Howdy again from South Carolina! Took my pain meds last night, then had a great night's sleep (the first in several nights). Had a good breakfast, then did another round of PT, then a meeting with an Occupation Therapist AND A SHOWER!! Finished up the morning with a "Hip Group" meeting with other Dr. Gross patients (including another bi-lat). Dr. Gross dropped by this morning with a copy of the x-ray of my first hip taken after surgery. Pretty cool.
Dan, I had somewhat similar feelings leading up to the surgery. Got surgery scheduled, air travel, hotel and, went through all of the pre-opt tests, always with a little thought in the back of my head that something would probably get messed up and cause a delay. But nothing did. Even when my internist kind of slow rolled my medical release, I managed to get it wrapped up. Then the final test; we headed to the airport last Sunday for an 8am flight, but due to an incredilby slow dimwit at curbside baggage check, we "missed the bag check cutoff" even though we had been waiting for 15 minutes. So we went upstairs to regular check in, and they had the same story; sorry, we can't check them, you'll have to take another flight. Unfortunately there WERE no other flights, as we'd made these reservations months back, and flights to Columbia are scarce. At that point, I could have chickened out (it would have been easy; what a great excuse). But at that moment I realized how committed I was to getting this done and having my life back. SO, long story short, we made it with bags arriving later in the day.
After unwinding from that mess, I started to not worry about it so much. We were in Columbia, my family was with me, I had done all of my research and would be in the hands of one of the best surgeons in the world. It was time to trust the decision and go. Was still afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep, but when I rolled over and got that sharp hip pain that knocks the wind out of you and, all worries about the surgery disappeared - I was across the street from the hospital and now it was just a matter of waiting for the clock to wind down. To tell the truth, I was a bit surprised at my level of calm leading up to the OR; I was there for the ride, no turning back.
You can do this. Don't overthink it. You've picked the best doctor, and he and his team won't let you down. #2 for me is at 10:30 tomorrow morning. Good luck to you. Git 'er done!!
Richard