I was supposed to be at the hospital at 6:00am, but my mother insisted that was ridiculous for my 9:00am surgery, so she told me we would "aim" for 6:30, lol. Who am I to fight with my driver?!
We arrived around 6:40ish as we had to take my official BEFORE pics before we left, of course! I will, by the way, update pics every month.
I had to register which meant I had to pay. I refused to pay at my pre-op because they had the wrong dollar amount saying I owed about $950 more than I did. After I paid, I had to go to ambulatory care to provide a urine sample so I could prove I wasn't preggers. I was actually sent home with a kit to bring the sample with me, but wouldn't you know I left the pee in my fridge. Ooops. After that, I was whisked away pretty quickly into the prep area where I had to change into my gown, my party hat, and they hooked me up to the I.V. Several different doctors and nurses came by...they had to verify I knew who I was and what procedure I was getting several hundred times and they needed to look down my throat to see if my airway was clear and all that jazz. My doctor came by, the bariatric coordinator came by, and then a little while later I was given happiness in my I.V. and I don't remember anything after them wheeling me down into the surgical room.
When I came to, I remember feeling pain. They drugged me up. I spent way more time in recovery than my mom thought because they don't let you out until you are awake and whenever I would wake up, I was in pain, so the pain meds would knock me out again. Finally I was awake enough for them to take me to my room, where my mom was waiting. My friend LaShaune's mom works at the same hospital I was at, so she actually showed my mom to my room.
I remember sweating profusely...a cold sweat. It was gross. Once settled, I was told that my blood pressue went sky high in surgery and they had to give me meds for that. Also, my doctor did go ahead and repair my medium sized hiatal hernia. I was given a pain pump with morphine and for the first several hours, I blew that thing up. I looked back at the text messages I sent last Monday and everything was bragging about how awesome morphine is.
As soon as I was able, I began walking laps around my floor. I started off with one lap, returned to my room and used the bathroom and then brushed my teeth. A while later I did two laps, returned to my room, used the bathroom, and brushed my teeth. Still later yet, I did three laps, returned to my room, used the bathroom, and brushed my teeth. You are probably wondering why I brushed my teeth so freaking much. It was the only relief I could get for my awful cotton mouth as I was not allowed to drink anything until my leak test which was to be around 9am on Tuesday.
My mom stayed with me until around 5pm. Pretty sure I bored her to death cuz I kept going in and out of unconsciousness courtesy of morphine. LaShaune's mom came to visit me later in the evening which was very sweet. So basically, I answered texts when I felt up to it, posted on FB that I survived, and walked the halls all while getting my blood pressure and temperature checked every 4 hours, getting breathing treatments every 4 hours, having countless meds added to my I.V., and having my legs gently massaged by these sock like things to help prevent blood clots.
On Tuesday morning, they came to get me for the leak test. I had to drink a sugary clear substance first...this was a "safe" liquid so that if I did have a leak, I would not be harmed by this being released into my abdominal cavity. The second drink they gave me was barium which was basically like a chalky pepto bismol tasting liquid. They told me I passed and I was taken back up to my room. Silly me thought they would bring me the one ounce beverage of my choice following that, but NOOOOO. They needed to wait to hear the "official" results of the test which took 2+ hours. LaShaune's mom came by for another visit - such a sweet lady! =)
Once they got the official results, I was brought a tray with chicken broth, jello, and a water bottle with one ounce medicine cups. I was told to sip, sip, sip. I headed straight for the broth and it was soooo good. It felt a little tight in my chest. After I felt like I conquered that, I went onto the jello. I didn't really care for it as it did not go down as nice as the broth, so I switched back to the broth.
A few seconds later, I found myself heading straight for the bathroom to throw up. I felt extremely nauseous. Wouldn't you know that at that exact same moment my doctor and the bariatric coordinator would come in. They told me I couldn't throw up...it would hurt my new stomach and they helped me breathe through the nausea until I felt better. They warned me about "eating" too fast and I went back to bed and sipped on my broth a bit more until I was ridiculously full.
I then lounged around for way too many hours while my mom and I were waiting for me to be discharged. Finally around 5:30pm, we got my instructions and my prescriptions and we were sent on our way.
Next post will detail my recovery week! =)
2 comments:
I'm so glad to hear everything went well! Can't wait to hear more!
The first week after is the toughest so each day from now on gets better and better, your doing great!
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