Westward Bound

Today we are going for our second set of pre surgery appts at Dartmouth Hitchcock. The chilly,rainy weather has been replaced by a lovely day,which will be nice for traveling. I do admit that I wish Rick could drive sometimes so I could relax and enjoy the scenery along the way. I love to look at old homes,the mountains,etc.,but it is rather difficult do when you have to keep your eyes on the road.

We are leaving a bit early today. We plan on stopping somewhere for lunch first,since our first appt. is at 1:40. We have eaten in the food court,but they have mostly sandwiches,and other things that Rick can't eat because of his gluten allergy. They do offer salads,but Rick is not a huge salad eater and rarely feels like having one. At least at a restaurant he could order chicken or a steak or something of the like. After that,we are going to book a room in a hotel for the night before the surgery. Rick needs to be there for 5:30 AM,and neither one of us really feel like getting up in the middle of the night to drive 2 hours and 20 minutes. The local hotels offer discounts for patients who are having surgeries done,so we will take advantage of that opportunity.

We also need to have his prescription for Coumadin filled. He has to take the blood thinner right before the surgery and four weeks after to prevent any blood clots from forming in his legs. It's standard procedure.

Our first appt is Pre Admission Testing,whatever that involves. Our second appt is with Rick's head surgeon,Dr.Bernini. Rick has written down questions that he has,which was very smart of him. We still haven't heard the results of the stress test he had a couple weeks ago-we assume that no news is good news. We will certainly find out for sure from Dr.Bernini.

If today's visit to Dartmouth is anything like the last couple of visits,it should be a very pleasant day.