Ontario54
RNY Surgery - June 7, 2013
Jun 14, 2013
I arrived at St Joes at 11:00 am for my 2:00 pm surgery with Dr. Gmora. Everything was organized and went pretty well. My youngest daughter took the day off and stayed with me until they told her they would be taking me down to surgery. Dr Gmora came and asked if I was excited to be having the surgery. I was honestly neither anxious or excited...more relieved the day was here. I had made all the preparations at home to make things easier but didn't get my will details, etc. updated. (Things someone at my age would have more on their minds, I suppose.)
In the operating room they strap you in. I don't mean a couple of straps but enough straps you know you aren't going anywhere. My arms were even put on memory foam and it looked like I was going to be cruxified. (I made a joke about it in the operating room.) The next thing I know the anesthesiologist starts telling me something....not the usual counting numbers or telling me how I'll feel or I'm going to sleep....just thought it was part of what was going on around me. Next thing I know I'm trying to wake up in the recovery room.
Then I wake up and I'm in my hospital room on the 6th floor with my youngest children (twin boy/girl) and my son's girlfriend...all smiling at me. Now the rest is an account from them as I don't remember everything clearly as I was also on Morphine. They tell me I said:
"I woke up! I woke up!" (Clearly I was more anxious than I thought.)
"Drugs are bad for the mind."
"James, I really, really love you even if I don't see you very much right now." (He's been working part-time at George Brown in Toronto and working late hours developing a video game with his friend, Michael. They are both Software Gaming Development graduates of George Brown.)
I was surprised that I was not in as much pain as I anticipated. The morphine definitely helped. By Saturday night I asked to be switched to the Tylenol medication I would be taking at home as I was uncomfortable but not in pain. Never minimize the discomfort of built up gas. I didn't have any problems walking. Passing gas is a celebration which I find amusing in all of this but definitely something that you have to do.
The girl next to me had the same surgery by the same doctor and was only 33 years old in comparison to my older self at 58. Unfortunately she had pain in her chest area and her heart rate was very fast. They took a CT scan but couldn't find anything and we thought she wouldn't have to have surgery again but they decided to do an exploratory. Well, they found a minute tear in her stomach and repaired that but found nothing else. When she woke up she didn't have the pain and her heart rate was now in the lower 100s but definitely still not good. She had to go another 24 hours with just the moisture swabs. When I was released on Sunday they had told her the heart rate was due to an infection or inflammation and would have to monitor her. I hope she is on her road to a full recovery.
My son and his girlfriend took me home and stayed with me Sunday night.
