ALL DONE!! WOOT!!

Dec 08, 2010

I know that pre-surgery people love to read accounts of what it's like.....so here's my story for y'all....

I was scheduled to report at 10 a.m. for my surgery. At about 6:40 a.m. while I'm getting dressed and checking to be sure I'd packed everything in my bag...the phone rings. It's the hospital. "You were scheduled to be here at 6 a.m.''  "Oh, no I wasn't! I'm scheduled to be there at 10 a.m.''  "Well, they called and left a message for you that you were to be here at 6''  "No, they didn't. The answering machine doesn't have any messages on it, and I was home all day yesterday''  Get the jist of that convo?? LOL

The admit nurse called teh surgeon's office and called me back -- it would all be fine, but we needed to start the hour trip up there right away. So.....my son didn't get to go to kindergarten that day....we all made the trip to the hospital. We made it to the hospital and I go to the desk to check in. "You're two hours late.'' "Oh no I'm not....I'm 2 hours early!'' lol. So then I hightail it upstairs to the same day surgery ward. I was met immediately by the anesthesiologist who apologized that I was not contacted directly about my time change...(interesting that the hospital clerks were snippy about it and I got apologies from every single one of my doctors for the mixup). I got the quick rundown on what was going to happen to zonk me out and got asked the usual questions (did you eat anything, any sickness, any problems breathing etc etc). Then the cardiologist came in.....he explained to me that he was installing an IVC filter before my surgery and that the filter could be removed in the next 6 months or left in permanently. He also let me know that I would already be asleep so I wouldn't remember the filter going in. Okies...no worries. :) Then my surgeon came in and talked to me about what they would be doing, how long I would be in a recovery room, and that they would be getting me up to walk as soon as I was awake enough to safely get up on my own.

A gal came in to start my IV. My veins just didn't want to cooperate....so the IV had to go on the underside of my left wrist. And boy.....I bled like crazy for awhile. But then they injected some good ol' happy juice of some sort into my IV and I don't remember anything else until I woke up in recovery.

My surgery took longer than expected. I zonked out at about 9 a.m. and I came to enough to see what time it was at about 4 p.m. My surgeon came in when I was more awake and explained to me that my liver was large and a bit in the way, so it took longer to complete the surgery. he did say that it was nice and firm due to my sticking to my pre-op liquid diet and that everything looked healthy in there. He said my liver is large basically because I'm so overweight not because it is unhealthy or diseased.

My surgery was completed laprascopically (sp??)....so I have about 8 little 3 inch bandaids across my belly where tools were inserted. I also have a larger hole right in the middle of my tummy where my drain tube was.....it has 3 little staples and then a bit of an open spot where the drain tube came out. The drain was basically a tube with a bulb at the end. They safety pinned it to my hospital gown to keep it from dragging the floor. It filled up every few hours with a clear slightly red fluid from my belly. Kinda gross....but I'd rather have all that ick out than left in there....so it was all good. They had me on oxygen for about four hours after I woke up since my surgery had been long. My mouth was dry dry dry.....that first day all I got to have was ice chips. But boy....those ice chips did the trick! I could have one ice chip every 15 minutes. It was enough to wet my mouth, which was all I wanted.

I really didn't have a lot of pain. Mostly a bit of a sore tummy and some "pulling'' discomfort. It was about 10 p.m. that night before they let me get up and walk the hall. I was really groggy for a long time from the anesthesia and most of the afternoon was spent between sleeping and being groggily awake. When I could focus, they let me get up. Then the burping started....LOL  Totally unladylike belching....uncontrollable. The walking really really really made me feel better! So between periods of resting, I got up and walked around the hall pulling my IV with me, burping all the way. lol.

The day after my surgery I got to have clear liquids. So they brought me a tray with decaf coffee, chicken broth, sugar free jello, and crystal light. I didn't like the crystal light -- it was like it was made too strong. Just too sharp of a flavor. I was supposed to drink 1/2 ounce every 15 minutes, or as close to that as possible. I really didn't have any problems swallowing or with keeping down the liquids. The nutritionist came in at lunchtime and said that if I wasn't having any problems with the liquids that I could just go to sipping as was comfortable for me....just to take it slowly and to try to take in as little air as possible.

My pain/discomfort was well managed with medication every 4 hours, and they gave me some nexium in my IV for the little bit of nausea I had.

That night they had to remove my IV. My vein finally had enough fluid, and the stuff was just pooling in my left arm. My hand, wrist and lower arm to the elbow was swollen up about two times the size of my right arm. I was drinking fluids just fine.....so the nurse was happy to remove it. No more dragging along an IV cart on my hall walks!!

This morning I was feeling really good (still a bit of discomfort, but much improved). For breakfast they brought me decaf coffee, sugar free carnation breakfast with some fat free skim milk, sugar free jello, and some orange crystal light that wasn't so strong. I just slowly sipped and enjoyed it. My tummy was a bit nauseous, but the milk helped with that problem.

All in all -- I came out of surgery with very little pain, and no discernable complications yet. I know those might arise as I go along....so I'm just going to be mindful of how I feel and follow their directions. I do have a few minor little things -- my mouth is torn up a bit from the breathing tube, my IV bruised my left arm like crazy, and I have a few muscle pains here and there -- but other than that, I came out pretty easy from a surgery this major. It really is true when they say some people have major bad pain afterwards and some have hardly any. So far, I'm on the hardly any end of things.

I'm on "full liquid'' diet until my appointment on the 16th. So I'm going to follow their directions and see what happens in the next few days! I'm staying away from the scale though -- I know all this fluid they put into me will have my weight up. No sense in weighing until my appointment date.

Had a few spoonfuls of cream of chicken soup, and I have a small glass of water to sip on. So far so good!!!

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