Hi Nancy,
When I was scheduled for the GK procedure at Providence, I was given an appointment with the specialist there and he went over a lot of things. I didn't know what to ask, but felt they gave me enough info at the time. I was given a CD to take home and watch that explained the procedure. I was given a tour of the facility. I met the head nurse. She took me into a room, separately from my husband, and went over some questions with me, including "does your husband hit you?" kinds of questions!! I was given written instructions and information. In my experience, my team was very thorough in their information giving. It seems that the doctors are in charge of the procedure - the "hardware" - if you will, and the nurse was in charge of the "software" - me!. Isn't that always the case? She calls the next day to see how you are doing. Actually, I was on a decadron high then and felt wonderful. She should have called later in the week. I never called them, but I was in contact with a GK group, that has since disbanded, but they were helpful to me and assured me that what I was going through was normal. Some of them had gone through the same thing. Hence, the wonderfulness of Support Groups! Forum, take a bow.
The only thing I would add to this great list of questions is:
IF I AM TO BE GIVEN A STEROID AFTER THE PROCEDURE AND I SUFFER, IN THE FIRST WEEK, FROM THE COMMOM SIDE EFFECT OF INSOMNIA, can I take any sleep aids? Believe me, after 3 days of 2 hours of sleep a night, you will wish you'd asked this question. Whether or not they will let you have it, or whether or not it will work in combination with the steroid are answers that I don't know, because I never asked my doctor. You might have to just tough it out, like I did. But if sleep aids are okay, it might save you a little bit of grief. But then, you might not have this problem.
Believe it or not, this kind of reminds me of when I was pregnant. You girls know how it is, once you say your PG, then everybody has a story to tell. My poor girlfriend had a heck of a delivery and when I saw her in the hospital she looked like she'd gone through a knot-hole backwards. She has broken blood vessels in her eye! She was so splotchy and tired and she hurt! I was very nervous about having a baby after that. And you hear all sorts of variations on how that baby gets out of you! Nobody told me about "back pain" because my little one was coming into the world face up, instead of face down (his backbone was against my backbone. ouch). But no broken blood vessels of the eye, in my case. And even though Nature gave us one "natural" way of giving birth (with the exception of Caesarian - but maybe that's nature's back-up plan!) there certainly are a variety of experiences in getting that baby into your arms. No matter how prepared you think you are, "Individual results may vary".
Having said all of that, the best offense is a good defense, and you are doing a great job of being as informed as you possibly can. I applaud you! I can't wait to hear how well you will be doing after your treatment, because I think your AN picked the wrong host. It doesn't know who it's up against!
Sue in Vancouver USA