Surgery Over

planted this afternoon
right is yellow, left is pink

 

from these sale bulbs

 

I awoke at 4:45 to be ready by 5:45 to get the surgery center by 7:00 to have surgery at 8:00. I took a leisurely bath in my claw foot tub, using so much water that when I lay in the tub water flowed out of the overflow. Since I could not eat, why rush a bath?

 

It was still dark when I took food to the hens. Patsy Cline jumped down and ran around. There were low clouds that reflected the city lights, so there was some light, but I doubted it was enough for chickens.

 

My friend, Tina, a nurse, picked me up and brought me a walker. Yay. A stool was necessary for me to get into her tall truck.

 

 

All  the regular things were done to me. An IV in my hand really hurt, and the nurse kept fiddling with it, finally saying it was swelling and she would get an anaesthesiologist  who could give me the pain shot I was whining about wanting. He had been in to talk to me, and was a very nice guy. He put the IV in my hand by crossing over my little wrist bend. However, thanks to the little bit of pain medication he injected at the intended site, I was happy.

 

So, I had a D an C to determine if my intermittent and slight bleeding is uterine cancer.

 

Have you ever seen stirrups in an operating room? They are NOT like the diabolical, cold metal ones like the ob/gyn has in his office. I am not being sexist; my doctor is a male.

 

I was so concerned about having to be in "doctor office stirrups" that someone came in to discuss it with me yesterday.

 

Today, the nurses assured me that I would feel no pain because I would be out. sigh  Finally, I got it across to them that the aftermath of losing feeling might be long lasting.

 

Because my last vertebrae is sitting on bone and I have two herniated disks and the L5 is way out of place, certain moves or positions cause my feet or legs to go numb and my back hurts so. I do not want to deal with a problem and have to have emergency surgery on my back even though I really need to have back surgery.

 

Because of this, I asked to put myself in stirrups before I was put to sleep. They said this was not what they did. I asked could they do it for me because of my concern for my back health after I left there not pain while I was there, just numbness. They agreed.

 

Operating room:There was a tall pole sitting about eight inches from the table they put me on, but curved to meet the table. At the top, the metal pole curved inward and had two soft straps hanging down. I put my foot way up and they slipped the loops over my foot. I asked why there was only one. Because we cannot slide you onto the table.

 

 

Oh

 

After both feet were in the stirrups and they asked me if it was okay, they just started rushing around doing things. I don't know what. Finally, one nurse grabbed the sheet that was all above my waist in dragged it between my legs.

 

I think someone put something in the IV because my hand hurt. At the same time the nurse anesthetist put a mask with air near my mouth, touching the edge of the mask to the corner of my mouth and told me to breath deeply. I did breathe deeply, about five times, stopped and said, "So, this is it? It's time?"

 

Yes, this is it.

 

I opened my eyes and started talking. I had only been back in recovery about five minutes. They would not give me Coke and would not let me sit up. pooh.

 

When I got back to my room, Tina was still there, reading. Before and after the OR, I was coughing long and hard. That drove up my blood pressure. Of course, the caffeine in the 4 Cokes, hard coughing while they took my blood pressure had some effect on how high my blood pressure went--198/115. It gradually came down.

 

I got dressed and left, finally.

 

Oh, Tina is very mouthy and sarcastic. This I say in the nicest way, because she had me laughing the whole time. Now, she would say I am mouthy and sarcastic. She says I make her laugh, too. She would say something about me to the nurses or criticize me to my face, being very funny about the whole thing. I know the other people in the rooms that only had curtains across the front wall, wondered what was going on. About a dozen times, I screeched, "Shut up, Tina." That made her laugh loudly and I was laughing, too, even as I said it.

 

She would not take money for the gas for the 80 mile round trip. She offered to buy me something. Surprisingly, I was not very hungry. When we got back in town, I offered to buy her a Chick-fil-A sandwich with a coupon. She agreed to that.

 

We took my prescription for Percocet to Walmart pharmacy and bought bananas. We sat and waited and talked.

 

When we went to Chick-fil-A, I gave her the card and said she would have to redeem her own. I thought she wanted to go in. She wanted to sit in line, get me a sandwich. It seems she ate breakfast at home and just wanted to take me home.

 

I demanded the card back, she refused as she laughed, and I demanded it back several more times, complaining and laughing the whole time. I really did not want it back. When I offered her some sweet potatoes, she readily agreed. So, when we came back her, I gave her a bag and told her to get a dozen.

 

I have had no pain and not much bleeding. The pain I have is more like pressure and nothing to compare to monthly cramps.

 

About 4 pm, I went out to get the chickens up and protect them fro the 4:15 raccoon. While outside, I potted up the two bulbs. The Garden Amaryllis Pink will survive, but the Bearded Iris Gold Galore (yellow iris) may not. Those are vinegar jugs I cut off, made a hole in the bottom, painted green, and put a coffee filter in the bottom and called it excellent. 

Now, I need to bake chicken breasts and sweet potatoes. It's almost 7 pm.

Your turn
Do you have a good friend that is so much fun to be around? Have you seen the OR stirrups, hanging like nooses? Some people say a D and C is very painful. Have you had a bad experience? This was my third.