So life went on fairly normal for a little while... I thought it would be MONTHS before I even got to go see the surgeon, so I thought it would be a REALLY long time before my surgery. But withing about 2 weeks I received a call from Dr McMullen's office (he is an Endocrine surgeon) to set up an appointment to see him. My appointment was to be on March 6th. So again mom and I took the day off work to drive the loooonnnnngggg drive to Edmonton.
So the next morning we woke up fairly early so that we could make it to my appointment. I was so excited because my appointment was fairly early so we were going to be able to make it home at a decent time! We got to the hospital and decided that instead of trying to find a parking spot where my vehicle would fit that we would just valet it. It actually worked out really well because they park it for you and it really isn't a whole lot more expensive and way less stressful! Mom and I made our way to the glass elevator and went up to the second floor. I had never been to Dr McMullen's clinic before but it was on the same floor as Dr Broad's so I had an idea of where we needed to go.... turns out Dr McMullen's clinic is pretty much right beside Dr Broad's!
We didn't have to wait that long before we were able to go into the room and wait for Dr McMullen to come in which was awesome because I HATE WAITING!! haha... Dr McMullen introduced himself and the first thing out of his mouth was "I won't do this surgery unless you are 100% on board, if you have any hesitation I am not doing it." I was sort of baffled... I had never had a doctor tell me that, they always just tell me that this is what I should do. So I looked at Dr McMullen and I asked him if he thought this was a good idea and if he believed that having a bilateral adrenalectomy was the best possible choice for me. Without any hesitation at all he looked at me and simply said "Absolutely."
It wasn't until that moment that I was sure that this surgery was right for me. I had apprehensions about this surgery. Actually I was scared... this was the first surgery that the doctors were actually going to be removing something from my body, and once my adrenal glands were removed there was no going back... its not like they could take them out and then if it didn't "cure" me the doctors couldn't be like "Oh this didn't work, let's put them back." Once they were out they were gone. I am not going to lie I was scared... no I was terrified.
Once Doctor McMullen said that he felt that this surgery was right for me I felt more at ease. I was still scared because again it was a permanent decision. I told Doctor McMullen that if he felt that it was truly the right choice for me then I was totally on board. I was just ready to be normal, and not be sick all the time. I wanted to move on with my life and not have this disease rule my life anymore. Doctor McMullen went over what the surgery would be like; he told me that the removal of the adrenal glands was actually quite simple and quick... once he got to them. It is getting to them that can take some time. I think he was shocked when my mom said "Is it because you have to move the spleen and the liver?" My mom is great... she had researched this surgery and actually knew more about what the surgery would entail than I did. He said "Yes, I am going to have to move your spleen and your liver to get at the adrenal glands." There are some risks during this surgery including damaging the liver or spleen if the surgeon is not careful, the risk of damaging the kidneys when taking the adrenal glands (because the adrenals sit on your kidneys), extreme bleeding, etc. Dr McMullen assured us that the chances of any of that happening were actually quite minimal and that he was confident that it would not happen. He had a confidence about him, not that he thought he was the closest thing to God, but that he was a skilled surgeon and knew what he was doing. His confidence made me feel more comfortable and by the time we left his office I too thought that this surgery was going to be my "cure". I signed the papers saying that I agreed to have this surgery and Dr McMullen told me that his office would set up a date for the surgery. I thought that it would be months before I would be scheduled but he said that the surgery would be the middle to end of April. My mom knew that me and my friend were planning on going to Mexico in the middle of April so she mentioned that to Dr McMullen and he said that he would make sure that the surgery was scheduled for after our trip. My mom laughed and said "If you do a good job on this surgery and help fix her (me) I will bring my horses down and you can ride my horse!" I thought Dr McMullen was going to think we were crazy but he was actually really excited about it and said that he was "looking forward to riding our horses"!!
We left the hospital and I think both my mom and I felt reassured. Dr McMullen is a great doctor, not only does he have an excellent record he made me feel like this surgery was MY decision, and he didn't try and use those HUGE medical terms to make himself sound brilliant and make me look stupid. He made sure that I understood what was going to happen and made sure that I was okay with everything. So Mom and I left the hospital feeling a whole lot better.
Mom and I were surprised, we were out of the hospital by about 12pm (which was actually only 11am our time) so were were going to be home by like 6pm (our time). It was a Friday and I didn't have to work the next day so I called my friend Diane and we were supposed to go for dinner that evening. The trip home was going really well until we hit just the other side of Whitecourt... then it was raining/snowing, and the road was really icy. I was quite nervous (I hate bad road conditions), but by the time we got to Valleyview the roads were quite a bit better. I was driving and mom had just fallen asleep. We were about 3 hours from home when I came over a hill doing about 140km and I had no steering... I realized that my belt had broke... so I pulled my vehicle over the side of the road (luckily the roads were great and it was sunny outside!!). I woke mom up and told her what happened and she got out and we looked under my hood... yup the belt was broke. OH GREAT!!
We phoned the Dodge Dealership in Grand Prairie (we were about 40km outside of Grande Prairie) and I told them what happened and explained to them that I was from outta town and I was stranded on the side of the road. The guys reply was "We can't help you because we close in 40 minutes, but I will give you the name of a tow truck company." (This is one of the reasons I will NEVER buy another Dodge). I called the tow company and they said they would come get my vehicle and we asked them if they could put a new belt on for us, they said they don't normally do it but because we were from out of town they would. The guy came and got us and towed my vehicle back to their shop (which happened to be just across the highway from the Dodge Dealership). The guy looked under my hood as he was explaining to me that belts don't just break normally and that there was probably something else wrong... then he said "You might want to phone for a ride home." Apparently my idler pulley was broke and they would have to tow my vehicle to a mechanic shop. Because it was Friday it probably wouldn't get worked on until Monday.
Mom and I called a cab who took us to the airport so we could rent a car to get home. After renting the car mom and I were FINALLY on our way again, I ended up having to call my friend and telling her that I wasn't going to be home until late and we would have to postpone our dinner.... it figures the ONE time we were actually going to get home at a decent time my vehicle breaks down. Mom reminded me that it was a good thing it didn't happen when we were going through all the crappy weather around Whitecourt because we could have gotten into a bad accident.... I hate it when she is right!
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