Sideshow Drama!

As if enough has not already happened, the very date set for our op may be under threat! Firstly, there is a possibility that I may need a hernia op before they can do the transplant. I have had an intermittent swelling in my groin (um, no...more to the side...) which I initially thought was a swollen gland. However, I met with the surgeon on Friday and he seemed to think it may be a hernia - brought on by dialysis pressure and heavy coughing from a sore throat I had three weeks ago. While there exists a slim possibility that they could operate on the hernia at the same time as the transplant, it is not something the like to do and may decide not to. This could mean that I will be having a hernia repair op soon and a transplant next year only! It's not that hernias themselves are dangerous, but if they become complicated and infected it would bode unwell for me while recovering from surgery with a compromised immune system. Anyway, he sent me off for an ultra-sound scan, and lo and behold, they could find nothing wrong! I now await the outcome of these findings...

The second barrier, which admittedly I have come a long way to removing, is the matter of who is paying for the transplant?! For ten years I have been a State patient. All visits, medicines, procedures and consults have been covered by only a nominal daily fee - until now. Yup, two weeks before the scheduled transplant, Admin decide to install new systems and update all their patients' data. The result is that I am upgraded to "private" category and am now liable for double the daily fee, paying for meds and extra procedures and basically being forced to rely on medical aid. The problem of course is that because I have always been looked after well by the State, I have a somewhat insufficient medical aid now that I need it! Anyway, cutting a long story short - it seems Momentum will cover the op in full, and Lee will be covered by the State in full. So, while this whole regrading will certainly change the way I am treated going forward, I think we are still ok for transplant!

Tomorrow I go in again for my VCU...yeehaa! Hopefully while there I will get some more answers on the 'missing hernia' prognosis. It kinda sucks for us all, and not least of all Leanne, that only one week from major surgery, we don't even know if its on yet!