Monday, February 6, 2012

So sorry! I havent been on in a while

So sorry that I have not given you any updates or let you know what happened during/after/before surgery! I will try to get it all out ... *deep breath*


Day of surgery had arrived and my driver and I got into the car at 6am to make it to the clinic at 7 (its an hour away). I checked in at the front desk while in my pj's and wrapped up in a blanket that i brought with me :) We proceeded to the surgery center of the clinic and they put me in a room that looks like an er, lots of beds with curtains all around them for privacy, dimly lit. It is the waiting area before they take you to the "other" waiting area before surgery lol. They gowned me up, put some socks on me and scrubbed my stomach with these pads with antibacterial stuff on it. My driver and i waited there for about an hour while they were prepping my operating room.

Then they came to get me. I said goodbye to my driver and they wheeled me into the room right across from the OR. The nurse came in and gave me my IV and pushed some fluids through for a little bit, then the anaesthesiologist came in to go over what he was going to do and have me sign a consent form. Then shortly after that my surgeon came in asking me if i was ready and he had his students with him who were going to be assisting with the surgery.

I'll tell you what its pretty nerve wracking to sit there waiting knowing you are going to be cut open soon! They did last minute preparations and then the nurse (who was extremely pregnant and adorable) came over and put a little something in my IV to help me relax. The last thing I remember was being rolled across the hallway into the operating room. It was stark white with stainless steel things everywhere and quite huge, and lots of people! There must have been 11 nurses/staff waiting in there. They put the mask on me and I was down for the count.

I woke up in a haze, very confused. I knew I had my surgery but I couldn't figure out who was talking to me. The nurse just kept saying "Sarah, its time to wake up" over and over but I did not want to open my eyes. I was not excruciating pain but there definitely was some. The worst part of it was not the incisions but the bloating from the gas they put into your stomach to inflate it. My entire body ached.

They had me hooked up to my 02 sensor and bp cuff, but i was so sleepy. I would hear the 02 sensor alarm going off 'BEEP BEEP BEEP' and the nurse would just casually say 'Sarah i need you to take some deep breaths please'. Apparently I was so tired and in pain when i breathed that i had made my breathing very shallow and my o2 levels were going down. I trained myself that when i heard the 02 sensor going off to take deep breaths because it meant i wasn't breathing very much.

I got rolled into my room and my driverwas there waiting, unfortunately i had to share a room but my roomie was quite nice :) The first day is pretty much a haze. Nurses trying to get me to wake up and take meds, pumping stuff into my IV, taking vitals. I mainly slept. I was having more issues than normal with pain because of the gas they put in. It rises to your shoulders and causes alot of pain in some people. I had tried to attempt to get up to pee but just ended up curling over in pain, clutching the nurse and crying. She was such a sweetheart to me. By night time the grogginess was almost gone. I sat up with my roommate while we watched Monsters Inc. on our TVs and gabbed. She was in for an erupted appendix and had a great sense of humor.

The next morning I was still in quite a bit of pain and we were having troubles finding the right medication for me. I am sensitive to oral pain killers because they make me very very nauseous. A nurse would come in with a couple pills, give them to me... wait a bit then BAM my face would turn pale/green and she would be putting some anti-nausea stuff into my IV. Finally through process of elimination we found some liquid roxicet that seemed to work.

I was in the hospital 7am tuesday and got to leave at 5pm wednesday night. It is a little big longer than normal but they couldn't let me leave without being dependent on ORAL pain killers instead of the IV. I even went for a couple walks (which they require before they let you out, to know you can move around and to get the gas moving around too)