Surgery Day

The day of surgery, I was excited, but not nervous. I never really felt a large amount of anxiety about this decision during any portion of it. The most anxiety was probably centered around obtaining the funds on time for the procedure. It sounds very backwards, but I was very certain that this was the right choice for me. I've read many other people's blogs describing their feelings before surgery and the day of- and most expressed a great deal of nervousness about being put under, whether they would survive it, and just general jitters. The reason I address this is because I am a gigantic crazy person when it comes to flying- I just go mad. But knocking me out and stirring around my guts- Meh... whatever... it's fine! LOL

Anyway, my surgery was scheduled for 8:15 a.m. I was instructed to arrive there at 7:15 to prepare. After spending maybe 5 minutes in the waiting area, Matt and I were taken back to the prep area. The first thing they did was weigh me. After that sweet surprise, I was given a duffle bag with my name on the tag and taken to a changing area/ bathroom. Everything off. The always-gorgeous hospital gown on, then the robe on over it. Don't forget the sexy hospital footie-traction socks. I was stylin. They order their robes to fit the majority of their clients who are apparently much larger than me- and when I had that robe on, I felt like I was swimming in it! The upside was that with all that fabric, I was toasty warm.

They had me sit up in the special chair, and they started an IV. Took my blood pressure, and gave me a shot of heparin (blood thinner) in my thigh. I had a visit from the surgeon, praising me on my weight loss. He talked to me about making sure that I was up and walking at least 10 minutes, 4 times a day in order to heal well. The day OF surgery and beyond.

Then I met the anesthesiologist. He looked so tottery and old, the thought crossed my mind that he might not make it through the procedure! But he was nice enough. After another 10 minutes or so, the nurse came out to take me back. Kisses and hugs to husband and I was off.

She led me into the operating room and it was SO COLD in there! I was surprised. They were playing a catchy Sinatra song. They took my robe off, and had me get up on the table. I put my arms out on the T-shaped extensions made just for that. They put the robe back on me. Right away the anesthesiologist went to work on me- distracting me with questions about my hair color (I have a large amount of the front of my hair that is always a fuchsia color). The nurse asked me to breath deeply as they put an oxygen mask on me. The nurse said I would feel a little pain or strange feeling up my arm- but it just felt cold to me.... and then I was out. That's all I remember.

I woke up in the recovery area and the first thing I noticed that it was 11:15 or so. I asked the nurse if it was really 11. She said it was. She said that I needed more pain medication than they expected afterwards- so that knocked me out. I must have been making some noise or something for them to know that. I don't remember any of it.

They gave me some water immediately and asked me to start sipping on it. As I woke up more and more, they asked if I wanted to see my husband. I said yes, of course. He came back, and we talked a little. I gingerly felt my tummy to see what they did- it didn't really hurt at that point. They had me sit up and start to get a little more awake. After 30 minutes or so, they had me get up and move to an area where I could change into my street clothes while Matt went and moved the car to the discharge area. I changed, they handed me a bottle of water, and led me to the door.

Matt drove home, I sipped water, and drifted in and out of consciousness. My beetle is so low to the ground, that getting out of it was quite the challenge. Rather painful overall. I went and got my tennis shoes on, and my hoodie. Matt grabbed the umbrella as it was pouring rain outside- and off we went for a 10 minute walk. I was pretty out of it anyway- so I don't remember much of it- I just remember asking Matt if this was 10 minutes. He said definitely. After the walk I took my pain medication and anti-nausea medication and went straight to bed. My kitty joined me of course. I slept for 2-3 hours, and got up. Felt hungry and had some thinned-out cream of chicken soup. I ate about 1/2 cup and walked around the apartment for 10 minutes. Then I went back to sleep.

jh