Day of surgery--much easier this time

This time around the day of surgery will be much easier. We will arrive at the hospital mid morning for surgery prep.  I'll have to have the customary iv antibiotics and sign plenty of forms.  Just after noon I should be headed into surgery.  The procedure itself should take about a half hour.  The plan is to do everything laparoscopically with Dr. P.J. using the da Vinci robot for the surgery. My abdomen will be inflated with carbon dioxide gas so that they have room to work.  The robotic instruments will be inserted into 4-5 different small incisions.  My fallopian tubes along with the blood supply to them will be removed on both sides.  My ovaries will remain.  I will have small internal stitches.  He will do a visual check of my ovaries.  The removed tubes will be sent to pathology to make sure they were healthy.  The instruments will be removed and my abdomen will be allowed to deflate and the incisions will be closed up with a few more stitches.  I will then go into a recovery room where the anesthesia will wear off.  By dinner time we will be ready to head home.  I will not be able to drive for a week and I will have lifting restrictions for four weeks.

However, there are always some what ifs.  First, because I have had 2 c-sections, there is a small chance that I will have too much scar tissue to do this laparoscopically.  That would change the length of the surgery and recovery time after considerably.  Second, there is the chance that Dr. P.J. will see something while in surgery that looks suspicious.  In that case, he will remove whatever it is right away.

And my what if, that is probably the most important right now, is that I have not been cleared for surgery yet.  I thought everything was ready (surgeon, insurance, pre-op labs, work schedule, family schedule) but my pre-op EKG came back abnormal. My heart rate was abnormally low according to the nurse.  The anesthesiologist doesn't feel comfortable proceeding without clearance from a cardiologist first.  I am not at all worried about having heart issues.  I know that I don't.  I just have a low heart rate.  It's always been that way.  I wanted to make some easy money donating plasma in college and I was turned away because of it. I remember during my c-sections, they asked me "Are you all right" because my pulse was so slow.  I remember Dr. Colette coming in one morning after my mastectomy saying "31? What is with that?" So now I am praying that the cardiologists report will be approved by the anesthesiologist so that things can go as planned. I'm ready!