24 days and counting

so my surgery is set for the 25th of October, and i'm still going through the pre-op tests. this week i had my pullmonary function test and arterial blood gas and my exercise echocardiogram - stress test. Did the PFT and ABG at Evanston. Those were a piece of cake. Did the stress test at Northwestern. NOT a piece of cake. This is the second time i've gone for this test. The first time, they couldn't see my heart well enough on the sonogram, said i needed "contrast", basically a dye they put into you via IV. The cardiologist poked me about 17 times and couldn't find a vein. so we rescheduled for when a nurse would be on duty. That time was thursday. i don't know that this nurse made much difference. I've got a bruise the size of a flattened grapefruit on the inside of my right forearm where she put the IV. it hurt when she put it in, hurt while it was in, and hurt when she pulled it out. and to make matters worse, i could only sustain my target heart rate for 3 minutes on the treadmill instead of the needed 7 minutes. So my PCP is talking to caridologists about which chemical stress test to do. she won't clear me for surgery without this test. i am, of course, frightened that i won't pass the stress test and therefore won't be able to have surgery. I still have my pscyh eval and my UGD to get through as well, but heart function frightens me more even though i've never had chest pain or a heart attack. this testing/waiting stuff sucks big time.

Good luck on all of your testing. I hope everything comes out well. I had my surgery done on Aug. 9th 2005 and now my husband is scheduled to have his done on Oct 25 2005. My thoughts and prayers are with you.