3 Days to go

Yesterday I had my pre-op blood-work drawn thanks to a friend who was able to take time out of his day to be my chauffeur.

When I got home, I thought it would be a good idea to call the Doctor's office and request that any prescriptions I'll be receiving for the trial, antibiotics, painkillers, etc. might be called in to the pharmacy in advance so I can have them ready to go as opposed to adding another errand that day. The Doctor was out of the office yesterday, so his medical assistant said she would get back to me.

Later in the day, when my phone rang and I saw it was the Doctor's office, I assumed it would be regarding my earlier call. But, it wasn't. She told me there was a scheduling issue with the anesthesia nurses, and they would have to reschedule my...(At this point full panic started to set in and my heart began to sink)...procedure "time". WHEW, not the date. And it turns out, it is now in the morning instead of the afternoon. I'm completely OK with that. It also means less hours I have to go awake without eating beforehand. I sent a quick text to confirm the time change with my St. Jude rep and all was good there. She let me know she'd be arriving early to talk to me about a few things before the procedure.

As I was typing this, the MA called and let me know the Doctor would prefer to give me the prescriptions the day of the procedure. - Oh well, not that big of a deal, I was really just trying to avoid that stop on the way home. My Mom and sister are driving me that day, and I had hoped to make it as streamline as possible.

So, the next three days will be spent spending some quality pre-cuperating time with those close to me and some last minute grocery shopping.

Still excited/nervous/excited/nervous/excited.

On the headache front- The past month has been worse than usual. More couch days per week than I've had in a while (With a menstrual migraine tossed into the mix for added fun). There are a few things I can attribute this to...but I've also noticed it is somewhat of a pre-stim trend. I think the head gnomes know what's coming and they're not happy about it. Laughter, physical activity, and high emotion can exacerbate my headache, so I'm sure one factor here is the stress, anxiety, hope, and roller-coaster of other feelings that go along with the possibility of effective treatment. Either way, it is making the time crawl... Friday can't arrive soon enough for me.

I've joined and have been following posts in the Occipital Nerve Stimulation group on Facebook. Great group of like-situation folks for Q&A, sharing, and general support. It is bittersweet as well, with the common thread of insurance denials, appeals, and hope of eventual approvals and pain, recovery, and relief. But, nevertheless, another great resource for which I'm grateful.