Pre-Op Day at Madison

Tuesday, January 27, 2009: What a long day! It was our big pre-op day today at UW-Madison. We started in the ENT clinic for pre and post-op instructions. We were then taken to another office to fill out a bunch of paperwork on Ron's previous history. Then down to the lab for blood work, then to Admissions to pre-register for next Tuesday. We then met with the Surgeon and his team. He went over the surgical plan again and asked if we had questions. He had mentioned that the last PET scan showed some active nodes in the right neck, so he will be taking those. I asked about his left neck, since the Radiation Oncologist we saw up there a couple of weeks ago had felt something concerning in his left neck also. The Surgeon wasn't aware of that, so he sent us to get a CT scan done. All in all, we were there from 8:30 a.m. to just after 3 p.m. We also got a copy of the letter that the Dr. wrote for the insurance company so they could accept the entire claim as in-network. We are receiving conflicting reports as to whether the insurance company has received the letter, so I am going to personally fax it to them myself tomorrow. We are also giving a copy of the letter to Ron's insurance agent, so he can also make sure the company gets it. I tell you, it is always something. There is so much to try to keep track of. I'm so thankful that we are at UW now, since we have a liason person to help me with all of these problems that pop up. Our next appointment is on Thursday, where we will meet with Ron's Medical Oncologist. We would like to discuss further Chemo treatment. If Ron is willing to go through this horrible surgery, I want them to throw the "big guns" at him afterwards, so we will know we tried everything. More updates after that, and don't forget to come Saturday night to wish him well.
By the way, this is the official procedure to be done: Composite resection mandible and tongue, scapular flap reconstruction, excision of submandibular gland, and tracheotomy. Quite a mouthful, isn't it? No pun intended.