Betsy's Guestbook

Betsy Crawford  No, I haven't. Got the CT scan they wanted last Wednesday and I haven't heard anything else from them. Started to call the scheduler to see if there was anything else I need to do and may just go ahead and do that tomorrow. I don't have a surgery date yet either. That would help me a lot if I just knew when so I could start planning things! Did anything similar happen to you?

Betsy Crawford  Kathy, I did have a cardiac catherization on Jan. 3rd. Do you think that it could take the place of the CTA?

Kathy Blank  Betsy- your CT scan is probably the same as the CTA that I called it- I got to skip the cardiac catheterization probably because the CTA gave him enough info for my specific case. Dr Smith is SO busy but he is so skilled I didn't mind waiting for him. What I did was keep calling Diana and once I knew I was approved for the robotic minimally invasive I got on his surgical calendar with Diana. I had a list of questions after the CAT scan and he was able to call me about one week prior to surgery to answer my questions and I was able to be confident in my procedure prior to surgery. I could have asked these in person but the next appt was the day before my surgery was scheduled and I politely asked Diana if he could call me instead of waiting until the day before. Do you know the exact procedure he is recommending yet? If you would like to talk over the phone I can give you my email and we can coordinate a phone call! Kblank1014@yahoo.com is my email.

Betsy Crawford  Thank you Keith! It really is - a bit overwhelming at first, the acceptance of what is to come, the decisions and preparations that need to be made. I
have two older horses that need a lot of care daily and up until last month I was doing all of it including stall cleaning, etc. Now when I go to visit they look at me with a "well, you decided to come see us, did you?" look on their faces. But I will get back to that soon enough.
Yes , I too understand the overthinking and obsessive research on all the various aspects, it's really a hard to break habit and I'm not ready to yet. But you just can't help wanting to know as much as you can. Reading other people's stories helps me realize how many have already had this surgery and that we can and will make it too!

Kathy Blank  You are smart not to over do it! I had to back off my exercise the last few weeks because I was SO fatigued! Listen to your body!