My Durham Experience Part 1

August 15, 2000

Okay, for those of you who are interested (if anyone is!), here is my

experience:

I thought that I was going to have to go alone, because my husband could

not get away from work. He is the only programmer and was in the midst

of several " HOT " projects. I was fine with going alone, I'm that kind

of person that almost prefers to do things alone. But I had a friend

volunteer to go with. I was concerned about the money issue (we were

self-pay, but I'm still fighting/appealing for payment). My husband

felt better about someone going with me, and said the amount of money we

would spend to have my friend go was a drop in the bucket compared to

the overall cost, and you can't put a price tag anyway on what this

surgery will do for me. He has been such a wonderful support through

all of this! I definitely have a great hubby!

and I flew to Durham on Monday evening. We were due to arrive at

11:30 pm, but the flight was delayed by over an hour. By the time we

got in, the car rental agencies were closed! We took a taxi to the

hotel. The next morning we took the hotel shuttle to Dr. R's office and

did our thing there. Next we took a taxi to the clinic. We still

hadn't eaten by this point, so we grabbed something from the " nab "

machine (that's what they call vending machines!). We met Beth (she

went to the morning clinic, but was still there.) Clinic was fun, but

long! I especially liked seeing the video of the surgery. Dr. Rutledge

was funny, very informative and you could really tell he cares about

each and every one of his (potential) patients.

By this time, had gotten a rental car for us, so we headed to

Cattleman's for dinner with the crew. THAT was a wonderful evening!!

Meeting littermates, recent post-ops, and post-ops that were further out

was a tremendous treat! Some post-ops brought before pics---WOW! We

also watched the post-ops to see what they were eating. And they do eat

real food! That was very cool to see! I cannot remember everyone's

names that were there at the dinner that night, but it truly was a

momentous occasion!!

On Wednesday, and I visited the hospital, went to the Butterfly

house and then to the mall to do some shopping. The milk of magnesia

was not a problem for me at all. I was very hungry that day, but always

left something on my plate so as not to be stuffed. It is best not to

eat too much so your colon isn't stretched out.

To be continued.....

Tricia in IL

MGB 8/10

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