Surgery Day

May 19, 2012

Arrived at the Vic early and had a very short wait for my paperwork, headed down the hall to the surgery dept. and had another short wait.  A volunteer got me and took me to get changed into a gown with second gown as a housecoat.  She packed up my clothes into a bag and labeled it and my overnight bag with my name, weighed me and  then got me settled into a chair to wait for the nurse.  She told me I had lost 20 lbs on my pre op diet.  A male nurse and a student came to insert my IV and the adventure begins.  The student ( who seemed very nervous ) attempted the IV in my left hand with the nurse watching closely but he was not able to get it in as my veins are small and changed direction.  So then the nurse attempted it in my right hand and had the same problem as the student.  Then they start looking up my arm and the inside of my elbow and now I am getting nervous.  I tell the nurse I would prefer it in my hand not in my arm, so he makes a third attempt in my hand and gets it in, yeah!! 

The nurse came by to check all of my information and gave me a shot of Heparin in my arm to help prevent blood clots.  Then Dr, Ross the anesthetist came to talk to me about putting me under.  Then after what seemed like a very long wait Dr. Andrew came by to go over the procedure, get my signature on the consent form and answer any questions I had.  I am feeling better now, and ready to go.  It's about 11:30 now and I was scheduled for10:45 am surgery.  An orderly comes to walk me to the OR.  I'm feeling excited and anxious as we walk down the long hallways, but I am ready, no regrets, no thoughts of backing out.....which I worried I would have.  The nurse greeted me and checked my info another time and then I was walking into the OR  It was bright and busy,  3 or 4 people rushing around getting things ready.  I was helped onto the table, lied back, they put each of my arms onto a board and strapped them to the board explaining that they were doing it so they wouldn't fall off during the surgery.  I joked that it felt a bit like being strapped into an electric chair.....(not funny at all...did I really just say that?  Must be nervous )  They put an oxygen mask on my face and tell me to breathe deeply, I remember taking about 5 or 6 deep breathes and then some said "Have a good sleep" and that 's the last I remember.

The next thing I remember is waking up a bit, feeling very sore on my lower back, hip and stomach, someone was helping me roll onto my side a bit and someone was asking me what my pain number was.  I think I said 7 and she said she would give me some more morphine and it should take effect in a few minutes.  Then I remember feeling the bed moving and thinking that if they didn't slow down and take the corners easier I was going to throw up.  I heard us enter the elevator and felt us going up and then I was out again.  The first time I really remember waking up fully was about 4:30 in my room and a nurse coming in right away to see how I was feeling.   I got more pain meds, started drinking water from 30 ml cups and dozed on and off.  This was the pattern for the whole night.  I felt pretty good, considering what I had been through.  I was waiting for the "Why did I do this to myself" feeling but it didn't happen.  I just kept thinking this isn't as bad as I had imagined and I can get through this.  I remember reading that the first 24hours is the worst and the amount of change is incredible.  I couldn't do the deep breathing and coughing that the nurses wanted me to do to help with the effects of the anesthetic as I was having constant muscle spasms across the top of my stomach and sharp pains when I breathed in.

I slept for no more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time and was awake allot watching the hours tick by. I found the beds very uncomfortable but mostly from the aspect that I suffer from sciatic nerve pain in my left hip and lower back and being on my back on the hard surgery table had really caused it to act up.  I was concerned with the fact the I had numbness and tingling up my left forearm and my thumb and first two fingers.  The nurses talked to the doctors and said it was probably just from the way my arm was strapped to the board during surgery. 

That was surgery day and the first night, as I reread it I am thinking it sounds worse than it was.

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