We were on the road to the Odessa area at 7. I was going to wear shorts, but then I decided not to since we could crank the AC up in the car, but not ask the gastro place to turn their AC down as medical places tend to be chilly.

I saw the gastro doc’s nurse and all they did was give me referrals for an endoscopy and a surgeon. I don’t understand why Galileo didn’t take care of this. It was nice to get out, but I don’t understand why I needed an appointment to do this.

When I first heard the word “endoscopy,” I almost walked out of there and said, fuck it, I’ll just live with a damn gallbladder. There’s no way in hell anyone’s shoving a camera down my throat. Luckily, however, it turns out that they knock you out for that. You’re only out for 10 minutes so it’s a quick procedure. It’s just that now I’m told that surgeons want this done so they can be sure there’s nothing else going on. Again, Galileo did the ultrasound, and they did the scan, so why didn’t they do this too?

So I called and set up an appointment for the endoscopy, but it won’t be until the 22nd. Along with the fact that I can’t be available every day, the doctor who does this procedure only does it on Wednesdays. If I didn’t have sleep issues, I could have gotten it over with on the 8th. So the length of time this whole thing is going to take is going to be longer for me than for most people.

The most frustrating thing is that I have to return to where we went today for a follow-up. I don’t understand why they can’t text, email or call me with the results but they said they don’t do that, which is utterly ridiculous. Tom is going to call the insurance to not only make sure the endoscopy is covered but also to see if the meeting with the surgeon can also count as a follow-up since they’re going to forward the info to the surgeon. If not, I’ll have 4 appointments that could have been 2 appointments. I can just imagine how many post-op appointments I’ll have, assuming they really do remove the gallbladder, and it’s looking likely that they will. A gallbladder functioning at 17% is “very low” according to the nurse. If the endoscopy turns up anything else we don’t know about I’ll scream but I don’t think it will. Then again, that's what I thought about the HIDA scan so fingers crossed! Not sure if it’ll be removed with a robot or laparoscopically, but it seems that laparoscopically is the norm. It’s more economical. I’ll have 5 incisions counting my belly button.

They gave me a sheet of dos and don’ts for before the endoscopy. No NSAIDs like ibuprofen a week prior to the procedure. If I need a pain reliever, it has to be Tylenol. Only a few medications can be taken and mine is on the list. They say to only take a sip of water. I have to stop eating after 7:00 PM, and then no drinking after midnight. I’m going to be hungry and thirsty as fuck! Lastly, they say to wear comfortable clothing because I’m going to be changing into a gown. I’ll just wear a sundress I can slip on and off quickly.

I have much more to write about, but I think I’ll just start with this for now as it’s getting a little late in my day.