The Hospital Chronicles - Episode 1: Surgery "Day"

Since I have been recovering, I haven't had much energy to work on the blog, so I thought I would do the whole hospital experience in a series named the Hospital Chronicles (much like the Laundromat Chronicles for those who knew me then).

Episode 1: Surgery "Day"

My friend Rachel told me that the reason it's called your surgery "day" and not your surgery "time" is because you can wait for freaking hours until it's convenient for them to actually do your surgery. I got a phone call the morning of my surgery and the nice girl asked me if I could come an hour earlier than my planned time of 11:30. I said "YOU BET!" We ran around and got there at 10:30 and then the nice lady wrote down my name and we sat in the surgery waiting area until 12:15. That's okay, it's my surgery "day." I really didn't mind, but it's one of those things that you kind of want it to be over as soon as possible so you can start the process of getting OUT of the hospital as soon as possible.

So I went to the pre-op room where they immediately take away your underpants. Underpants in the hospital are forbidden. So are socks. So I got a gown, paper boots and a paper shower cap. The 2 girls that prepped me were kind of mean, but they were also funny. I said to the one putting in my IV, "now don't get any air bubbles in there." The other girl laughed and said, "Nah, give her a whole line of air bubbles..." Funny.

Then they made my sisters come back and wait in the room with me until it was time to go. I'm glad for that otherwise I would never have gotten to hear the arguement they had about whether the government was actually responsible for the attacks of 9/11.

When it was time to go, they made me walk into the OR! That was weird! It was really bright, and COLD! I got up on the table and all these people started doing stuff to me. Now aren't they supposed to give you something to help you "relax?" I don't remember getting that. So here I was laying on the table and the cute little anesthesiologist gave me some medicine in my IV and said, "Now, Annette, this is for nausea because we don't want you to feel sick. But it might give you double vision." So I closed my eyes... and then opened my eyes and sure enough - it filled me eyes with that double vision. There was no disguising - that double vision. And so I just shut my eyes and decided to keep them shut.

Don't remember much after that. I remember waking up and being wheeled through the giant Jurassic Park door to the ICU. They moved me to the bed and hooked up my Borg attachements and then pretty much let me sleep.

The nurses in the ICU are very gentle and attentive. They didn't jerk me when they moved me, and didn't sigh when I asked for some ice chips. They did ask me to sit up on the edge of the bed. Now, this experience I was not prepared for. It might not have been so bad, but the doctor decided to fix my massive hernia in addition to the bypass.

Having a 12-inch slice down the middle of your belly, that's stapled shut, and not one, but TWO drainage tubes in your gut is not only a strange feeling when you're lying down, but try sitting up from the laying on your back position. Man, I will not lie to you - it hurt and it hurt BAD! I'm guessing most of the pain was due to the hernia fix. In any case, I did it and it hurt and all I wanted to do then was lay back down and go to sleep. So I did.

I was okay that night - of course the morphine didn't hurt. I slept on and off but woke up pretty much every hour. Oh well, it was good because that day was over. The day I was dreading. Little did I know.

So the first day (the "day" of your surgery) is mostly forgotten - except for that pain part. I haven't forgotten that yet. It's okay to be frightened and nervous because I don't think we as humans can squelch those things. Just remember that if you've picked the people and the hospital, you have to give yourself over to them. Let them do their job because they will do it best if you aren't freaking out.

Stay tuned for Episode 2: The "Incident"