A Life Changing Surgery

I know I promised this the other day, and I had most of it written out when my tablet ate it. Sigh.

The day before my surgery I wasn’t nervous at all about the surgery, actually very excited. The only thing I was nervous about was that we hadn’t set up childcare for the boys, so TJ decided to bring the boys to the hospital. The only saving grace was that my mom was going to be coming to the hospital too.

7:30am Arrival

We arrived at 7:30am, the boys with their bag full of fun and me with my empty stomach.

They took us back to the pre-op room, a room divided by curtains to wait for the doctors to take me back. It was a rather small space for me and all three of the boys. Zane sat on the chair, TJ stood and Zarek decided he wanted to “sit” with mommy on my bed.

Zarek was so sweet he snuggled down and laid very quietly while the nurse did all her work on me. The nurse was so sweet when she took my temp, she took his. She also let him play with the oxygen sensor (you know the little alligator clip that goes on your finger). He started having too much fun and getting too wild, so the next nurse asked the boys to leave.

I was okay with her asking them to leave, I was worried that they were disturbing other patients.

The Nerves

This became the hardest time for me. As I sat there alone I had nothing but my own thoughts to keep me entertained.

Some people shake when they get nervous, some start feeling sick, me I start crying.

The poor nurse felt bad thinking I was crying because she sent away my family, but it wasn’t her fault and I let her know I appreciated her sending them out.

I was okay as long as the nurses talked with me and were working on me. But then a nurses change came and I was left alone.

The Blessing

As I lay their sniffling to myself staring at the ceiling, praying and counting the ceiling tiles an older lady stuck her head around the curtain. She asked if she could come sit with me.

She was one of the hospital Chaplains. She sat with me and chit chatted with me, which helped me a lot. She then offered to get me some magazines which I was very happy to get since getting my mind on anything but the ceiling tiles helped.

She quickly came back with some magazines and then a few minutes later showed up with my mother.

The Waiting

Once my mom came we had to decide who would stay and who would go home with the boys. At first I really wanted TJ to stay, but we decided to have my mom stay since it meant less hassle with car seats. I’m actually really glad it was my mom it was a nice time to spend with her. I did ask that TJ stay until they took me back

During the wait I met multiple nurses, saw the surgeon, the Physician’s Assistant (which I was so excited was my favorite one!), and met the funny anesthesiologist. He was a very quirky guy. He would throw in childlike jokes throughout his questions. It became a game when TJ knew the answers to the first couple, he was bound and determined to find one TJ didn’t know and then one that made TJ laugh.

“What did the three legged dog say when he walked into the bar? >>> I’m looking for the man who shot my paw.”

More Waiting

My surgery was scheduled for 11:30 but about 10:00 they said the surgery before me should be quick and they would be able to take me back in 20 minutes. Something must have taken longer in the surgery than the expected because by 11:30 I let TJ know he could just take the boys home for lunch as they had been their way too long.

Letting them go was a good thing because finally they came and got me at 12:30.

The Ride

The anesthesiologist was the one to take me to the OR. He wound my bed through the people and then when the hall cleared he started running down the hall.

“We’re going to take those stairs okay?” As he headed straight for a flight of stairs and started going faster.

He quickly took a left right before the stairs then flew to the left  and right again straight into the elevator. I felt like I was on the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disneyland!

The OR

I don’t remember much about the OR just about some talk about my nails and how the nurse was envious because she couldn’t have her nails painted due to work. Then the talk turned around to pedicures. I remember laughing as they plugged in my leg wraps that massaged my legs to make sure I didn’t get a blood clot, a fear I had after several friends taking blood clot medicine have had complications and launched Xarelto lawsuits. I said it was like I was at a pedicure not having surgery. And that was the last thing I remember.

The Recovery

Some people are moaners or screamers when they wake up from surgery, me I’m Miss Polite. I remember just saying thank you, please, and “I appreciate that” throughout my waking up. So I guess I’m the patient nurses want to have in the recovery room. LOL When I woke up my pain was about a 5  then went to a 6 and so the nurse gave me something for the pain which worked right away.

I was then moved back to a curtained room to do the rest of my recovery and I was reunited with my mom.

To be able to leave I was required to sip one ounce of water every 15 minutes for 2 hours, be able to pee, be able to walk around, and to understand the instructions on my breathing exercises.

My mom fed me my water every 15 minutes, I loved that we used a dollar tree timer to time it out.

My pain went up a little again ( I want to say it was a 3 or 4) and the nurse gave me some pain medicine that was liquid. It instantly brought my pain down to 0. I don’t think the nurse believed me. The only bad thing was the taste of the medicine stayed in my mouth and when I sat up to take my next drink of water I started gagging.

Nothing came up with the gagging, except air, which I was warned I would have a lot of air coming up do to the air they put in me for surgery. Once I got my next drink of water I did much better.

We did a lot of walking and talking. Lots of sips and trips to the bathroom. It took me a long time to be able to go, I figured it was the fact I hadn’t had very much to eat of drink for over 12 hours, but also learned later that the pain meds make it hard to go.

Going Home

I don’t remember much about the trip home, but I remember we didn’t leave until about 5:30 so we hit a little traffic. I gave my mom directions on how to miss some traffic go the back ways, which I’m proud we didn’t get ourselves lost with how loopy I was on those drugs.

We made it home and TJ got me snuggled down with a little broth and the rest of the day is a blur.

Learn more about how I came to my decision about weight loss surgery.