Hi Everyone!
I'm back! I actually got home yesterday, but needed some time to adjust to being at my parent's house and starting a "routine" so I didn't get online until now. So here's how everything went:
My dad and brother arrived at my apartment at 7:15 on Thursday morning and my dear boyfriend surprised me by saying he had taken the day off and was going to the hospital with us! The only snag was that my mom had jury duty (darn!) but I had three great guys as my support. They got me bundled into the car and kept me laughing the whole way to the hospital, which really kept my mind off my nerves. When I checked in at admissions they whisked me off right away to wait in the pre-op waiting room. I was there for maybe 20 minutes or so before they called me back and that was IT until after my surgery.
Back in the pre-op area was really interesting, actually. I got my first surprise in the triage area where they checked my vitals and stats before sending me back to wait for the surgeon, including my weight. After the 3 day pre-op liquid diet I had lost SIX POUNDS! SIX in THREE days! Amazing! Then they took me back to the holding area, which I was expecting to be a giant ward of people waiting for surgery, but turned out to be a little room with just three beds, which was nice. I was starting to get really nervous and the less people that had to see me lose it, the better! They got me changed and prepped (a hospital gown that actually fit, WOOHOO!) and I got into bed to wait. I met with the assisting nurses, the surgeon, and the anaethesiologist (or however you spell it!). Everyone was so nice and upbeat, my nerves started to leave me. The last thing I remember was them wheeling me into the OR and asking me to breathe deeply into the oxygen mask for 5 minutes. In my memory, it was more like 5 seconds before I was waking up!
Waking up was the worst part, though. My mind seemed more alert than my body, so I had a lot of trouble opening my eyes or talking. It was like those really cheesy soap operas, where the patient just moans and begs for pain medicine. That was me. I kept saying that my ribs hurt, but I couldn't tell them why (it was because of the gas), so the nurse kept saying, "They didn't do anything to your ribs, honey." Very frustrating. But once they started giving me pain meds, it became a lot easier to wake up and gather my wits (such as they were, considering I was probably stoned out of my gourd!) Again, all of the nurses in the recovery area were great, very nice and understanding. I had a hold up getting up to my room, so I didn't get up there until about 4 in the afternoon, even though I had been in the recovery area since about noon!
Okay, people, my room is the reason why, if you ever have to have surgery, have it at Cedars Sinai! Not only was it a private room (hooray!), but it looked like a hotel suite with a hospital bed! Hardwood floors, separate bed and sitting areas, and granite tiles in the bathroom with better quality faucets than I have at home! My whole family and I just stood there (well, I laid down) with our jaws hanging open. I stayed in bed for a few hours before the nurse urged me to get up and go to the bathroom. Well my insides were still "stunned," but it felt good to get up and walk, so I had my mom (who had arrived from jury duty by then) go with me and my IV on a walk around the ward. Once I started walking, everything felt better. I met up with some of my buddies from the pre-op appointment and we were talking and laughing so loudly that the nurses kept joking that they were going to call security to break up the party!
Sleeping the first night was really hard. I was in pain and staying in one position for an hour or more was really uncomfortable. My routine in the night became pain med, sleep, get up and walk, have a few ice chips or broth, more pain med, sleep, etc etc. By 8am I was feeling pretty good, considering. They gave me a protein shake and the surgeon who did my surgery came to check on me about an hour after that. He called me their "star patient."
I had the surgery the latest in the day, but was the first one up and walking, and could tolerate all of my liquids, so I was the first one going home! Not only was that just the coolest thing I could have heard, but I got another surprise just as I was leaving: Deanna (new_me) sent me the most beautiful flowers and a balloon! What a stellar way to leave the hospital!
So all in all: I left my apartment at 7:15am on Thursday and was back at home with my parents by 11:30am on Friday. Not bad, huh? Everything has been moving along nicely; I've definitely been taking advantage of my parents' treadmill (got about an hour in over the course of yesterday) and last night I was able to sleep through most of the night. The only really bad thing to happen was that my bowels announced that they were awake while I was still asleep, which resulted in a nasty and embarassing accident, but as my mom said, "At least you know everything is working now."
Well, I'm sure I've bored you all long enough! I'm off to walk and have a protein shake (joy!
)