BUT - yesterday actually went pretty smoothly. My sister and nieces showed up on time to get me to the surgery center (though one of the girls had no shoes - mommy forgot them - and they ended up at Target to get her some later ... I think that was sister's way of getting to shop!!! lol). I had to wait a little while at the surgery center before things really got started and fill out some paperwork (of course), but it wasn't too horrible. It was a busy place for that early in the morning ... and quite a few men were there for band surgery and sleeve surgery, which I guess surprised me a little bit. Anyway, they finally took me back and put me in a gown and got me settled in the bed in the pre-op area. They asked lots of health questions ... I got LOTS of questions when they ask about hospitalization history and I had to tell them about the 5 days I was in for blood clots 5 years ago - I got told yet again that I'm lucky to be alive. Anyway, then a patient advocate from the surgeon's office came by to see me and wish me luck and give me her information to call her if I ever have any questions. It's pretty cool that she is a band patient herself and that she is available to answer those types of questions as well as medial ones that I could possibly have in the next few days. So after that, they had the anesthesiologist come see me. He and the nurse talked for just a minute - asked me the standard confirmation of identity questions - then he looked at the nurse and asked "are we ready for this?" She said yes ....
And I don't remember another thing until I was waking up with the discharge nurse over me and him telling me to take a big breath and cough! I wasn't hurting too much - but I definitely was freezing cold. Anesthesia must just do that to me because I was shaking all over I was shivering so badly. They didn't take long to have me up and walking to the other end of the hall in order to have an x-ray to make sure everything looked good. At this point they hadn't found my glasses for me so I didn't see a single thing - I was just being led blindly around (though the x-ray tech had fun messing with me and the fact I couldn't see - he kept putting his hands right in front of my face and waving and laughing!). After the x-ray (so about 15 minutes after I had woken up) - they sat me in a reclining chair, hooked me up to a couple of machines to keep track of my vitals, and gave me a little cup of water and told me to sip it. They also let me know that my sister was on her way and would be back as soon as she got there.
Well - this is where it got long and boring. My sister & nieces made it there, but there was no one at the reception desk when they arrived so it was probably 20 minutes from the time they got there until the time they had them come back to see me. The girls weren't sure about me and the fact that I was all bundled up in blankets and had machines hooked up to me - I didn't get any hugs or kisses, just smiles and grins. They had us go over the discharge material together so that someone other than me just coming off of some drugs was clear on what all I have to do for the next several days. We did that pretty quickly, we visited some, asked the girls what they had done all morning .... and then we waited, and we waited, and we waited. The discharge nurse came by a couple of times, but never acted at all like they were ready to send me home yet. Finally I told him that I was sore, but that I thought if I could just get up and move (I'd been sitting in that chair for nearly 2 hours at this point) that I would actually be okay. He said he didn't have time to walk with me just then, but he could give me some pain medication and then come back in about 30 minutes and walk with me and get me ready to go home. I just looked at him and said "Can I not just go home now?" I was done. The girls were restless, I was restless and I just wanted to be in my own clothes and on my own bed or couch. I think I surprised him a little, but he agreed.
It still took about another 30 minutes to get me fully discharged, but I did get to stand up and change my clothes and go to the restroom. The older niece finally came near me and held my hand and gave me kisses! And we were leaving! I had arrived that morning at 7:30 and we finally left at just after 2:00.
Anyway, we still had to go to the pharmacy and get my pain meds - but we finally did make it back to my apartment. My poor nieces were so hungry ... so they got popcorn when we got there and my sister and I made sure I had everything I would need. She cut my medications for me so that they are small enough for me to swallow comfortably now and she made me breathe into this little contraption they sent home with me (prevents pneumonia and/or collapsed lungs). It's kinda nice to have a nurse around :) Anyway, one of the things that they had told me before going home and even earlier that morning was that I needed to have someone with me for the next 24 hours. Well, that worried the sister nurse! She didn't like the idea of me staying at home by myself until this afternoon. She couldn't stay any longer ... the oldest niece was at home still and definitely not happy that her mom & sisters were with me and she wasn't ... plus the little girls had been super good all day but they were ready for normalcy. So ... I made a phone call (or actually finally got to answer a phone call) to my mom. I told her what they had said at the surgery center and that the sister was worried - and a couple of hours later, she was there to get me.
Of course I hadn't remembered to have my bag out before I left for surgery ... so I was able to get things together before she got there, but I had to have help getting my bags out (this was frustrating! I don't love being helpless!). I packed up all my groceries that I can have. Oh, this is where I should tell you my up coming diet for the next two weeks!! So, first I have to drink my protein shakes ... no different from the past 2 weeks, but I can just have a much smaller amount. And then, I can have 1 of the following (no more than 1/4 of a cup) 2 or 3 times during the day: sugar free pudding, sugar free jello, baby food, broth, sugar free popsicles, sugar free applesauce and low fat yogurt. I'm gonna be eating like a king!!! haha
So ... I'm at mom & dad's now. I've walked quite a bit around the house, I've been breathing into my trusty little contraption like I'm supposed to and I've kept ice on my incisions to help with swelling (and soreness). I only had to take 1 tsp of my pain meds last night before bed - just to help me relax for sleeping. I did sleep in the chair with my feet up on the ottoman. It just hurts to badly to try to get up from a laying position right now unless there is someone right there to help. I was afraid I'd have to get up in the middle of the night and not be able to do it, so the chair worked. And actually it didn't sleep too badly - it was very comfortable. I only had to get up once in the middle of the night and that was after nearly 4 good hours of sleep and then I slept straight through until mom and dad had to get up and start getting ready for work today - but even that was after another few good hours of sleep.
So, yes - I do hurt more this morning than I did yesterday ... I'm moving a little slower ... but even as I've been sitting here writing this (and I don't mean constantly sitting - because I have gotten up and walked, poured myself my 1st shake of the day, and checked my bandages again) - I am starting to feel better. Mom has left for work and dad will be leaving in the next few minutes. The house will be peaceful, I have a list of Netflix shows I want to watch, and this chair is still pretty comfy!
Thank you so much to everyone for all the prayers, the calls, the texts, the emails, etc that I have received in the past couple of days. It truly means so much to me to know that I have such a great group of people in my life - both family & friends - to love and support me through this. The painful part is basically over ... now comes the self-discipline part of sticking to the rules!!!!
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