"...let us all be thankful"

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." - Buddha

Day 0 - Surgery (Tuesday, September 22)

Thank God for great surgeons, anesthesiologists, and admissions nurses -- and at the very top of the list a husband with the patience of Job. Let's finish that list with the wonders of Versed.

The admissions RN had a very pragmatic matter about her and a somewhat dry wit -- a perfect match for me. After changing into the chic (hypoallergenic in my case) hospital gown and booties I was freezing. She turn on a groovy hot air filled blanket for me that had me toasty warm in a heartbeat. After signing a million more release forms (and yes, Fern, I took your advice -- I didn't read ANY of them -- after all, I already knew the major risks), she took my BP and it was a little high -- what a shocker. :)

The anesthesiologist had called me the night before and had given me "permission" to have him paged an hour before surgery if I felt the need for any anxiety reduction assistance. He told me I had to see the OR RN too before any chemical help would be available to I asked the admissions RN to get the OR RN and then to page the anesthesiologist.

The OR RN came in and was again nicely compassionate, clear and direct -- love that type of RN! She very nicely distracted me with yet more paperwork while the admissions RN inserted the IV. Yay, it worked the first time. I have awful veins so this was a very good thing.

In the interim the anesthesiologist answered the page and the admissions RN administered a small dose of Versed. I love Versed -- almost instant relaxation and no memory at all of anything after the 2nd dose about half an hour later.

The admissions RN also added a sticky to the anesthesiologist's paperwork asking him to help me visualize pink, purple and white lights as he put me under, as Jayne so kindly suggested. I remember discussing this with him in between Versed doses and he noted lots of people have requests like this and lots to play visualization and relaxation tapes. Kinda cool.

I loved the anesthesiologist, but both John and I can't help but wonder if he's tried any of his own meds along the way. Talk about Dr. Mellow! If he were any more laid back he'd be asleep!

I asked John to describe my pre-op demeanor to me. I was surprisingly a whole lot more relaxed than either of us expected the night before and the morning of -- up until I climbed up onto that gurney. Then panic started to set in until that first dose of Versed came. After the 2nd dose of Versed John reports I was almost as relaxed as Dr. Mellow. :)

They wheeled me into the OR around 8:45 and around 11:10 my surgeon came out to talk to John. She said everything came out great and the laparoscopic surgery was much easier than she expected -- likely due to the more than 60 pound weight loss I had before the procedure.

Apparently they kept me in recovery a lot longer than the anticipated. 1 hour At first there was an issue with what room I was going to be moved to and as soon as that was resolved my blood pressure became unstable.

About 2.5 hours later I was stable and taken to 2428. Fortunately I had a private room -- I understand they try to do that for all of the patients going through this procedure because of food issues. The smell of real food today, even the thought of it, (and I'm typing this 5 days after surgery from home) makes me instantly nauseous.

John reports my spending the rest of the time he was with me (until around 9 PM) as in and out of sleep. God bless morphine. The clock rapidly became my best friend -- every 10 minutes I religiously pushed that button.

One of the biggest things I remember is being incredibly dry-mouthed. I knew I wouldn't be allowed any fluids until the leak test was performed the day after surgery. It was great having John there and being prepared for this so knew to ask for some mouth swabs. He kindly got me some and they provided great relief. The RN came in a few hours later and gave me some really tart lemon-lime flavored ones that helped even more. She also brought me some heavenly lip moisturizer.

The other thing I remember was the pain. My abdomen was incredibly distended from all the gas they'd pumped me up with (still somewhat uncomfortably distended 5 days later) and my shoulders hurt a lot. I was really grateful for Sue's email reminding me that was also a side-affect of all the gases. The main pain was where the JP drain was installed. Ugh. Apparently it was necessary because I swear at least a liter of fluid was extracted over those first two days, but just imagine a foot or two of plastic tubing under your skin on top of the stomach that had just been cut up and you'll get a sense of what it felt like.

Nurse Ratched was assigned to me on the night shift -- although I didn't connect fully with this analogy until I ended up with her a second night the next night -- more on that later. She didn't seem to understand a word I spoke to her. I remember looking over to John several times silently asking if I was speaking English or Greek and seeing the commiseration in his eyes over her seeming stupidity. Her CNA was also by far the laziest one I met. Smarter than her RN, and smart enough to do just enough to get by.

Thankfully I still had my morphine and after affects of anesthesia so recall sleeping pretty solidly that night.