The call from Dr. Berryhill’s nurse came at 4:05 this afternoon. The first available surgery date is Nov. 7th, and I grabbed it. She said that, thus far at least, I’m the only one on his schedule that day. The hospital will call me the on the 6th to let me know what time to arrive and any last-minute things I need to know. I have a follow-up with Dr. Berryhill’s PA one week after the surgery, on the 14th, to be sure everything is healing well, swelling has subsided, etc. I reckon I’ll get a call from Hearts for Hearing fairly soon (or fairly later?) to get me on their schedule for ‘Activation Day.’ Insurance came through – Medicare and United Healthcare. I’ll owe nothing to Dr. Berryhill. She said she is unsure about anything that might be due at the hospital. I’m hopeful that insurance will cover that expense, too. Now that I can see the larger picture, he said that surgeries have been running 4 to 6 weeks out. Nov. 7th is five weeks from yesterday, so it’s right in the middle of that forecast. Color me excited!
Later, 11:35 p.m. I remembered that she did *not* mention the CT scan that Dr. Berryhill said he would order; I will have to call her back tomorrow to see when/where that will be done. She *did* say that I could go ahead with the series of three vaccinations asap – COVID booster, flu, and RSV. I reserved time slots just now with Sooner Pharmacy for the vaccinations, as they now have the new Moderna COVID booster vaccine available; I’ll have to call them tomorrow to let them know that both of us will be getting the shots; they can do them at the same time. COVID/flu Oct. 11th; RSV Oct 25th. I’ll also have to call Champion Plumbing to reschedule the service on our water heater, which was also scheduled on the afternoon of the 25th. Those two calls will be my primary objectives for tomorrow!
Now that I know the surgery date, I plan to ask our church pianist and our director of music if I can play for one more worship service (two, I guess, early and late services on the same Sunday) shortly before the surgery. Lord knows when, or even if, I'll be able to play again. Even if I do, it will likely be quite a while before I can do so with any level of confidence. It's time for me to start making some very specific plans for my speech and aural rehabilitation work. I know that I will get to work with speech pathologists at Hearts for Hearing, in addition to the exercises that I'll be doing at home.
