T-14 hours or so

Another whirlwind day. Not surprising since everything happened so fast. I'm still feeling good about everything, although the anti-seizure medication is annoying as hell. It makes me very tired and kinda hazy dazy mentally. Jordan, my oldest stepson has been taking this stuff and stuff like it for 4 years now. I have a new admiration for his ability to remain pleasant; I'm not sure I could do it. Not to complain, but I do hope I don't have to take it for long.

We drove to La Crosse this morning for the pre-op physical. That was rather uneventful. The internist who conducted it called this afternoon and gave us the all clear. I'm actually in superb health - except for, oops, almost forgot - the brain tumor.

On our way in to the internist's office, we dropped off my prescription for Keppra at the pharmacy. (I got through last night and this morning borrowing from Jordan's stash he had lying around. :)) After we were done with all our business at the clinic, we stopped to pick it up. The counter person grabbed the bag and said it was something like $280. I was giving her my health debit card as she read off the instructions. Lori and I realized that the prescription had been written yesterday before the neurologist knew that I was going to be having surgery on Friday. The instructions were to double the dosage after a week. We knew this wasn't right since I was going to be having surgery tomorrow.

So the pharmacist offered to lower the number the pills so we wouldn't have to pay so much. She fiddled at the cash register for a couple minutes and said "This is strange. When I put in 60 pills instead of 90, it comes back that your co-pay is zero." (instead of $280) Of course we're all like "Sounds good to me! We'll take it!!" Then I realized what had happened. During the hour and a half or so between the first time they rang up the prescription and the second time, my deductible had been exceeded by the clinic putting through charges for services from yesterday. So here's a tip: If you have a high deductible and want to avoid paying money out of pocket for prescriptions, wait until the provider has put through the medical charges before you fill your prescription.

That was a mighty long anecdote with not much payoff. Oh well, I'm leaving it in.

Another part of the business at the clinic was meeting with hospital staff to talk about health power of attorney. That's where I designate who I want to have authority to make medical decisions on my behalf if I'm not able to. Lori did one for herself too. It's the kind of thing you know you should do but it's never convenient and not exactly something one wants to think about. But that's out of the way now.

I told Lori that if it ever happens and there's any significant chance that I can come back and really BE with her, then do whatever it takes. If it's fairly certain that all she'd have of me is a bag of bones, then let me go. I'd do the same for her. Of course in these situations there are often gray areas, but I'm confident we understand and trust each other to use our best judgment. They also wanted me to add a 2nd and 3rd person just in case. I put my brother Kevin as #2, and my dad as #3. I've had brief conversations with both of them today and we're all good. More about Kevin and Dave (my dad) in a bit.

We were only at the hospital/clinic for 2 hours or so today, thank the gods. We headed home and made it back in time to get the last of the cafeteria lunch at work. Saw a lot of co-workers and received much love and many good wishes. Yesterday, one of my co-workers sent out an all-staff email alerting folks to what's going on. The emails have poured in. The amount of love and good wishes has been overwhelming - in the best of ways. I'm taking the liberty of quoting here from a couple of my favorites:

Here's my favorite:

Fuckin A - you're definitely in my thoughts and prayers, such as they are…I'll whisper your name to the trees I hug and the various gods I like to keep around.

This is a close second:

I have only the most positive feelings about your surgery, I expect you to have the same.

I won't settle for anything less.

But to everyone who has sent wishes, thoughts and prayers - every single one of you, I really can't express how grateful I am. I believe all this incredibly positive energy has made and will make all the difference in the world. I know how Lou Gehrig felt when he said "I consider myself-elf-elf-elf... the luckiest man-an-an... on the face of the earth-earth-earth-earth." OK, my situation is different than the Iron Man's was when he made the speech, but still... I think I have an idea of the gratitude he felt.

The best news of the day, except for the doctor telling me it's all in my head (hee hee), is that my brother AND my dad are going to be here tomorrow morning. They're actually preparing to board a flight from Portland to Minneapolis as we speak, so to speak. This is almost too much for me... in a good way. Without going into a lengthy (though fascinating!) family history, my dad and brother are the core of my family. It was just the three of us from the time I have any memories until I was 6 y/o. I wasn't allowing myself to hope that even one of them could come because of time constraints and the exorbitant cost of flying at the last minute. I knew my brother was trying, but I really didn't think it was going to happen. Now they're both going to be here in the morning well before I go under. If I could eat anything we'd go to breakfast but we'll settle for a bit of time to catch up.

Almost forgot to mention - hair was shorn last night.

Before - After

I may make a brief post in the morning before we leave, but other than that, this is it for a couple days or so. I'll have my laptop at the hospital but have no idea if I'll be in any shape to use it or if I'll have access to the inner tubes.

Friday at 11:30a CDT, there are plans for a lusty cheer of "Go TEAM!". If you want to be a team member, feel free to let 'er rip.

Good night and good luck.