After

So, I survived surgery.

It was a long day though! I worked from 8-11 (having had no food since 10 pm Tuesday night), showed up at the hospital on time, and waited another 2 hours in my sexy gown before they moved me into the almost ready room. Here, my doctor (who I am sad to say I didn't recognize, as I have not seen him in two years....) popped his head in and asked if it was the same story. I said pretty much. Oh, things have changed - it is no longer predictable, it's whenever it feels like, but all in all, the same old story. He left. The anesthesiologist came by, told me all the side effects that could happen to me, and went on his merry way. It is now between 2 and 3 pm - they took me away from the clock and bad daytime tv. Have I mentioned that I am starving? My stomach is growling, my head is pounding from lack of... anything. My OR nurse arrives, gives me some warm blankets to hold (they will cover me during surgery) and we march down the hall to OR 10. She insists on introducing me to everyone in the room - meanwhile, I have already forgotten both her name and the anesthesiologist's names. I strip down and lay upon the operating bed. I think I much prefer to be knocked out before you get there! How is it that I found the courage to willingly lie down upon a bed for them to cut me open!? The good doctor can't find my veins. He says veins often hide as soon as they reach the OR. He jabs me once (it hurts more than having blood taken when it's in your hand). Well, I found a vein, he says, but it won't hold. So he stabs me again. (At this point, I would like you to know that his first jab is going to bruise, and it currently hurts to touch - but then, so does the knob on the side of my wrist where the IV thing was taped to me). That's about all I remember. Next thing I know, I am shivering violently (maybe almost seizure like?) and there are voices telling me that I am waking up from surgery. Thank goodness I don't have to know more! When they have piled enough warm blankets on me that my shivering stops, I start to realize the pain that is gripping my stomach. I tell the good nurse who is hovering around me that I hurt. She gets me some drugs. A little later (time was slipping away.... I was sure I didn't wake up until 5, but the nurse said I was due for more drugs around 8 pm, since I took them at 4....), she asked how I was feeling. I said I now had cramps (expected) and it hurt here and here. I was surprised to find two incision points. I thought I had been told that one went in my belly button (how creepy is that?) and that the other went up my va-jay-jay. Nope, apparently it went in just above the pubic line (if you don't like the descriptions, stop reading!). I looked at the nurse, offered a smile and said, I guess that's why it hurts. They stuck some drugs of some sort into my IV. I drifted for a while, I was still so tired. After a while, the nurse told me I had to roll onto my back, and she was going to bring me some juice. Soon after that, I got wheeled into the next room where I was offered a snack of cheese and crackers, was given more juice, and they called Mom to come get me. I was surprised that they didn't bring me my clothes back before Mom got there, but it was only when she arrived that they brought me a wash basin and my clothes. They were short staffed, maybe they were hoping that if I needed help, Mom could do it instead of them. So, we washed all the orange stuff off my body, and I struggled into my clothes. My chest was really hurting by now. They tell me it's because they blew me up like a balloon, so that they could see inside me. Eventually I would have a lot of gas, and I would feel better. After I was all dressed, they went over my post-op care again, and sent us on our merry way. Mom had brought up a wheelchair for me, and I was glad to not have to walk, even though I could have.

Once at home, Mom made me a bowl of soup (bless her!) and I checked my emails and went to bed. It was 6:30 when we left the hospital, and I was in bed before 8. I slept throughout the night, but never a deep sleep. Today, I got up around 8 and have been puttering. I am going to see Nickolas for a quiet visit at 11, and then heading to work. I have to wear a dress because there is no way I can wear pants with these incisions as they are, especially not when they are hurting too! So, I will shock the world who has never seen me in a dress. I was thinking I only had two, but I have a Ghana dress I can wear too! Oh good, three days of dresses before I have to repeat! Hopefully by then (since that will take me to Monday) the incisions won't be bugging me anymore. I have to call Doctor Galliford's office today, as I need him to take the stitches out in a week or so. I won't have any details on what he found until then either, as he didn't leave any specific instructions for me. I am still terrified of what they found. The fact that he didn't leave anything to follow up on makes me think that it is nothing. Therefore, I think I will just spot the rest of my life, and never have a reason for it. I don't like that option. But then, I don't like any of the options I can see.

So for now, I sit, with a little pain in my lower stomach, waiting for the gas to start to relieve my discomfort, although my chest is mostly back to feeling normal. And I contemplate getting dressed and going places today. I shaved my legs in the bathtub (since I am not allowed to shower yet), and my incisions didn't really like that movement.... I will have to be careful! If I was a smart individual, I would have shaved my legs yesterday, before surgery! But the thought didn't even cross my mind, until I was sitting in the waiting area in my hospital gown with hairy legs....