I finally got the call late Thursday night that I was to report to the hospital at 7am. I was very happy about this because they originally estimated my time to be 10am and I would have been starving by then since I couldn’t eat or drink after midnight on Thursday.
So mom and I head to the hospital, and I check in just before 7. I was only in the waiting room for about 5 minutes before they called my name, so mom and I headed to the back. They put us in the prep room, where I changed into a gown and relaxed on the gurney. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t nervous at all. They took my vitals and then made an attempt to put my IV in. Unfortunately, since you can’t drink after midnight the night before, I was dehydrated. She pricked my hand several times before giving up and moving to my wrist. They don’t usually like to put IV’s in your wrist, but it seems to work fine for me.
They start with a lovely cocktail of fluids and a sedative to “relax you.” Within five minutes, I was HIGH AS A KITE, people. Couldn’t stop laughing, which of course made the nurses laugh. This is the glory of never taking drugs in your life. When you have surgery, it makes it that much more fun!
They rolled my high as a kite self back into the OR and I said bye to my mom, who looked far more nervous than I did!
We rolled into the OR and they asked me to scoot off my gurney onto the operating table (which is really a bed—why do they call it a table?). This was quite humorous considering I was totally high and my gown kept getting caught under myself. Then the nurses put the sticky heart monitors on my chest, adjusted me, and put the Oxygen mask on me. She asked me to take a couple of breaths.
Next thing I know, they’re waking me up and my mom tells me all went well.
Totally. Bizarre.
The only other time I’ve ever been under anesthesia was when I was like, four, so I didn’t really know how weird it was for a few hours of your life to totally disappear. It was a really weird feeling coming out from under anesthesia. I kept trying to make myself wake up, but my body just wouldn’t let me. Within 15 minutes or so I was pretty alert and they gave me some apple juice and crackers which almost immediately made me nauseous.
They gave me some anti-nausea stuff in my IV and then I felt fine. I had a headache (big surprise there) so they gave me some pain killers, too. My doctor came over to say hi and said I was looking “quite bright-eyed.”
The nurses in the recovery room came by once in a while to see how I was doing, and once I was a little less high, I got changed back into my clothes, which was interesting because I couldn’t really use my right hand very well because of the IV in my wrist—it would poke me when I bent it, so my mom had to help me, which gave us both the giggles.
Once I was dressed, they checked on me one more time and then put me in a wheel chair, and then took out my IV. Other than a big mustache-looking bandage on my nose, I was looking fairly human.
The ride home was fine, and my mom made me some soup for lunch, which made me a little nauseous, but it wasn’t too bad. Then we popped in a movie and I promptly fell asleep. I got up to go to the bathroom, which made my nose start bleeding, so my mom made me get back on the couch (after I did my business, anyway). She was being pretty funny. Every time I moved to reach for some Kleenex or get a drink she was like, “What do you need?!? Don’t get up!!” Her paranoia wasn’t totally unnecessary because every time I got up I would spring a leak. It’s totally normal for it to bleed, of course, but she didn’t like that too much.
Around six, my best friend came over to babysit me so my mom could head home to the coast. We watched some Sex and the City while I faded in and out of sleep. I only took Vicodin a couple of times last night, and haven’t taken any since, which is pretty amazing considering the surgery I had. Only a little swelling, and only slight bruising under my eyes. The worst really is the big-ass bruises where they tried to get my IV in!
All in all, it’s been a total breeze. Now I basically just feel like I have a bad cold. I’m stuffed up, which is normal after the surgery, and my throat hurts from the breathing tube, but nothing a little Chloreseptic spray can’t help. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for the ball to drop because I just can’t imagine this going so well! But maybe it’s because it’s finally my year!
I’m happy to be able to report such a boring story! All hail 2007!!
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8 comments:
happy new year!
glad to hear your surgery went well! i laughed a little reading about the "glory of never taking drugs"....i felt the same way during my first surgery.
You should have tried to see if you could have got some medical reality show to film this whole thing and get some $$$$.
I don't think I could handle watching that episode. Well any episode for that matter.
But good to read that things are well. Hope the rest of your recovery goes well.
Glad you dig the new comment setup on my blog.
Well, I am very glad to hear things went well.
I was put under when I got my wisdom teeth removed and like you said, it was weird to just go to sleep for (in my case maybe 15 min) a bit then wake up like nothing happened. It's like a portion of time disappeared and it is really odd.
It seems like the first 24 hours or so are always the worst, and after that things are quite easy, so the fact that you are past that point and have not experienced any problems is a good sign.
Glad to hear that things went well!
Yeah, I hate IVs and I hate getting put under. I was put under recently and forgot to tell them that I come out pretty hard. I never remember it but when I start to wake up I start ripping at my IV and pretty much anything attached to me which makes the nurses none too happy....
You survived! It's going to be a good year.
"Paraphrasing" what you said a few posts back...
It's all uphill from here! :D
YEAH! Caprichosa is all better! Things are definitely looking up then!
Now it would be interesting to have one of the nurses tell her impressions. How you danced around the hospital unknowingly and so.
Good to read that you are fine.
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