week 1 part 1

Mar 27, 2011

WEEK 1                 The day of my surgery has gone just as quickly it came, yet with much more force and left my body with permanent alterations. I am still adjusting to these changes, learning how to eat, and being active. The biggest surprise for me was how much pain I was in when I woke up from the anesthesia. But first, these are the details accounting getting ready for the surgery and my thoughts and reactions upon arriving to the operating room.                 Mu aunt didn’t want to begin traveling at 2 a.m. to get to Cleveland Clinic so she suggested we stay the night at the guesthouse. Luckily we were able to add Wednesday night onto our reservation with such short notice. I did get a little bit of sleep before the surgery, much to my surprise. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and we left by 4:30 to get to the surgical building. The one way streets made it tricky. There were already some people in line at the P20 desk when I arrived. When it was my turn, they gave us a pager and some paperwork. I listened to relaxation music and sat and talked to Ryan. At 5:30 a.m. they called me back to the pre-op room to get me ready for surgery. I wasn’t overly nervous but it did rise when we were called back to the room. Ryan was told he could go with me but they were told they had leave the room (Judy and Ryan). It took more than 30 minutes for me to take a pregnancy test, check my blood sugar, change my clothes, and answer all the questions she asked me. The nurse gave me a special wrist band that said allergy in addition to the regular one that had my name and a barcode on it. Until the nurses came to put my IV in, my family was allowed to come back with me in the pre-op room. They put my IV in and talked to me a little bit and then let my family come back to say goodbye to me. Ryan gave me a few kisses and I told him I would see him after a while. There were no tears until I was getting ready to get wheeled back. The surgeon stopped the transporter and asked for a few minutes with me. He, the surgeon, looked at me in the eyes and told me everything would be fine and that I would do great and told me that someone would tell my family when I was out of surgery. I was overwhelmed by his kindness to the extent that I had peace over the situation. No more worries: I was going to be okay.                 I had to wait outside of the waiting room for around 30 minutes they said because the nurses and anesthesiologists were getting the room ready. I wasn’t excessively nervous; I was at total peace. I sat there thinking peaceful thoughts, said a few words to God, and watching every time the OR door opened. The nurse talked to me about what to expect and the resident for anesthesiology said the medication to relax me would be given closer to when the surgery began. I did see him inject something into my IV but I’ll never know for sure what it was. Since I didn’t go right out, I’ll assume it was anxiety medication because I was starting to get anxious when they were putting the mask on me but I immediately calmed down. I was fighting them to go under, meaning I wasn’t taking deep enough breaths and I was straining to keep my eyes awake. Before long however, all the voices, sounds, and sights were gone. That is until I heard my name being called and felt like a semi-truck was sitting on me! I was really shocked that they woke me up in the operating room. I guess they wanted to know how easy it would be. The only thing I remember after that was them sliding me over to the bed which was going to the recovery floor.  The next time I opened my eyes was between 30 and 60 minutes later and the nurse was saying how well I was doing. It took a long time but she let my family come back until she had another patient to put next to me. I got out of surgery at 10 a.m. Ryan said and I got to my room at 2 p.m. There was so much waiting!                

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