by coconut » 08 Mar 2013, 08:12
Surgery report for those who want to know what it was like:
You really need someone to spend the whole day with you for this stuff. I'm single, so I asked my mother to help. I didn't want to be a pain in the ass, so I told her it was OK with me if she went off and did errands while I was in surgery. But the way the rhythm of the surgery is, she really couldn't, which caused some anxiety on her part. They also ask for someone to stay with you for 12 hours after the surgery. Just a heads up for those of us who live alone - the outpatient nature of this surgery presents some challenges.
The nurses at my hospital were wonderful. Really made this a better experience.
I had to go in two hours early, so I brought in stuff to entertain myself, but I didn't use them. Everything is pretty swift, and they had me in various positions that did not allow for Soduko.
All the doctors came to introduce themselves. Apparently, there were not one but two interns sitting in. I hope they were just watching and not knifing. We would have words if they did the surgery. I was relieved to find that the person doing the sedation was a woman. I don't feel comfortable in that kind of vulnerable position with only men in the room.
They had me put a disposable gown and booties on. The gown was made of this stuff that insulates you. Totally cool in that it really was warm like a sweater, but it looked like a paper hospital gown. There's no place to put your stuff, so my mom had to take my backpack with everything in it while I got taken to surgery.
They wheeled me in the operating room. Lots of people in there. Lots of machines that go "ping!" (I feel special.) They had me get on a table face down with pillows strategically placed to make being face down comfortable. The table started to tip slowly like the CRS's examining table and that's the last thing I remember.
When I woke up, I was in a lot of pain. I had a nurse right there, and she put pain relief stuff in my IV. I went through three doses before I got some relief. Finally, she added a pill of Percocet and that made me more comfortable. The nurse was great. She really made things better, but the truth is that I was crying and shaking. Its over now, but I thought I'd report that so that if it happens to you, you'll know that sometimes it does happen this way. I was very lucid right away. Not very groggy at all but hurting and my defenses were down enough to allow me to cry like a big baby in public.
They have this hose thing that they connected to the hospital gown in a way that pumped hot air directly onto me. This was WONDERFUL. I visualized myself on a big sunny rock in the woods where I like to hike. The hot air felt like the sun beating down on me.
After the pain and the shaking were under control, they brought me into recovery room number 2, where my challenge was to pee before I could go home. I hadn't dranken (drunken? drank?) anything that morning, but they did put in an IV and had pumped me full of liquids, so I had to go! Potty emergency time! But I couldn't. The stuff they used to numb my butt also put my urinary tract to sleep. Eventually, they had to catheterize me to let the pee out before I could go home. I didn't want to do this, but looking back, I'm glad I let them. It didn't cause any harm and I was much more comfortable afterwards. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to pee when I got home, but 5 hours later, I did pee on my own. Woohoo! The post op instructions I was given advised me to take a hot bath and pee into the bath, and to go to the emergency room to be catheterized if that didn't work. But I don't have to do any of that. So there's a bright spot!
I went home and my mother got my percocet prescription filled for me. I'm finding that I need to take a new pill once every 3 1/2 hours. The prescription says 1 or 2 every 4-6 hours. Since I'm only taking one, I think I'm good.
I have a pattern of napping, drinking/eating a little, peeing, and watching 30 Rock right now. I even woke up for my pain pill in the middle of the night. It takes 1 episode of 30 Rock before I feel the new Percocet pill kick in.
Stay tuned for the next episode: The dreaded first poop.