Jumping through hoops

 I titled this post "Jumping through hoops" because for 9 weeks, that's how I felt. I knew from watching the orientation video for my preferred surgeon at Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, that I was in for a few appointments to get cleared for surgery. What I was not prepared for was the difficulty in getting these procedures scheduled in a timely matter.  Due to Covid, many people had put off their medical visits, and now are feeling safe to make those visits happen. As a result, scheduling appointments was a nightmare. 

This is my pre-surgery checklist:

• Clearance from primary care doctor
• Clearance from cardiologist
• Clearance from pulmonologist (sleep apnea)
• Barium swallow test
• Endoscopy
• Colonoscopy
• Psychiatric evaluation
• Two registered dietician visits (which insurance requires but will not pay for, go figure)
• Initial visit with surgeon

I started this process in late March and finally completed the list May 10. I was able to find a psycological appointment online. The earliest appointment was 6 weeks out, but I booked it due to every other doctor being fully booked for months.  My visit with my primary care, cardiologist and the colonoscopy/endoscopy were booked, rescheduled, rebooked, rescheluded and finally completed. During this process I was so upset with the difficulty of just getting appointments confirmed, I seriously contemplated just stopping the whole process.  It was frustrating, especially since I am a teacher, and had to arrange substitute coverage for each step. Thank God I have a supportive principal who kept telling me not to worry about work, despite it being quarter 4, despite standardized testing, end of the year events, grade recovery, and over all extremely busy. 

Finally all boxes were checked off and my surgeon's office began to put the proposal together for insurance approval.  Let me also mention here, if you have not met your deductible be prepared, each step came with a significant co-pay. The good news is that now I have met my deductible, so the pain for paying for my part of the surgery will be lessened quite a lot. 

As an added bonus, each procedure was reassuring when completed, because they all came out with positive results. Now we wait for insurance approval and surgery scheduling. 

Next: How did I get here?