Yesterday was the pre-op check with my doctor and my husband. Essentially, that means I was poked, prodded, and given an inordinate amount of information, including a list of all the horrible things that can go wrong. It also means I provided the hospital with my entire life's medical history (do you know when your last tetanus shot was, because I certainly do not) and 4 vials of blood.
The practice-your-breathing device.
I was also given homework: I have to practice breathing using something called a spirometer. Everything I've looked up regarding this instrument says it's used to measure breaths in and out, but I'm only supposed to work on the breathing in part. It's because I'll be laying down without movement for so long and this is used to make sure I'm not getting pneumonia or something like that. As I breathe in through the tube, the little blue doohickey on the right moves up, and not only am I supposed to keep it between the two arrows, I'm supposed to keep it STEADY between the two arrows (no up and down). The longer I keep it steady, the higher the blue doohickey on the left moves up. The marker shows the highest point I reached while trying it out during the pre-op check with the nurse, although I can assure you the doohickey on the right was moving all over the place. I have to practice using this all week (I think it's also supposed to build up my lung capacity), and since I can't really do it properly now, it's added one more thing for me to be anxious about (why can't I take steady, deep breaths?). Post-surgery, I'm supposed to continue using it so nurses can make sure I'm breathing as I should, so hopefully I'll get better at it (learn to breathe better?).
Now I have five days to wrap up as much work as possible, get everything in order, and prepare to be out of commission for the two weeks post-surgery (and master that breathing device). I've been told I'll have to (gingerly) get up and walk around the house a little bit since I need to move to heal properly, but mostly I'll be in bed those first two weeks, and then can go back to sitting at a computer after week two. Here's hoping our wi-fi stays strong enough for netflix and hulu.