April 19, 2012: It is 4:00 a.m. the morning of surgery and I can't sleep. I decide to log on to the computer and send a couple of emails for work. Later today, my sister is taking the boys to stay with her until I am home from the hospital. I double-check their bag to be sure I've packed everything they'll need. By 6:45 a.m. I'm ready to go. I wake the boys and they get dressed for school.
I have to be at the hospital by 7:30 a.m and it is time for me to leave. I give both boys a kiss and a huge hug. I reassure them that I will be home in a couple of days and that everything would be ok. I ask them to be nice to each other and to be good listeners while they were at their Aunt's house.
Vanilla and I arrive at the hospital exactly on time. I have never had surgery and had no idea of what to expect. There wasn't a person I encountered at the hospital who wasn't friendly, helpful and professional. As soon as I sign in, I'm escorted to the area where they prepare you for surgery. Vanilla is directed to stay behind until I am prepped and then he will be able to wait with me.
And so it begins.
They walk me back to a huge green tiled room with beds and privacy curtains around each. The room looks familiar to me. I remember the green tiled walls from the time in Kindergarten when I ate an entire bottle of baby aspirin and had to have my stomach pumped in the hospital's ER. I wonder if this room used to be part of the old ER. A nurse has me confirm my name and date of birth. Next, she put an ID bracelet on each of my wrists. She also added another bracelet to my left wrist containing a series of tiny stickers with the same ID number on each. Then she has me remove all of my clothing, change in to a hospital gown, and get in to the bed. In this moment, I'm so happy that I had a pedicure. The nurse even complements how cute my toes look.
The nurse preparing me is precise and quick -- like she's done this thousands of times. She is completing forms, check lists and adding them to my huge chart. The anesthesiologist comes in and has me confirm my name and date of birth. He removes one of the tiny stickers from the bracelet on my left wrist and places it on my paperwork. He checks my IV line, asks me a series of questions and advises me that my surgeon will be by to see me shortly.
Finally, Vanilla is allowed to come back to wait with me. He is calm and reassuring as he holds my hand. The nurse takes my overnight bag and places an ID bracelet around it. She also tags my CPAP machine before passing it a colleague who will check it out to be sure it operates correctly. Both my bag and CPAP will follow me to my room after my procedure. Just like a five star hotel!
My surgeon arrives at my bedside with a reassuring, confident smile. He introduces me to the nurse anesthetist who will be working with him on my case and tells me they've worked together for the past 20 years. It makes me feel better. He tells me he'll see me after the procedure and to relax. Apparently, before they operate on you, the surgeon has to mark the area of your body being operated on with a black Sharpie marker. My doctor marks a star in the area right below my diaphragm and it signaled to the rest of the team that we were ready to get started.
Vanilla gives me a kiss and tells me he'll see me when I'm in recovery. The nurse puts my hair under a surgical cap and has them wheel me to the area just outside the operating room called Holding and Prep. It was a dimly lit room with monitors. I was placed directly in front of the operating room door. I could see a brightly lit, white room with huge lights coming down from the ceiling. It reminded me of something from a movie. It felt surreal.
An OR nurse introduces herself and lets me know that she would be working with doctor during my procedure. She also tells me that she had the exact same procedure performed by the same doctor seven months before. She told me she had lost 62 lbs.and was feeling so much better. She even started running -- something she never did previously. She has no idea how comforting her words were to me or what a positive feeling she left with me. It was perfect.
Before I know it, the big doors to the operating room open and I'm wheeled in. The people in the room work quickly and methodically. I remember the anesthesiologist having me slide down so that my lower shoulders were against some type of back rest which made me tilt my head back. That was all she wrote.
The next thing I remember is being told to take a deep breath. The procedure was over and I was in recovery. I was so relieved that I didn't check-out on the table! I had made it! The nurses took me up to my room in the ICU. By 4:15, my nurse helped me out of bed and I was sitting up in a chair.
No comments:
Post a Comment