parting gift from my nutritionist

When I went in to the Savannah VA Center for the meeting with Elizabeth Carley, I had been expecting the news would not be good.

I knew my weight would be up.

Between the inguinal hernia pain and cold weather, I had not been moving as much and had been eating more comfort foods.

I had no idea that she was leaving.

She has a more exciting job working with a new company in New York.

In true form, she had made plans for switching me to a new specialist, but wanted to discuss the options with me first.

Such a professional with a heart she is!

But she did one thing that my new PCP, Tiffiny Duchene, should have: she followed up on the Community Care I was supposed to have received in December.

Elizabeth found out I was to have started that on December 23, 2025.

Instead, I had not yet heard from the local surgeon who was to repair the inguinal hernia that's been paining me since mid-August.

Elizabeth wrote down all the information: the phone number, name, and address of the clinic as well as the Community Care Authorization number issued by the Ralph Johnson VA Hospital in Charleston.

I called the Surgical and Bariatric Care clinic at Memorial Hospital as soon as I got home that day.

They didn't have the paperwork from Charleston, but would call them.

I immediately went into VA Health's website and sent messages to the Community Care in Charleston and also to PCP Duchene.

That was on a Thursday.

I waited until Tuesday, February 17th, and called the clinic again.

Yes, they had the VA CCN!!!

The first available appointment was March 3rd.

Later than I'd hoped, but it was still more progress than I'd had!

Today, I was at the office of Dr. Oliver Whipple thirty minutes ahead of time.

I'd spent forty minutes on Sunday night filling in all the paperwork for the online check-in, plus I'd filled in the eight pages sent to me two weeks ago. 

I gave him the disk with my CT scan - from November 18th - as well as all that paperwork, then we talked.

Mostly, we talked about my previous surgeries over the years, but in particular about the cardiac ablations I've had.

After a talk with Marsha, the one in charge of surgery scheduling, I walked out with pre-surgery paperwork, though a date for that hernia repair has not yet been set.

First, they have to get clearance from my heart doc, but that should not be an issue after the results from the heart monitor study.

Dr. Whipple liked that Dr. Cobb was down to seeing me every 6 months; that's a very good thing!

However, the biggest hurdle to a surgery date is Dr. Whipple's upcoming two-week vacation coming up... after next week.

Timing is everything.

So, now, it looks like I won't have the hernia repair until late April.

Then, there will be about three weeks of recovery, they say.

Dr. Whipple told me he will be using a robot-assisted laparoscopic technique to remove all the scar tissues in my abdomen, starting from the ribcage down to the right groin, then insert a mesh pocket to hold the abdominal contents in place.

I'm hoping that will all go as planned.

He was surprised when he heard about the scar from my tubal ligation, then surprised again when I told him about my Polar Express from the hysterectomy.

I just wanted him to be forewarned about all that scar tissue, and the adhesions from three abdominal surgeries, waiting inside.

I'm not looking forward to the surgery, but I can't wait to be rid of the pain I've had for more than six months. 

None of this would even be in progress without the aid of my nutritionist, Elizabeth, taking action on my behalf.

My gratitude to her.

I sure am going to miss her.