The process actually starts a week before, when I had to grab my surgery packet that included wipes that would make me less bacteria-heavy prior to surgery. I also had to do a CBC at the lab. So two days prior to surgery I get a call confirming my arrival time: which is 2 hours prior to my actual procedure. I was to check-in at 10:30.
The night prior to my surgery day, I showered at 11pm and ate my last meal (I was to be NPO after midnight), and then I used the wipes all over my body. It was going to kill the bacteria on my skin and stop it from reappearing up to 12 hours after. I had already cleaned my sheets so they were ready for me when Patrick and I finally went to bed. (He showered too, but we stayed separated, just as a precaution.) I didn't get very much sleep but it didn't really matter.
Mom met us at the hospital and we all went inside together. Allenmore is under construction so it's a tad confusing. I signed in and waited to be called back. We were then put into a pre-surgery room with a bed, chairs, and equipment. I was going to need to give a urine sample (for a pregnancy test, I guess) strip naked, wipe my abdomen down with another set of wipes, and put on a gown. After that, it was just a parade of people in and out of the room as we waited. My favorite person was a nurse named Roy. He was incredibly nice, made sure that I was perfectly at ease, and he actually reminded me a lot of Patrick. He was only in my room long enough to set me up with my IV, but it was a nice experience. I remember meeting the anesthesiologist, which, as you know from my prior post, the most worrisome part of my ordeal. He told me he'd been doing this "longer than I've been alive" and that I'd be perfectly fine. He was definitely confident, but also bordering on cocky. When Dr. Burns finally came by, I made sure to ask him to take pictures. Although he could do that, he could not, unfortunately, cut open the gallbladder because pathology wants their specimens in tact. Darn.
I also wasn't going to be waking up with Patrick peering over me like I'd thought because my first step was the Recovery Room where they make sure everything is stable and that my pain is managed before moving me to "step two" where family and friends can come visit. Finally, 12:30 rolled around, and it was time. Patrick had been inches away from me for the last two hours and it was really hard to separate. They both followed me down the hall as far as they could before I was rolled away.
I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING.
I had a short conversation with the nurse before heading into the operating room probably to calm my nerves. She asked what I did for a living and I told her that I worked with a GYN/Oncologist surgeon. She said that it must be difficult knowing what's going on behind the scenes when you're about to have surgery, and I told her that I'm also the one who checks in all of his post-ops knowing that they all made it out just fine. (This conversation seems reversed, doesn't it?)
I was brought into the operating room, which looked little like the theater you find on shows like The Resident, and moved me over to the table. As they were getting prepped, the anesthesiologist came over to me and said "this will help relax you" as he put a needle in my IV access. And then he placed a mask on me and said "this is oxygen". I didn't even have a chance to count backwards. I was out before I even knew I was out.
Sorry for the crummy pictures - I wasn't the one taking them ;D
I do remember having a dream shortly before waking. I wonder if this is normal. I awoke in Recovery, and I remember it being a tad difficult to breathe. The air coming from my mask was warm, and I probably still had some air in my abdomen that they couldn't get out.
[Pro tip: Do not, I repeat DO NOT watch your type of surgery on youtube before having it done to yourself. I was lucky enough having not thought of that step before doing this. But yes, they do blow up your abdomen with air so that they can root around inside.]
They had to give me a couple of Fentanyl doses in order to get my pain under control. Oh, also, I had been given a Scopolamine patch behind my ear prior to surgery that was going to help with nausea for a couple of days, since narcotics make me nauseated. Patrick had filled my prescription of oxycodone and anti-nausea meds while I was out. The whole thing took a very long time. The surgery itself was only about an hour, though.
According to Patrick, Dr. Burns came out to talk with them while I was recovering to let them know how the surgery went, and he did mention that he could feel large, oddly-shaped stones in my gallbladder. The nurse also told me that it was really good idea that I had gotten this taken care of.
Step two finally came around and I got to say hi to Patrick and my mom. I was so happy that they were there with me. We were given all the instructions for my after-care by a post-anesthesia nurse. After a bit, they took away my bed and put me in a chair, which my body did not agree with at all. All that Fentanyl made me super nauseous and I needed to lay down so they brought in a reclining chair for me. I was given an anti-nausea pill and waited 30 minutes for it to take effect. Once that was done it was 5pm and time to go home.
I had to be watched for 24 hours, and Patrick had to work at 11am on Saturday so mom came over to finish the watch. I hadn't taken a single narcotic after the surgery (and I didn't want to either) but was kept on a regimen of 500mg tylenol every 6 hours and an ice pack on my abdomen every 2. Besides being sore, tired, and not hungry, I was perfectly fine. It hurt to use my abdominal muscles of course, so getting out of beds and chairs was difficult, but other than that everything turned out great. My 4 incisions are almost completely healed and I've got no pain. Not only that, but I've got no issues with IBS or fatty foods. It couldn't have turned out better and I'm so lucky.
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