Surgery Day
Surgery Day
Hi guys. The last time we talked was a couple of days before my surgery. Today is 10 days post-surgery and I am finally feeling up to getting in the office long enough to do a little writing. I want to break my surgery, post-op hospital stay and post-op home stay up into a few different posts. Today, I am going to focus on the time leading up to the surgery itself.
The day before, I was getting a little nervous. I started having those “why did I volunteer to do this?” moments. All my projects had been completed, I did all my laundry and gathered up what I needed to take to the hospital with me. I had talked to the hospital a few days before and they said I was allowed a bag to take in as mentioned in the last post. I took my tablet, a portable charger, 2 power cords (charger cords, one for phone and one for tablet), my portable’s power cord with an outlet adapter, a notebook, and a pen all in a small backpack. I decided to wear some thin loose sweatpants that probably looked more like pajama bottoms and a t-shirt to the hospital. I tried to go to bed fairly early because I knew I was going to have issues trying to go to sleep. I was right. Eventually, though I fell asleep.
I had to be at the hospital at or before 8am. Surgery was scheduled at 10am. I had been watching traffic times all week at around the time I needed and it seemed pretty good at about 25-30min from south San Diego to La Jolla Scripps Memorial. So I knew that traffic wouldn’t be an issue. My husband was driving me and those who know me well know that I would much rather drive myself anywhere. Most people including my husband stress me out as a passenger. But my nerves were a wreck already, so why not a little more? We left about 7:15 am and got there about 7:45 am. Right on time! He took me to the front entrance and with a quick kiss goodbye, I went inside.
The first stop was just inside. There was a table with plexiglass surrounding the people behind it. They asked if I had a scheduled procedure, about 5 COVID questions and directed me to the front desk. I went maybe 15 feet to the front desk and he walked me over to registration (maybe 25ft away). I felt pretty important to have to make all these stops. At registration, they had plexiglass around the edges of an office-style wooden desk. There was a little slot to pass through my DL and health insurance card. She asked me a few more COVID related questions and put on my patient wristband. Once all that was taken care of, another person walked me to the surgery prep room which was literally around the corner from the front desk.
Once inside this room, a nurse greeted me and took my weight and vitals. We then went to the next attached room. She set me up in a restroom with a gown and a couple clear personal item bags. She gave me a package with 3 sets of 2 of these really thick special wipes. She instructed me to wipe down my entire body with these before putting on the gown. She also gave me 2 large q-tips that have a solution on them to thoroughly clean my belly button. I think she thought that the doctor was going thru there. Once she left, I was actually still a bit confused but I noticed on the wall that there were instructions on exactly what areas to clean with each wipe and in what order. I like instructions! I did as I was told and got my self all wiped down. I put on my gown and opened the door.
I was then placed on a bed nearby where they quickly did an EKG on my heart. Then I was taken across the hall to a waiting room. I waited a few minutes and was taken in to get blood drawn. I am not a good stick. I have very small veins that are very deep (under my fat). The nurse was great and eventually took blood from my left inner wrist. Yeah, that’s not a great place to start and you’ll find out how bad later on. I sat back down for a few minutes and then was taken to another room to finish getting prepped. The bed I was put on had what looked like a clear blow-up pool raft on top of it. I was instructed to get underneath it and they covered me with a blanket as well. It was warm because the raft thing blew warm air on me and the blanket held it in. The nurse came by and explained that it was best for getting the IV in and for surgery if my body temp was warmed up. She then gave me a heparin shot to thin my blood in my hip fat. She let me know that my doctor, anesthesiologist, and the head operating nurse would come to visit me before surgery. Another nurse came a few minutes later to give me an IV. She decided on a spot on the backside of my right hand. What is weird and I have never had this before was she injected lidocaine into the area right before she put in the IV. She told me she was going to, and it hurt a little bit, but I guess it’s not so bad as an IV needle hunting for a vein. Nevertheless, she was very quick and efficient about it.
Next in was my doctor. He verified my decision on the bypass vs. the sleeve and asked how I was feeling. I brought up a previous surgery in my abdomen that I didn’t recall discussing with him. I had a burst appendix for nine days at 19yrs old and the infection left a tremendous amount of scar tissue in my abdominal cavity. He agreed that we hadn’t talked about it and thanked me for bringing it to his attention. He said he didn’t think he should have any issues in the area he would be playing around in and if he did, he would do the sleeve if absolutely necessary. He said he would see me in a few in the operating room.
Several minutes later, the anesthesiologist came to see me. He asked me if I have had any issues with general anesthesia in the past and explained what would happen in the operating room. He said it shouldn’t be too much longer and the room would be ready. Then I waited for what seemed to be an eternity. I could see a clock from a side view in the next room and I spent my time trying to figure out the time. It was a little after 10am and I waited until about 10:45 am when the nurse from the OR came to me. Then everything happened really fast.
I was wheeled into the operating room and everyone was in there, the doctor and anesthesiologist and a couple of techs or nurses. They blew up a cushion underneath of me and used it to slide me onto the operating table. The doctor was joking around and they were asking me silly questions about me like what do I do for a living. I remember someone saying that they were going to give me something to relax in my IV and that’s all I remember. I was out. I woke up several hours later in my room upstairs in another building. I was super sleepy and in a little pain. I didn’t move much. The nurse had come in asking me how I was feeling and my pain level. I said about a 6 and she gave me a shot of Dilaudid for the pain. I went back to sleep for a couple of hours. My first night was pretty much wake up, get a shot, and go back to sleep with a few moments of clarity.
I think I made a few phone calls during the clarity moments and posted a drugged up post on FB. In my next post, I will talk about my stay in the hospital which had a few dramatic moments. Keep in tune for the next episode!