I’m up and moving!

I’m actually amazed at the difference a day can make, especially one with surgery at dinner time, LOL. I can say that I am in 90% less pain today than I was yesterday, and moving much better, despite the surgery.

Now I know that one does not usually give blow by blow descriptions of surgery, but I have to share some things with you all. Don’t worry, nothing squeamish here, I promise. I want to share some of the advances in patient comfort since my last surgery in 2002.

I was admitted at 3PM exactly on the nose, and taken immediately to the outpatient pre-surgical ward. I was weighed (lost 11 pounds), did the thing in the bottle bit, and then taken to my stall. I know they don’t call them stalls, but to me that’s what they look like still, so I will call it what it looks like, LOL. I was then ordered to strip down and put on this lovely, but not quite paper and certainly differently looking gown. BP taken, it was higher than normal for me, showing my nerves were working well, and she was brushing the hair out of my face, running some sort of something across my forehead.

Then I climbed, not very easily, into bed and they hooked me up. While one nurse was torturing me on the left side, trying to find a vein, another nurse was on the other side doing something. I wasn’t watching her but the vampire want-a-be on the other side instead. I kept telling Nurse Vampire that beating on my arm wouldn’t work, but she wasn’t paying attention…

And all of a sudden my gown was air born and my body was surrounded with warmth like I just can not explain. The nurse on the right had plugged in my heated gown and footsies, and I was toasty warm within seconds. I asked it this contraption would follow me into the operating room, which is always cold, but didn’t get an answer.

In the meantime Nurse Vampire moved over to the right arm and was beating on that, and finally achieved her goal, not drawing blood but giving me juice, so I apologized for calling her a vampire. After nothing to drink since midnight my body appreciated a little drink, even if it was through a tube. (And Nurse Vampire slipped me a tiny little ice chip, very small but quite delightful, to say she was sorry for beating on me.)

Well this toasty tent I was wearing was delightful, and I must look into getting one for the retreats where I am always freezing, although I’m not real sure but pretty sure it is a little out of my price range… not so much the garb as the warmer unit that goes with it. I was soon fast asleep despite all the noise going on around me. (And this was pre-drugs)

Soon I was well done, and John who had been allowed to sit with me until surgery time asked the nurse to turn me down. A whole hour had passed while I was napping, and the nurse (who looked very familiar to me and turned out to be a band Mom from years way past) said that she had some bad news. The Doctor was running slow on his current surgery, and I had at least another hour and a half to wait. So back to my nap I went, still pre-drugs, until my body who hadn’t had but vein juice decided I had to go. I was afraid they would bring me a bed pan, but fortunately they let me up, since I was still pre-drugs. I got up and did my business, and then was ushered back to bed.

Then the nurse came in to take my BP, it was a little more normal for me, thanks to those naps I’m sure, and then she brushed my hair off my forehead again, I said thanks but I had to ask, “what is that” and she replied 97, and I realized she was taking my temperature. Silly me, thought she was brushing my hair.

All of a sudden the Doctor appeared with this goofy grin on his face. He said he was sorry he was running late, but I was up next. Then he started drawing faces on my knees, another modern medical advancement? I don’t know, but it had something to do what ever he was going to do to me, and when I peeked a little while ago to see what I could see under the bandages there was an upside-down smiley face peeking back at me.

I went into surgery at 6 finally, but don’t remember anything at all about that, isn’t medicine wonderful. I woke up almost two hours later as they tried unsuccessfully to smother me with something they called an oxygen mask, but I swear there wasn’t anything coming out it was just smothering me, and the nurse and I had a good fight as I took it off, she put it back on, over and over again until I finally won the battle or else didn’t need that silly thing any more. No advances in medicine in the recovery room, I had drink and eat before I could get up and since I was so thirsty I drank a cup of water happily and asked for more, and enjoyed a dinner of saltines and ice chips.

I’m home, resting comfortably, and in much less pain than the past few months.

Now excuse me while I go look up heated hospital gowns, I’d love to have one.