My Surgery Day

I wanted to blog about my surgery day as it was an interesting day!!

My surgery was scheduled for 8:15 am and I was supposed to be there at 6:45!! So, my mom and I took my car to the outpatient center and Jay stayed and got Alex ready and took him to daycare. I got right in my room, in my gown (with my butt showing to the world) and into my bed. At this point my anxiety level was starting to get higher and higher.

The nurse went to put my IV in. She tried in my right hand first, but my vein rolled, so she had to try again in my left hand. (and for the next 2 weeks I looked like a heroin addict!!) She took a couple vials of blood to do some pre-surgery testing. She then did an EKG on me since I have high blood pressure.

They then brought my mom back and we just waited for the test results. At about 7:45 I started getting really nervous. Jay wasn't there yet - and I was worried that he wouldn't get there before my surgery.

The doctor that was going to be assisting my surgeon came in. She asked me if I was diabetic. I told her that I wasn't and that I am tested for it once a year and my blood sugar has always been fine. She said that my blood sugar was very high and that I would need to get that checked out with my primary care doctor.

Then she said (get this), "Oh wait, these aren't your lab results!" WHAT!!! Oh my gosh!!! That made me feel a lot better. :)

Then she told me that my EKG was abnormal. (oh no - here we go again) My mom joked if they were sure they had the right results. They did. The computer said that my results were not right. She said that they wouldn't do the surgery with these results. (I was hooked up to a monitor that was tracking my pulse - you should have seen it shoot up!!) I had an EKG about 3 1/2 years ago and it was fine. She said that they would try to get their hands on that EKG and if they were similar they would move forward with the surgery. I also overheard the nurse talking to the doctor about having the Cardiologist read the results but that they didn't get to work until 8:00.

All I could think of was that my mom came up from Florida to help with Alex, everything was squared away at work, and I might not even have the surgery. (stress level was VERY high at this point) My surgeon came in to do his pre-surgery pep talk and I was the one that had to tell him that I was put on hold. He reassured me that everything would be ok - he would give me lots of antibiotics and a referral to a cardiologist and we would just do the surgery later. (I wasn't buying it - stress level was still very high)

(and Jay still wasn't there - he had called that he was on his way, but because he left so late, he got stuck in rush hour traffic)

At about 8:10 the doctor came back in and said that they had the cardiologist read my EKG and that I was cleared for surgery!!!!! Can I just say relief!!!! To keep everything else on schedule, they swapped me with the person who was supposed to go after me.

Jay arrived just after that news as did my pastor. (and my pulse went way down once they cleared me!!)

They then gave me a number of drugs in my IV - a bunch of stuff for nausea, and to keep me from getting sick. They also gave me what the nurse called, 'happy juice.' I don't know what it was , but boy - I didn't care about anything after that.

My pastor said a prayer with me and then they came to wheel me into surgery.

Can I just say that the operating room didn't look anything like Gray's Anatomy! :) I got moved over onto the operating table (very gracefully, I must say - I don't even think my surgeon saw my bare butt - remember - he's a friend of mine!!) and they got me all prepared. They then saw a big syringe and everyone was telling me goodnight. I remember saying, "Boy, that's fast." and then nothing. I was OUT.

The next thing I knew, I was hearing people telling me "Good morning" and I was in the recovery room. (can I just say how weird that is - to realize that time has passed but having NO recollection of it. I dream - almost every night - and remember my dreams - so this was VERY bizarre)

I was in the recover room for quite awhile - longer than usual. I just couldn't get myself to wake up. The first thing I did was swallow. I wanted to know how bad it was going to be......it was pretty bad. :) I asked for pain medication - which they gave me - but then monitors started beeping above my head and the nurses were telling me to breath. Wait - wasn't I breathing - I thought I was. I guess the pain medication really effects your breathing and my sat levels (is that right, Michelle?) were getting low.

This happened (the beeping ) at least 4 times that I remember.

They then took me back to my room where my mom, Jay and my pastor were waiting for me. The next few hours I don't remember much at all. I think I kept falling asleep. (ok - just confirmed with Jay - I was in the room for about 3 hours and I did keep falling asleep) I did get my first dose of Percaset at this time. :)

After the 3 hours (I guess I have to believe Jay on this one) I really had to go to the bathroom. I was able to let everyone know (got to love the sign language!!) and the nurse helped me out of bed. They obviously were ready for me to leave because as soon as I was done going to the bathroom they had Jay in there with me with my clothes.

I got dressed, grabbed my stuff, and got my wheelchair ride out to the car.

I don't remember much about the car ride home. All I know is that I stayed conscious enough to get my mom headed in the right direction and we did make it home.

I immediately crawled in bed and basically slept the rest of the day. Jay would come in every 4 hours with my meds.

At this point I could actually talk - but very quietly - and it hurt.

I kept drinking water and Gatorade every time I woke up - I think it helped.

What a day!!

I have to say that I think this was the best decision I have every made. My recovery went really well, I'm feeling really good right now, and my surgeon said that they were REALLY bad. (I guess I had this infection pocket in my right tonsil that would have never cleared up with antibiotics.)

I've been trying to get new pictures of Alex but he won't let me take his picture. So, I leave you with an old picture I found on Jay's computer. This was taken on October 13, 2006 on our pick up trip.