Surgery Today!

I had to be at the hospital at 6:45 am. I checked in, got my pre surgical labs (all good), and went upstairs to get ready for surgery.

My pre-op nurse was a very nice blonde gal who had just passed her Nurse Practitioner exams and was fascinated and very impressed with my job. It took them a really long time to find a vein, she had to call in another nurse who happened to know my in-laws. The second nurse found one in my left wrist, numbed it up (YEOWCH!), and stuck me. No flash. So, since it wasn't hurting me, she played around for a little while trying to find it and finally decided it want going to go. I usually have very good veins, but I think that I was dehydrated and that makes me hard to poke.

She switched to a vein in my right hand, and got the IV placed. They had me take some very nasty tasting meds, got me shaved (wasn't expecting that, but she didn't find a lot of hair to shave off; I'm very smooth), and got the lovely, crawly compression booties on me. I turned on the TV at this point because I was starting to get really scared and needed the distraction.

My surgeon peeked his head in, said Hi, and was quickly followed by my anesthesiologist and surgical nurse. The anesthesiologist was amazing! Her name is Dr. Bearnson I believe, and she was great. My anesthesiologist for my sinus surgery was this weird guy who kept talking about buried treasure.

When she came in, I started to really freak out. As you may or may not know, a good friend of mine passed away in March after the same surgery. She was also 22. I know that something like that is a freak occurrence, but I was still terrified. So, I started to cry and hyperventilate a bit, and my anesthesiologist said, "Oh, sweetie, it's ok. I'll take care of you!" Then she said, "I have something in my pocket that will make you feel better!" It was versed, and it did the trick! They doped me up, I kissed my mom goodbye, and they wheeled me back to the OR.

Once we were there, I changed beds, got all hooked up to the monitors, and then the anesthesiologist put on an oxygen mask and said, "Pick your dream!" and I was gone.

When I woke up, I was in a LOT of pain! And, it wasn't even my tummy that hurt, it was my chest! I was saying, "My chest hurts, my chest hurts!" And the nurse was scrambling to give me pain medication. Slowly, slowly, slowly, the pain improved and I became more and more alert. They gave me some cold water (delicious!) and asked if I wanted some crackers. My mouth was so dry, I didn't want dry crackers. Then she offered me applesauce. It was cold and wet and it tasted so good; I think I can honestly say it was the best applesauce I've ever had! I swallowed my pain pills, which helped with the pain a TON (who knew?) and I was deemed ready to be returned to my mother.

I've never been so happy to see her! I was just thinking, "I'm alive! I made it! Thank you, God, for tender mercies!" I was given some sprite, cookies, and jello. When I had surgery in February, I had a lot of nausea post-op, and when I told the pre-cert nurse, she told me that they would give me a sea sickness patch behind my ear before surgery. That thing is awesome! I had zero nausea post-op, it was amazing!

I know my family and friends were praying for a speedy recovery, because it wasn't very long at all that I was ready to get up and pee! I was pretty sore in my tummy and chest still, but I was ok walking around. Not very long after that, I decided I was ready to go home. I had no nausea and my pain was very manageable, and I was starting to nod off so I figured I was ready to go home and go to bed!

My mom told me that the surgeon said my gallbladder was scarred and really sludgy, and that my common bile duct is very narrow. My whole life, my gallbladder must have been working extra hard to push bile out and it finally crapped out. It was great to hear that, because my tests weren't very obviously gallbladder and the main reason I had surgery is because I had textbook symptoms. I will admit I was nervous that they would go in there and find a perfectly healthy gallbladder and I would have no answers and no relief. But, it turns out it really did need to be removed, and hopefully I will be feeling much better in the future.

I still have a lot of recovering to do, but I'm doing a lot better today than I thought I would. I've been up and walking around, which they say is the best thing for the chest pain. A big, big thank you for those who were praying for me. I know that those prayers were heard and answered because I am doing so well and the surgery went so well without any complications. (My Grammie must've been praying because she is so good, God always listens to her, lol!) Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you all!!