Eeeek!
Not long now. I am nervous, mostly because I have no idea what to expect and how this will affect my way of life and my independence. I don't like relying on other people for things but guess I will have to get used to it for awhile until I am better and able to do things on my own again. I am not scared of the pain or having a scar or the hospital really, I just know how frustrated I would be not being able to do everyday things like shower/cook/clean/get dressed/drive and the main one: walk. But I am already looking forward to the day I can lose the crutches and walk normally again without pain. It will all be worth it I am sure. It better be!
Well now, I am getting organised and have a list of things I need to get done before 10th Feb. This includes things like: clean the house, do the laundry, set up the spare room for mum, dentist appointment (which I have been putting off for forever), hair cut/trim, buy comfy loose clothing for recovery, buy comfy flat enclosed shoes (80% of my shoe collection is heels which I will reluctantly be putting aside for a while), organise mobility equipment with the hospital here for when I return home from Sydney hospital, and stuff like that.
One thing that has annoyed me is that I had this op locked in for about 6 months when I went and saw my surgeon in August last year. No paperwork was sent to me until Tuesday last week! This meant I had no idea how much it would cost me or any of those details and I did try to call the office to enquire but was brushed off by the receptionist several times with “It’s all in the paperwork which I will be sending out soon”. Well I got a shock last week when I finally received this and found out it would cost me over 4.5k for the gap, being the gap between the surgeons fees and what my health insurance will cover. And on top of that a couple grand for the anaesthetist. I did not expect this at all. The reason I took out private health cover was to avoid this massive surgery bill. But having said that, I did decide to go with what I thought was the best surgeon to perform the PAO and I did have the choice to book in with one here closer to home who charged less or participated in gap cover.
I really should have tried harder to save for this, but I am sooo bad at saving! At least if I was informed earlier about the cost I would have had better opportunity to save for it!
I also organised my leave at work and will have 7 weeks off. This sounds like heaps but I’d like to be fine by the time I have to go back and sit at a desk for hours on end. Monday 4 April is my back-to-work date at this stage.
Will post again soon I am sure!
