Surgery Day Story

Hello everyone!  I am now in Bandland! I didn't get to post my story yesterday because my day did NOT go according to plan.  But the surgery itself wasn't bad at all.  I arrived at the hospital (True Results, Houston, TX) at 9:45am, as I was told to get there by 10am.  I wasn't told a definite time but I assumed that my surgery was scheduled for about 11:30 to 12ish.  At about 11:30am, the nurse came out and told me that the surgeon was behind...real behind.  The patient two people ahead of me had some sort of obstruction that was going to require extra attention, in addition to band and the hernia repair they were expecting.  Then once he was done, there were two people ahead of me that would be at least 45 min each...great...sigh.  At least they had an effin' TV in the waitin' room.  At first I was pretty pissed off, I mean, I was nervous as hell, and I had at least 2 more hours to be nervous, and I'd already been there for 2 hours waiting....ugh!  But then I though about it, surgery is no light matter and a patient's life is in the surgeon's hands.  This patient needed extra attention and if it was me, I would not want anyone to be rushed.  So I got out my iPod, listened to music, watched tv, and read magazines.  I was sitting next to the family of this patient so I listened as the surgeon explained everything to them.  He had a lot wrong going on in there and the surgeon had to 'manipulate' the intestines due to this obstruction which is what took such a long time.  

Not too long after that, the nurse came and got me to start prepping me.   I had to pee to make sure I wasn't pregnant, then the nurse gave me my change of clothes and I crawled into the bed.  I got my heperin shot to thin my blood, which I had heard horror stories of this shot, but its not so bad.  Once I got my heperin shot the nurse put on my hot green leg thingys that massage my calves while in surgery and hooked me up to iv, which he told me was like Gatorade but without all the sugar.  This was wonderful, because I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since midnight and it was already about 2PM and I.WAS.THIRSTY!  I'm a big water drinker so I'm pretty much always thirsty for it.  So anyway, once I had my iv and my hubby was able to come back and sit with me, I was no longer nervous and ready to get this show on the road.  We sat and chatted and he loved on me (nothing inappropriate but playing with my hair and holdin' my hand, stuff like that plus I think he was real nervous ).  Here's a pic he took of me in Prep:

I got to meet all the nurses and then at about 3PM they said I was ready.  This is when I saw the anesthesiologist shoot me up with the 'cocktail' and they started rolling me down the hall.  This was the good stuff.  I felt like I was on a roller coaster!  I went 'Whoooooo' down the hall and all the nurses started laughin' LOL.  I got  to the operating room, they moved me over to the table, put the oxygen mask on me, told me to take 3 deep breathes and I.WAS.OUT. 

What seemed to be about 5 minutes later, I woke up in recovery.  The only pain I felt was the shoulder pain from the gas, which is still the weirdest thing to me.  I think the nurse gave me a shot of something, demoral maybe while I was in recovery, but I don't remember too much.  Then she made me get up and walk around and I got to meet up with my hubby.  This part is all kinna hazy so I'm sorry if I'm rambling.  Once they were ready for my barium swallow and xray, I did that and they told me as long as I could pee, I could go home.   Thank Gawd!  I was so ready to be out of that place and I have such a small bladder I knew that'd be no problem, plus I felt I needed to pee pretty bad.  So I had to pee into this bowl that goes inside the toilet so they can make sure I'm peeing well.  And it just dripped out....very slowly...lol.  Fortunately, it was good enough and they released me.  Unfortunately, it was about 5:30, and I was near downtown Houston, so that meant we'd still get into 5 o'clock Houston traffic...great.  For everyone that I've read say 'I felt every bump', well now I know what you meant.  And it was weird bc I could feel my insides movin' around on the bumps and that was not so good.  In addition to that, by now my bladder was churnin' out pee!  Seriously, we stopped four times and every time it was this little drip of pee, I'd feel 100% better and then 10 minutes later I had to go again, and there was no me holdin' it.  Along the way, I even had to get a cup (the one I had my tea in) and let my pee drip in that while we were on the road, in traffic and there was no findin' a place to stop.  LOL, TMI, sorry but it's the truth.  :)  Once I got home, got my meds, a Popsicle, and hubby got my chair all ready for me, I was happy.   I drank some water, had some more hot tea, and watched tv until about 11. 

The meds, liquid Hydrocodone, does not knock me out, it makes my mind race so I really didn't sleep well last night. I attempted to sleep in my recliner because I've heard that is the best place but I was real uncomfortable, so I eventually moved to my bed and finally fell asleep.  I woke up again at about 4am and took some more meds and watched an episode of  I love Lucy (I love that show!), then fell back asleep until about 9am this morning.  I'm still real sore and am in quite a bit of pain but the meds are helping and walkin' works wonders!  Gas pains come and go but I'm takin' chewable gas x for pains. 

So that's my Surgery Day Story, I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's and I'm very happy to be able to add my own.  :)