Friday, July 31, 2009

Surgery Day

Until today, I haven't really been up to posting about the surgery, which I'm sure is understandable. :)

My surgery was scheduled for July 28. On Monday (the 27th), they called and let me know what time to be there. Unfortunately, it was 6:15am (ew). But hey, better to get it over with earlier. So I drove over to Palm Bay Hospital with my mom and we got there ~6am. Sat in the waiting room a couple minutes until the lady called me over to sign the consent forms and get my bracelet. She then told us to go around the corner to the pre-op room (whatever it's called). I got undressed, put on the gown, and got into the bed. A nurse came over and to give me all my medications. She numbed my hand before she put the IV in. I was given:

Decadron - Anti-inflammatory & anti-emetic (prevent nausea)
Versed - Sedative/relaxation
Zofran - Blocks chemicals that cause nausea/vomiting
Reglan - Increases stomach emptying and decreases nausea/vomiting/heartburn/fullness
Zantac - Decreases gastric acid secretions
Heparin - Anticoagulant

The funny part is that she says, "The good thing is that we're going to be giving you all your medications through your IV'. I say, "What about the Heparin?" She's like, "Oh, yeah...that's true. And I usually pride myself on my honesty". So after a little while she gets the needle ready for the Heparin shot. Another nurse sees it and goes, "Oh, ouch". LOL!! Thanks, lady. So she pinches my stomach and injects it. It burned, but it wasn't horrible. So I was like, "That wasn't so bad". But then the burning gets worse after the needle is taken out! Ok, still wasn't horrible... but it didn't feel good.

The anesthesiologist comes in and talks to me. Then the anesthesiologist assistant comes in. Then a couple nurses (one guy, one girl). Then they wheeled me off to the OR. Once I got into the OR, I slid over onto the operating table. They put an oxygen mask over my face. Next thing you know, I'm waking up in the recovery room. I don't remember falling asleep at all. I don't really remember what happened after I was woken up, either. Everything was really blurry. Luckily (and due to several medications that prevented nausea), I wasn't nauseous after surgery at all. One of the first things I remember saying was asking if I had a hiatal hernia, which they said I did not. Surgeon came by. I was told the surgery went great, no problems whatsoever, blah blah. They gave me a picture of my stomach with the band, but it disappeared and didn't come home with us. And I'm not sure if the nurse in the recovery room knew much about this surgery, lol. First she asked me if I wanted some soda/Ginger ale. I'm like, "Huh?" Later on she asked if I had gotten the band or if I was there for a fill, because she thought I was just there for a fill. Oooook. At one point I got up and went to the bathroom. Ow. Getting up hurt like a bitch. But I could pee, yay! Even if it was like... pee, stop, pee, stop, pee, stop instead of a steady stream.

My mom also came in to see me, which I found out was like 1-1/2 hours after the surgery. She was in the waiting room and was told someone would get her, but they never did. So she went to the desk and asked if she could see me. They said yes, but that she couldn't stay, because it was too crowded in the room. So she came and said hi, then left. I tried to get some sleep, but couldn't... There were men on both sides of me that SNORED and I'm a very light sleeper. Plus, it was just really loud in there. And those compression stockings were annoying. And I had a blood pressure cuff that took my blood pressure every 5 minutes.

So eventually I went home. Someone came in and helped me get dressed. I'm usually very worried about being naked in front of other people, but I just really didn't give a shit. So my mom drove me home. I sat in the recliner most of the day, other than to get up and walk a little bit. Painkillers don't really work very well for me, so I was in a lot of pain.

The surgeon also filled me up about 2cc. I was able to drink just fine. Didn't have to do a barium swallow or get any other shots. They also didn't weigh me, but I know I lost 10lbs on the pre-op diet (which was just 7 days). I lost 5 prior to that and another 5 since the surgery. Surgery lasted 1.5 hours.

Before the surgery, I had acid reflux. Haven't had any. Before the surgery I had this weird single hiccup thing I did like 30 times a day. Haven't done it once.

That's about it... Will post about the following days later.

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