Well, months of prep have lead up to my big day. Here’s the gist of it… I’m home and resting. For the story see below.
I reported to the hospital @ 6:30am on Thursday morning. Right on time. The nurse wasted no time getting me hooked up to my IV fluids. My surgery was scheduled for 8:30am. At about 7:30am, I said bye to Jay and my friend Kathy (bless her heart, came down from Raleigh to help us.) and they wheeled me back to preop. It was there that I met with the anesthesiologists. He was super nice and said they were going to give me something to relax me. Here’s the best part: he asked me how much I wanted! “It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m the bartender!” was what he said. I told him, “let’s celebrate!”. We both laughed and before I knew it, I was being wheeled into the OR. They asked me to move over to the operating table, and it was the most difficult thing I had ever done! My whole body felt like it weighed a ton!
Once I was on the OR table, I basically passed out. The next thing I remembered was being wheeled into recovery and what seemed like three people where very busy working with my arms. The recovery nurse was very attentive, and said that all of my incisions looked really good. This surprised me, as there was only going to be one, but now there are five! I swear, looking at my belly, it looks like I took a shot gun blast to the gullet!
After a while, I’m moved into my room and Jay and Kathy soon follow. It was cool, they knew I was heading to my room because I was given a unique ID number. Jay and Kathy used this number to track my progress in the surgery waiting room. Surgery began at 8:18am and ended at 9:09 – ahead of schedule.
I stayed in my room until almost 1pm, where I then had to go to radiology to do a “leak” test. They checked to make sure the fluid I drank went through my stomach, with no leaks. Success, so I went back to my room, where the nurse asked me to pee. I did so with no problem. So, it was time to go home. I was home by 2:30pm.
I slept a lot on Thursday. Was VERY Sore on some of the incision sights. Getting up and down was very, very hard. I tried to get up several times to walk around the house, but moving around was tough.
Friday was so much better. Still sore, but doing better in general. I only had three doses of pain meds (roxicett – a combination of tylenol and oxycotin!)
As of today, I’ve had one half dose of the meds. I took it in an attempt to lay down and sleep (so far, I’ve been sleeping in the recliner in the living room.)
The strangest observences thus far:
1. Jay’s guilt. Jay admitted last night that he is extremely guilty eating in front of me, as I’m only allowed to drink protein shakes. It’s not been a problem for me at all, as I honestly have not been hungry. Jay think there should be more prep for those living with the surgery candidates on how to handle the guilt.
2. Dreams – I have twice had dreams involving food. Last night, I dreamed that I had gone to work, and we had a big pot luck lunch. I grabbed a plate, and before I knew it, I was about to eat! I think this simply shows how very much addicted to food I am. I have realized more in the past 48 hours how much I ate for the sake of eating. Not because I was hungry. Amazing….
So, I stay on the protein for a few more days, and then I graduated to mushy foods. My stomach has growled non stop.
I can’t begin to thank everyone for their support, ears, messages and general concern. I have a fantastic support structure.