How it went down

A quick rundown of how the surgery went…

Monday

• Got a call from the hospital… they had a cancellation so they need to move my procedure 3 hours earlier. D’oh! That means getting-up early.
• Went to my nutrition support class.
• Shaved my beard
• Had no food or drink after 11pm.
• Took a Hibiclens shower. (I guess this is to minimize the chances of getting staph.)
• Went to sleep very late, perhaps 1:30am, because I had other stuff I needed to finish.
• Got-up at 6am. Had my second Hibiclens shower. Got dressed and Matt took me to the hospital.
• Checked-in and was brought to a room. Changed into my gown and waited. Watched TV, and actually surfed the ‘net for a bit, as I’d brought a laptop and the hospital had free WiFi.
• They tried to prep me for the IV. The nurse, who seemed to be new, poked me twice and was unsuccessful, so she told me the anesthesiologist would do it.
• Received word that our operating room needed to be used for an urgent trauma case, which meant we’d have to wait longer. (It ended-up being a 60-to-90 minute delay.) Matt took a nap:
• I occupied myself with my camera, and started playing with the macro feature:
  
  
• They took me in my bed to a pre-op holding room. Hung-out there for awhile. Boring.
• The doctor stopped-in to say hello, and ask if I had any last-minute questions. He said he’d submit doctor orders that would allow me to be discharged early the next morning; he wouldn’t even have to be there.
• Got called-in. They took me to the O/R, which was big and snazzy-looking. And freezing cold. They had me lay-down on the operating table and started to get me ready. I started to shiver a bit. They asked me what my favorite radio station was, they found it and cranked it.
• I observed the camera and the video monitor that they’d be using to do my (laparoscopic) procedure. Somebody had told me that when you’re doing (or observing) the surgery, you basically watch it on the television screen.
• The anesthesiologist came in and had to poke me three more times to get the IV done properly. Ouch! Meeting your anesthesiologist is a bit of a weird experience. Though you may be able to choose your surgeon, and you get to meet him/her beforehand, this is not the case with the anesthesiologist. They’re assigned to you, often at the last minute. So you basically get what you get. They walk into the room and introduce themselves and you basically think “wow, nice to meet you, here’s my life in your hands!”
• Still shivering, too. They put some blankets on me.
• The two assistants were young ladies who were very nice to me, tried to keep me calm and make me laugh a few times. They told me I wouldn’t need a catheter, yay. They attached the little stickers for the heart monitoring. Shaved my belly. Put those plastic leg cuffs on me, which inflate intermittently to prevent clots, neat!
• They turned-on the “drip” in my IV, and I drifted-off into unconsciousness listening to Linkin Park’s Shadow of the Day. (“And the sun… will set for you…”)
• I woke-up in a little bit of pain. They gave me morphine. (Thanks, morphine!) My memory from this part is a little fuzzy. I do remember them wheeling-me up to my room, number 711. I remained there for a time.
• I heard a couple people talking outside the room, then Matt came-in, yay.
• I got my own room. With a nice view, even. Matt and I watched Scrubs on little airline-style TV screens next to the beds. Got a dose of Pepcid and some more morphine.
• As it got later, Matt went home. I never got totally comfortable on the hospital bed, but somehow managed to sleep for a bit. I slept hard, but only for about 3 hours. Wide awake, I attempted to watch TV. Nothing but infomercials. Eventually I got back on my laptop.

Tuesday

• I tried to start arranging to be discharged, but the nurses insisted that I couldn’t leave until the doctor saw me. They couldn’t get a hold of him, but said he’d be making rounds at 9am.
• Around 9am, Matt came back with Rob (aka Roblet) in tow. No doctor. We waited. Over an hour. I called the nurse and asked her to check things out. No news, no doctor, nothing they could do.
• 11am rolls around. A nurse has discovered the doctor’s orders said I could check-out without being seen. *sigh*
• We check-out. I walk to the entrance with Matt, while Rob gets the car. Ride home. Lay-down on the couch. Watch TV. I take a little nap.
• I take vicodin (generic, in elixir/liquid form) for pain. I think it actually worked better than morphine for this particular kind of pain. Another Pepcid AC. (They want to make sure I don’t have much acid for now.) Three Flintstones Kid Complete multi-vitamins. A sugar-free Tums E-X.
• It’s no problem to drink the prescribed water, ice chips and Propel. No pain, no regurgitation, no difficulty or anything. Anxiously awaiting the day I can have more… broth, a (sugar-free) popsicle, etc. (You have to be very careful at first to promote healing.)