The two surgeons who did my procedure
Surgery! 1st day post-op! --Still at the hospital--
on January 24, 2009 4:08 am
Published
Well, I had my surgery on Friday morning/afternoon. All went very smoothly and very well. There were 5 incisions total (including the port). I was a little sad that it took 5 and not 4, but it is what it is. The Dr said it went great with no complications, and everyone said I had the best attitude they'd seen and that it will for sure help in my recovery.
Right when I got to the hospital at 10am, I was admitted for the IV and all that jazz, when they told me I needed to pee in a cup for a mandatory pregnancy test. OH NO!! I truly wished I had known this in advance.. When you haven't drank anything since midnight the night before, and it's 10:30am, AND you peed right before you left the house, there's truly nothing left in your bladder, at least not mine :( I have a nervous bladder anyways and always find it hard to pee in a cup, so I always need to know in advance to mentally prepare myself and make sure I have to go, real bad lol. That's been my trick. So anyways, they put in an IV after I spent 40 mins trying to pee, and pumped me full of 2 bags worth of liquids.. to no avail, no pee. :( I was so upset thinking my surgery was going to be postponed because of this.
The nurses were so sweet and understanding, especially one named Lillian. What a coincidence!! She told me if worst came to worst she would put in a catheter and get the sample that way. She promised to use numbing gel and that no men would be in the room, and stuck to her promise and got it that way. I was so grateful and relieved that she did this. Never once did anyone make me feel bad for being a "dud" lol. They did this right in the OR so I was able to scope out the joint. That's when my nerves finally set in. I was so nervous about the peeing thing that I was never able to worry about the surgery itself haha. So for about 5 mins prior to giving me anethesia, I was shaking like mad. It was uncontrollable I was so scared. Then right when it hit me that it was about to start I started to cry. My eyes welled up and I tried to hide it as I don't normally put my emotions out there for anyone aside from my close family and boyfriend. Then I was told they were giving me medicine to make me feel good and then the anesthesia. Well within 20 seconds of them saying that I felt like I had boozed the night away in the bar haha. I even said that out loud and they all laughed. I don't remember a single thing after that statement. Which is just fine by me :)
I woke up in recovery, and just kept dozing on and off. They kept me there till I seemed fully awake which wasn't until 4pm. The whole time I kept feeling bad for making my family wait so long to see me and then I'd doze right off again! It was nice finally getting to my room and seeing them. My heart lit up when I saw my boyfriend and he held my hand for what seemed like forever.
***
Then the pee saga set in.. again! When I was finally feeling like I had to pee and felt I was conscious enough to get up, I did. Well I tried, until the nurse gave me this "hat" in which hangs on the toilet and you pee into so that they can measure it! Oh god, not this again!! I'm in horrible pain, have to pee and now have to deal with this :( So once again, couldn't pee. For hours. Finally I plead with the nurse about the other bathroom being too noisy (I have 4 people in my hospital room, ALL bearing guests at that moment) She finds me a private empty room with a fresh clean bathroom. I feel much more at ease.. Still can't pee though lol. After 30 mins I finally do, but only a little drop. I know I have to go way more than that though, so I wonder if it's mind over matter. It was. No sooner do I take the hat out, I unleash lol. It felt great and I figured the nurses would rather I actually pee than hold it for a day cos of my pee anxiety. I walk out and see the cleaning crew come dashing in, I tell them no no the nurse needs to come in and measure it (I didn't flush, so she could see the evidence of the rest). By the time I see the nurse, I see the cleaning lady leave the bathroom.. She flushed the toilet and dumped the hat. This effected me so badly, I started to break down in the hospital room. I was so stressed about the situation anyways, and then this, I was afraid if they didn't document it, I wouldn't be able to go home. I have a feeling the medicine and anesthesia wearing off played a factor in my freaking out over this trivial matter. Needless to say, I definitely cried for about ten minutes because of this ordeal.
I calmed down and the nurse was very understanding and just had me guesstimate the amount. After that anytime I had to pee I just went to my private little bathroom and ignored the "hat". I didn't need anymore stress about that. I was slightly displeased on my room situation. 1 bathroom and 4 people all in the same room. There was just a half wall dividing the room, and each section was real small. I always had to rearrange the room to maneuver my IV tree around as I walked by. What killed me was right next door and like everywhere else were bigger 2 person rooms, and even private rooms! With big TVs! I got a 9 inch TV that was attached to my bed. I'm so glad I brought my laptop and some DVDs. And I was able to use the WIFI so I went onto Netflix and watched The Office all night :)
I dozed off for about 20 mins a few times but that was about it. It was just weird being in a hospital. And to make matters worse, some guy kept screaming in agony... ALL NIGHT LONG. That freaked me out. I did A LOT of walking and standing/pacing in my room. I felt so much better when I was up and walking around and could feel the gas pockets move up and I was able to belch. The lovely surgeons pump you full of gas so that they can move their instruments around easier, but then they just leave it in you! So it basically feels like you have a horrible pain in your shoulder blade when the gas settles there. Moving around is the best way to get it to release, hence the belching.
Rob left around midnight, it was nice that he was able to stay past the 8pm visiting hours. The nurse who was ending her shift warned us that the night crew were kinda sticklers for visitors staying and would make a big deal about it so we decided it was best for Rob to go. I missed him but did just fine on my own, better than I thought I would have.
My surgeon just paid me a visit, told me I did fine, and everything is great. He said I was a model patient because I'm doing everything right, including walking- even though no one urged me to. That made me feel good. Right before he came in, I felt great. I feel like this is the best decision I ever made, I can't believe it's finally happened, all my worrying is done now and I can go on living life. Living a new and improved life :) I'm so ready to start the next journey in my life. I'm 25, full of life, and positive outlooks. I can go home today around 10am too, yay!
Anyways, that's that! I lost 16.2lbs prior to surgery, solely due from the mandatory 2-week all liquid diet, and I'm ready to keep the weight loss coming! I can't wait to feel GOOD in a bathing suit this summer :)
No comments:
Post a Comment