TT - Day 1 - Surgery

At the time I am typing this up, I am about 10 hours post-op.

I was quite anxious when going into surgery although I didn't do as poorly as I thought I would when they took pre-op pictures. Stand this way.  Turn that way.  Sit here.

I had to take a concoction of pills along with an anti-acid drink to aid during and after the surgery. It was to help prevent nausea from the anesthesia. The nurse suggested, "Put the pills in your mouth and wash them down with the anti-acid drink. You know, like a shot".  That made me laugh on the inside.  I can't do shots, the liquid gets stuck in my mouth.  I momentarily forget how to swallow.  Needless to say, I got it down after holding it in my jaws and breaking it up into two swallows. After that, I was marked like a piece of meat, a line drawn here, a line drawn there and another and another.

I continued to feel anxious as I walked into the surgery room only dressed in a robe and some tacky little paperish thong panties still being worn from the pictures taken. I climbed up on the surgical table/gurney, disrobed and was then draped with a heated blanket.  Two nurses were busy with their duties hooking me up to the blood pressure machine, placing the air pump machine between my calves to help with circulation and prevention of blood clots (along with my TED hose I was already wearing).

The anesthesiologist inserted an IV as he asked a few questions, probably to see how aware I was so he could measure my responses as he sent me into la la land.  He said as he made friendly conversation "You'll be gone in about a minute".  That was no lie.  I felt the burn of the medicine being administered and remember being gone with what felt like a matter of seconds.

I was pretty groggy following and remained that way on the way home.  I barely remember getting in the car and I don't even remember how or who put my shirt, robe and slippers on.  I vaguely remember a phone call from my daughter checking on me but didn't speak with her because I was still too out of it.

I had a severe case of cotton mouth and presumed it was a side affect from the medicine administered by the anesthesiologist, that or a result of the concoction taken prior to surgery.  I tried to eat some toast after arriving home but it seemed that my mouth got even drier and I had to drink something with each bite so I was able to swallow. I took a pain pill to help with any discomfort that I would soon be feeling and to also help me sleep.

I rested for a bit, then according to schedule (every three hours) I had to get up for a bit to walk around.  After being up for a short while, I was still feeling somewhat groggy and went laid back down.  I actually woke up before time to get up and move around again.  So being the Miss Independent that I am, I tried to get up by myself and was unsuccessful.  So I asked for help.

I've been up for nearly two hours now.  I got on Skype with my oldest daughter (she wanted to check on me) who lives in Canada and I have eaten a little bit of chicken and a few bites of potatoes that my mom brought over.  She'll be staying the night to help too.  Although, the best help from her is just her company rather than her actually helping.

Now after being up for a bit longer, I'm not feeling a whole lot of pain, not really a whole lot of discomfort. Yet. I think I may take a half of a pain pill as it has been almost 8 hours since the first one.  I'm not a fan of pain medication but also know that I need to take it to prevent being uncomfortable unnecessarily.

Surgery done.  Let the recovery phase begins.

On a side note, I had hoped to post this last night but felt that I probably should go lay down and review it again later.  Good thing for spell check because there were several misspellings.  It really let me know how I was a tad bit loopy last night.