Lots of calls made...

Well, today I've been busy since I woke up around 10 a.m.... busy by making lots of calls.

Won't bore you with all I had to call on... I just wanted to post this here, instead of just on Facebook, so all you who are here but not connected with me on FB can read what's the latest. (Also, because this is what my dad reads, because I can't seem to convince him to get a Facebook account.)

Speaking of... I've been enjoying that because I can just post little "status" updates there. Instead of a blog... & since I've really not been feeling like blogging, it's been great to have... & that way I don't bother you all with the mundane things in my life. LOL

(Also, I can play games there like Family Feud, Bejeweled, Collapse, & several others.) (See, I'm hoping that mentioning Family Feud will get my dad to ask me to set him up an account... *grins & winks*)

Oh, don't worry, my dad gets his "updates" from me at least once a week when I call him on the weekends. So, he's not missing anything when I am only posting on FB. However, it still would be great to have him there too!

I just read a story the other day that the age of the average FB user has increased significantly. It's not just for college kids anymore. Case in point... my mom & many of her sisters are there.

Sure is a great tool when you have a large family (lots of Aunts, Uncles, & Cousins), like we do, to update the whole family about something. (Such as when my mom was in the hospital at the beginning of this month.) Plus, I have many church friends I'm connected with... and I've amassed a great deal of other "Chiarians"... which helped lead me to a fabulous neurosurgeon...

& With that it leads me away from the rambling now & on with the "news"...

One of the calls I had was with my neurosurgeon's nurse to talk about my upcoming surgery & if I can get the pre-op testing done here... So, IF there is any problems they can treat it now, so that my surgery does NOT have to be postponed again!

She said I can have the urine culture taken care of here locally... but the blood tests & etc need to be done up there. So, she will relay to scheduling that I want to be scheduled a week before, instead of the day before!!!

Then I asked, if they don't call me by... August 5th, can I call on the 6th? She said yes & gave me the number. Hopefully I won't need to do that.

Also, I called one of their "quality" type of departments to complain how the urine test was not really sterile... & not to be too graphic... let me say it this way... I was given a Styrofoam cup... & had to poor it into a tube. NEITHER of which was wrapped separately to ensure a "sterile" environment.

I spoke to an "ombudsman" & she said she will pass the information onto the "quality department" & they will review it & put new policies into place... IF they feel it's needed! When I was talking to her, I said it surprised me that particular testing was a bit lacking, because I had 2 different nurses take my blood... was told it was for "security" purposes.

One would think if they have that in place... then why was the other test so... well, under "valued"? (Not sure if that's the word I wanted... but I think you know what I mean.)

So, anyway... I also wanted to let you all know that I told Dr. Di's (my neurosurgeon) office, since there has not been any cancellations as of yet... that I just want to stick with August 20th (unless something happens & we need to make it an emergency... aka, I have a bad seizure attack or something along that line. Please pray (or think good thoughts) that this does NOT happen!)

Yep, that means we're in the 1 month count down again!!! Please also pray it's NOT postponed again!!

When it gets closer to surgery date... I will give you a few other things I'd like you to pray (or whatever you prefer) about. (aka: No need to do a larger incision... (I'll explain about that when needed.))

Ok... sorry to taken so much time... but I wanted to be sure you were up to date (YOU TOO DAD!) on what's going on.

OHHHHH .... If you have not been reading my blogs & don't realize what I'm talking about... Here's a very quick synopsis...

I have Chiari Malformation. (Basically my brain is too big for my head) & on Aug 20th they're going to do what is called a Posterior Fossa Decompression (aka: "Decompression") Surgery. (It's just to remove a little bit of the skull bone at the base & possibly a little bit of Cervical 1 (C1) (neck) bone. This is to relieve the pressure caused by the brain blocking the Cerebral Spinal Fluid (& blood) from flowing properly. (That's the easiest way to explain it.)

If you'd like more information, there are a lot of great sites out there... & I'd be happy to post them... just ask for it in a comment below. (If you're from Facebook & reading this... just leave a comment under the link that brought you to this blog... unless you have a Multiply account, then you can leave it below.) :o)

One in particular is: Conquer Chiari.org.

Thanks for your time & I hope you're surviving this heat. (Or cold... depending where you live!) :) For those in the heat... please remember KEEP HYDRATED!!!