Surgery Day!

The day I thought would never get here.....finally got here yesterday! I have to say, even up until the very end, I wasn't nervous at all. Questioning my sanity, yes...but nervous no.

The hospital called on Wednesday night to let me know what time my arrival was, and they said 10am. OK cool...hopefully that means an earlier surgery, and I can get the hell home! (I was all paranoid that since Nicole had to stay overnight, there was a chance I'd have to as well). I packed a bag with some pj's and toiletries just in case.

My mom and I left the house at 8:30 (without traffic, it's a 25 minute or so drive to the hospital - but as I mentioned we were afraid of UN General Assembly traffic along the way). We ended up......hitting no traffic. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Pulled into the garage at 9:00am. An hour early. Ugh.

My mom and I went and checked in, and then...........sat. And waited. And paced. Finally at around noon (after THREE HOURS of no one telling us when I would be taken), Dr. Kurian came out to say hi, and said that she wasn't sure why on earth they told me to be there so early, because my actual surgery wasn't scheduled until 1:30!!! AND they were running behind after a surgery had gone long that morning, so we were now looking at 2:30. Kill me.

I finally got into a prep room at around 1 or so, and then things seemed to move a little more quickly. Lots of different doctors and nurses came to talk to me, I changed into my lovely gown and slipper socks. Then it was time. I walked myself into the OR (not a fan), and climbed onto the table. They started my IV, got me connected to all of the monitors, and then draped me with the warm blankets. Then the anesthesiologist told me they were going to give me something to relax me before they put me out. He also commented that I was one of the most relaxed people he'd seen in a while, but they'd give me the relaxer drug anyway. Then they put the mask over my face and I got sleepy so they said "Go ahead and close your eyes...", and I said "OK", and remember nothing else until waking in recovery.

Here's the not as fun part - my back hurt something TERRIBLE in recovery. The beds they give you are just awful, and I kept shifting, trying to find a comfy position, but I couldn't. My mom came in briefly, but they asked her to come back in an hour and let me rest. For some reason, I thought when I went up to my room, I'd have a different bed, so I was asking to go up there as soon as I could. In my fog, I was very irrationally upset with my nurse, who asked if I wanted her to rub my back, then she got called away to take over another patient, so I never got my back rub lol.

I finally got upstairs, and asked for my mom - turns out no one had told her I was going upstairs and she went back into recovery to try to find m but oops! I was gone. I also asked for some kind of painkiller, because I was in agony (all back still, not really incisions). I decided to get out of bed and try to walk, since laying down was clearly not going to work. They got those awful booties off of me (maybe mine were too big? I didn't feel any nice massaging sensations, they just made me hot). I shuffled with my IV pole a few steps into the hallways and realized I was not quite ready to walk, so I went and sat in some chairs near my room. My mom found me very shortly after that, and we sat for a while. I of course cried. I think she may have too, lol. After a little while of sucking on my ice chips, I decided to take a walk, so we did 2 laps around the floor then I got back into bed. The nurse FINALLY gave me some morphine about an hour after I asked, and it did nothing but take the edge off...I was still in quite a bit of pain.

I did a few more laps, taking breaks in between them sitting in the chairs (I was kind of done with my bed....I just wanted my own damn bed), when a doctor came to find me. He said the magic words "Wanna blow this popsicle stand?" and I said "YES!!!!!!" All I had to do was pee, which I happily did (I had been sneaking sips of the water that my ice chips were melting into). After about another hour, we FINALLY were able to leave. I took some Vicodin before we did, so it would kick in by the time we got home, and then had a bit of broth when I got home.

I chatted with my sister for a while, and decided to stay awake until my next dose of happy juice at 1:15. We decided to go for a walk, and actually walked pretty far (around the block once, then maybe about 6 blocks and back in a different direction). It felt good to not act like an invalid so I am trying really hard not to. She has a bad back, so she said the walked helped her too. We just kept it to a nice stroll, and got back right before I was due for more meds.

I went to bed after that, after arranging a fortress of pillows on my bed. Slept pretty well, and set my alarm for more drugs at 5. I've been up wandering around on and off...but think I am going to take a nap. So far, I've been siping on water, and had half of a protein shake (Carnation Instant Breakfast, powder not ready made). I could have had more, but I didn't really want it, so I put the rest in the fridge for later.

Hope this post is helpful to anyone going in soon! I tried to be as detailed as I could. Me sleepy now.