of tears. Thinking to myself about the extensive surgery and recovery.... and how will I manage when I get home and need to recover still but have tiny humans to care for? But I was assured by Pa that I was doing the right thing. So many people have been praying for us. He hugged us both and drove our car back to his house.
The plane ride was great. We had two seats together, nobody gross or smelly next to us, except Adam who desperately needed a gas-x. There wasn't really anyone else to blame the smell on. lol. I was super disappointed because my tv wasn't working... everyone else around us had working tv's, but not us. :( Now I was stuck with reading... The flight attendant reset our tv's and they still didn't work. haha... You all know that I made Adam talk to the flight attendant since I was too embarrassed. I would have bucked up and read except our lights didn't work either and it was dark on the plane. Adam was so determined that he used his phone flashlight... and I was just annoyed. After the drink service the flight attendant told us there were two seats together with working tv's up a few rows. So we moved. Now I'm just dying for the flight home to finish "Crazy Rich Asians" because I only got half way through.
We took Lyft from the airport to our hotel. It could not have been more divinely orchestrated. Our Lyft driver had a similar surgery 10 years ago and has been pain-free ever since. She must have sensed my nerves because she kept telling me "You're going to do great. You're going to walk out of there feeling better than ever before. You have a new life waiting for you this weekend. Have Faith in Him, he knows what he's doing."
I hardly slept at all. I was midnight by the time we got to our room. As we're walking to our room I told Adam, "Ew, it smells like skunk mixed with cleaning chemicals." "That's marijuana honey." "Oh.... ok." So due to fear of bed bugs, and gross skunk smell I didn't sleep very well.
We woke up super early for my pre-op appointment. We went to Bagel Bro's for a light breakfast. I had a yummy egg and sausage bagel thing and fruit.
Dr. Arrington and his staff were so kind. I had a physical exam and ultrasound. He felt a mass near my uterine / bowel wall but after the ultra sound he feels like it was just the way my ovary was sitting. He doesn't feel like I'll need a bowel resection. Woo hoo! He predicts that I'll have endo in my diaphragm but doesn't really know until operation. He said the operation will take about 2 hours and he'll remove all of the endo from my organs. The only time he may not be able to remove everything is if there's endo along the artery in the diaphragm. In that case it would take surgery from cardiologist.
After the appointment we went to publix (across the street) and stocked up on gatorade, chicken broth, and gummy bears. Adam also got pre-made salads and sandwiches for his meals. We facetimed the girls and they were so jealous that the only thing I get to eat today is gummy bears and gatorade. They wish they were me.
I was given a bottle of miralax for my bowel cleanse. She told me I can start a few hours earlier so that I can be "done" before bed. I felt like I needed to go, but nothing. Then it hit me. This is why I recommend bringing depends. lol. Sometimes you don't know if it's a toot or poop. haha. I pretty much sat in the bathroom for 2-3 hours during my "cleanse." I'm glad I started early so that by bedtime I could sleep without interruption.
Tomorrow morning I have to wake up at 4:30 and drink tons of water, do some more bowel cleanse prep, and then head to the hospital at 6:30 AM. Now it's 7:30 PM and I'm ready to pass out, which is good because the rest will help my body recover.
At my appointment, I asked about chronic fatigue and endometriosis going hand-in-hand. He said I will still be chronically fatigued for a couple months. It will take my body awhile to heal, but after that I will feel a second wind at life. I just hope that happens in time for DisneyWorld in June. ;)
This post is all about the preparation: how I came in contact with this surgeon, how I went about booking flights, hotels, etc., what I ate during my bowel preparation, and everything leading up to the surgery.
I'm sharing this very personal information because I don't want others to suffer like I have. Just having a diagnosis gave me hope. Learning about solutions to heal my body from being in a constant state of pain made me eager. My daughters are at risk of developing this awful disease. So here I am ready for surgery, 3 months after stumbling upon this life-changing information and I'm trying my best to document all of it. Because living life with 17 years of unexplained pain is not OK.
First, I've had some people ask me how I even scheduled surgery with this out of state surgeon. That information is explained more in detail in my blog post mentioned above. Basically, I was referred to a facebook group called "Utah Endometriosis Support." I got to know some of the women and went to a support group meet-up. I wanted to have surgery with Dr. Jeff Arrington because I personally know women who've had surgery from him when he was in Utah. So I contacted their office by googling The Center for Endometriosis Care in Atlanta GA. Then I called the number like the homepage said to do..... lol. It was that simple! Kind of... after contacting them they sent me a lengthy email with lots of instructions about obtaining my medical records. I did that and mailed them in. 2-3 weeks later, Dr. Arrington emailed me and we talked about my symptoms. He told me that I probably have endometriosis based on my symptoms, and recommended I fly out to Atlanta for the surgery. Endo can only be diagnosed with a laproscopy, so instead of getting that done in Utah by a doctor that can only diagnose and not treat the disease, I decided to just do all of that in Georgia.
The Center for Endometriosis Care (CEC) contacted our insurance to verify everything would be covered. Because we have a share-plan for our health insurance, we had to play the middle man at times, but it wasn't a big deal. CEC sent me a list of CPT codes. I contact the pre-notification department for our share-plan insurance and gave them the codes. 2-3 days later the insurance called back saying everything is covered and approved. :)
The next day I called back the CEC scheduling department and booked my surgery. The soonest available days were either my brother's birthday or mine. So I made the wisest choice and booked it for my brother's birthday. ;)
Within the hour of scheduling the surgery I started searching for flights. I found Delta to be the cheapest... surprising, I know! I'm just glad it wasn't frontier or some other crappy airline that offers no tray, beverage, or baggage. Because we all know Adam would have selected those flights! lol.
I was so frustrated trying to book flights because I didn't know when I'd be returning. During my surgery, I may need a bowel resection which could make me stay in the hospital 3-5 days longer...
I'm some-what old school. I appreciate technology and being able to visually see information, but I do so much better when I can speak to someone on the phone about it. I would almost always choose to do something over the phone rather than online... which is strange coming from a millennial. I'm so glad I called because they were so helpful! They helped me book the flight I was looking at gave me a "medical rate." This allows our flights to be modified or cancelled with no fees. I also bought a return ticket with this rate for my mom because she might have to fly out if I stay longer. Adam will need to go home for work and I can't discharge from the hospital or fly home alone. So luckily, my mom is a flight attendant and can fly out here to help me.
Phew, we're all covered there! Unfortunately, I didn't do that with the hotel. Today the CEC staff told me that most hotels will do the same. Our ghetto hotel looked nicer online and can't be cancelled. :/ Oh well, I'm only here to poop tonight and then we'll be at the hospital tomorrow night and can book another hotel if we need to stay longer. Here's a helpful tip: Look for hotels near the hospital that offer free shuttles. It will save you tons of money in car rental or uber fees.
Anyways, our flight left Wednesday night at 5:13 pm. Everything worked out flawlessly. I was able to help the girls pack their suitcases for 4 nights at Nana's house, pack Eli's many things, and our own carry on. I had to squeeze everything of mine and Adam's into one tiny bag because it would be too hard juggling multiple bags since I'll be in a wheelchair for our return flight. We couldn't risk checking a bag either because everything I'm bringing is to help me recover after surgery.
Ladies who've had the surgery recommended these items:
-Gas x
-Rice bag heating pad thing that can be microwaved. The weight of it helps the trapped gas that gets stuck in your shoulders post-op.
-Heating pad.
-Peppermint Tea
I would add a couple more things to the list:
-Depends and light pads
-Diaper rash cream or hemorrhoid cream
-Eye Mask
-Ear Plugs
-Preggy Pops or some anti-nausea medicine you can suck on.
So the day before flying out, everything was perfect. I was able to do special time with both girls. Norah wanted to make eggs and then she wanted me to tickle her... and we played hide-and-seek. I had more time with her because Hal was at school and Eli was napping. Then I built a lego castle with Haleigh. Eli fell asleep at 1 and woke at 1:45 just as we were loading up the car and ready to leave for Nana's. We had a slight meltdown about envelopes that Haleigh NEEDED to put her drawing for Nana's birthday present in. (Yes it's her birthday this weekend too and she's graciously watching out kids.... but that's a grandma's dream anyway... isn't it?!) And I gave her a used one that had a sticker on it....which was "unacceptable." So after 20 minutes of a screaming meltdown and trying to calm the freaked out baby... we were on our way! Half way there, we realized we forgot the pack and play.... and Adam threw away the garbage bag full of brand -new barbies still in the boxes (that Nana had purchased from us a long time ago but we keep forgetting to give her... long story...) and all of Eli's brand new diapers.... because it "looked like trash." So a panicked text went out to neighbors asking them to NOT take our trash cans to the curb.... we threw away "valuables" that we will retrieve when we return. haha. Insert crossing fingers emoji.
After dropping off the kids, Adam's dad (Pa, as we call him) hopped in our car and we drove to the airport. It was then... in the silence of not being distracted by helping kids... that my raw emotions flowed down my cheeks in the form of tears. Thinking to myself about the extensive surgery and recovery.... and how will I manage when I get home and need to recover still but have tiny humans to care for? But I was assured by Pa that I was doing the right thing. So many people have been praying for us. He hugged us both and drove our car back to his house.
The plane ride was great. We had two seats together, nobody gross or smelly next to us, except Adam who desperately needed a gas-x. There wasn't really anyone else to blame the smell on. lol. I was super disappointed because my tv wasn't working... everyone else around us had working tv's, but not us. :( Now I was stuck with reading... The flight attendant reset our tv's and they still didn't work. haha... You all know that I made Adam talk to the flight attendant since I was too embarrassed. I would have bucked up and read except our lights didn't work either and it was dark on the plane. Adam was so determined that he used his phone flashlight... and I was just annoyed. After the drink service the flight attendant told us there were two seats together with working tv's up a few rows. So we moved. Now I'm just dying for the flight home to finish "Crazy Rich Asians" because I only got half way through.
We took Lyft from the airport to our hotel. It could not have been more divinely orchestrated. Our Lyft driver had a similar surgery 10 years ago and has been pain-free ever since. She must have sensed my nerves because she kept telling me "You're going to do great. You're going to walk out of there feeling better than ever before. You have a new life waiting for you this weekend. Have Faith in Him, he knows what he's doing."
I hardly slept at all. I was midnight by the time we got to our room. As we're walking to our room I told Adam, "Ew, it smells like skunk mixed with cleaning chemicals." "That's marijuana honey." "Oh.... ok." So due to fear of bed bugs, and gross skunk smell I didn't sleep very well.
We woke up super early for my pre-op appointment. We went to Bagel Bro's for a light breakfast. I had a yummy egg and sausage bagel thing and fruit.
Dr. Arrington and his staff were so kind. I had a physical exam and ultrasound. He felt a mass near my uterine / bowel wall but after the ultra sound he feels like it was just the way my ovary was sitting. He doesn't feel like I'll need a bowel resection. Woo hoo! He predicts that I'll have endo in my diaphragm but doesn't really know until operation. He said the operation will take about 2 hours and he'll remove all of the endo from my organs. The only time he may not be able to remove everything is if there's endo along the artery in the diaphragm. In that case it would take surgery from cardiologist.
After the appointment we went to publix (across the street) and stocked up on gatorade, chicken broth, and gummy bears. Adam also got pre-made salads and sandwiches for his meals. We facetimed the girls and they were so jealous that the only thing I get to eat today is gummy bears and gatorade. They wish they were me.
I was given a bottle of miralax for my bowel cleanse. She told me I can start a few hours earlier so that I can be "done" before bed. I felt like I needed to go, but nothing. Then it hit me. This is why I recommend bringing depends. lol. Sometimes you don't know if it's a toot or poop. haha. I pretty much sat in the bathroom for 2-3 hours during my "cleanse." I'm glad I started early so that by bedtime I could sleep without interruption.
Tomorrow morning I have to wake up at 4:30 and drink tons of water, do some more bowel cleanse prep, and then head to the hospital at 6:30 AM. Now it's 7:30 PM and I'm ready to pass out, which is good because the rest will help my body recover.
At my appointment, I asked about chronic fatigue and endometriosis going hand-in-hand. He said I will still be chronically fatigued for a couple months. It will take my body awhile to heal, but after that I will feel a second wind at life. I just hope that happens in time for DisneyWorld in June. ;)
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