Getting Closer

Three weeks away now.  Switching away from Work Mode and into Op Mode.

Am I nervous?  Not so much anymore.  Not since I found I could stay in a Rehab place after the Hospital stay, at no extra cost.  Now my private health insurance IS working for me.

I was worried about not being assertive enough to stay in Hospital for the length of time I would need.  They are keen to get people out of beds as soon as possible for the next people.  And while my friend and I entertained swapping places so I could be on the ground floor with her cat Tiger, and she and her gentlemanly dog Claude, would be up the 36 steps in my flat with my cat Mishka - as the time drew near I began having anxieties about how this would actually work out.

It would be too squashy and there wouldnt be room for my sister and daughter to stay.  And what would I be asking of them anyway?  How would it be for my daughter to help with her Mum in this condition?

So instead the Rehab Hospital will be 3 meals a day, someone to make the bed,  physio including hydro therapy twice a day, access to a Physio, OT and Social Worker.  People who have experience with orthopaedic recovery.  When I can climb the stairs there, I will be ready to go home.  This is a great comfort to me.  Visiting hours are 3pm - 8pm and I'm already excited about entertaining visitors.  They have 5 star food and extra food can be purchased for guests at a modest price.

Medical Prep recently has been: blood tests, urine test, chest x-ray, ECG - all to take to the Pre-Admission appointment next Monday 15 July.  That will take about 4 hours.  Lots of forms I've half filled out, I will need to take.  Got it all into a display folder.

Financial Prep has been getting a 2 way claim form sent off to Medicare.  Medicare sends to my Health fund and when I have both cheques from them, I combine it with the difference and send it off to my surgeon.  It'll be about $2800 out of pocket, with another $740 for the Anaethesist.  The Assistant Surgeon, Prosthesis and Hospital stay are all covered by my Health Insurance.

Physical Prep has been getting a set of grabbers.  Buying some tracky daks (made in Bangladesh God Help the Workers), some easy to slip on sheepskin shoes.

Emotional Prep has been ordering 2 books I'd love to read in recovery - one about Hubert Wilkin, Antarctic Explorer and the other about the 1967 bushfires at Fern Tree where I grew up.  A jigsaw puzzle of Renaissance Florence that my daughter gave me.  And maybe embroidering some table cloths.

Am I being overly optimistic?  Well I dont know.  But it doesnt hurt.

I know I'm going to be out of it with an anaesthetic before the blood spurting and carpentry begins.  I know if they do the lateral, the muscle will take a long time to recover.  But I also know that most people are very satisfied with their hip ops and re-discovering movements that have been denied to them so long while the arthritis set in over many years.