May 21
It was a dark and stormy night...Just kidding. It was a dark, calm morning when my dear friend picked me up (5:40am - aye!) to take me to the hospital. She is such a wonderful spirit - smiling at any hour of the day - so it was helpful to (somewhat) calm my nerves on the ride there. We got to the hospital - I signed what I needed to and then about 10 or 15 minutes later, a very kind nurse came to take me back to the prep area. She asked if I wanted my friend to join me and of course I said "YES!"
Lynn (the nurse) was terrific! She was an older lady and so calming in her speech and how she treated me. The first thing, of course, was to give me my oh-so-fashionable outfit for my visit - you know, the oversized, overly-revealing hospital gown. My favorite part, though, were the socks - I loved these!
As soon as I put them I had to take the picture. I told Lynn that I was journaling the entire experience and she just said do what I needed to. Soon after, the anesthesiologist came in and said that from what he could see, I was very healthy and that he suspected everything to be very smooth. He gave me "The $25 Pill" (this was the loving nickname I gave to one...ONE pill I paid $25 for to help prevent nausea after surgery) and left.
Time ticked on and no Ninja (a.k.a. Dr. Quaroni, the oral surgeon). My surgery was scheduled for 7:30am and it was getting pretty close! My friend looked at her watch at one point and said, "It's only 7:28 - he still has time" and sure enough just a couple minutes later the Ninja came in, said some kind words and left in his ninja-like way. Very shortly after, another nurse came in and off we went! The last things I remember before surgery were:
1. Moving from the warm cozy bed to the cold operating table
2. Putting my arms out and into some arm-hold things
3. Thinking "Oh my God, I'm about to get the anesthesia"
After that, I suppose the surgery happened!
And, it did.
I remember slowly waking up and trying to open my eyes to see a bright room, similar to the pre-op area and looking at a clock that, I think said 10am, or close to that time. The surgery had lasted 1-hour and I had been in recovery for about 2 hours (you can reference this with my friend - for all I know the surgery could have been 2 hours and I was in recovery for one!). The nurse in recovery was Katie. Young, cute (whoo!) and very nice. I remember I started crying (trust me, that was only the first time that day). Katie asked if I was in pain or if I was ok. I gave her a thumbs-up that they were happy tears. Frankly, I was crying because from the day I scheduled the surgery, I was afraid of the anesthesia. You just don't know how the body will react - healthy or not. I was sickened to fill out my Advanced Directive and had so many thoughts in my mind..."What if I don't wake up? What will happen at work? What about my goddaughter?" Terrible, the mind, but I guess that's only a small part of being human. Anyway...Katie started to talk to me and ask if I was ok and carried on a somewhat "normal" conversation. After a while a male nurse came to take me to my room. I remember asking him if he had "a license to drive this thing" (the hospital bed) and of course he said, "no" but he'd be careful.
The rest of the day is a bit of a blur, with some exceptions. Those "exceptions" I'll keep close to me. Not that they are bad, but good exceptions that only I would understand and appreciate.
I was surprised though, that I really didn't have much pain. I felt a lot of pressure in my face (go figure!) but my stylish ice packs did the trick to help. Who knew someone would invent something to help with facial swelling AND keep your drink cold at the same time? :) I felt like a little Amish girl with those things wrapped around my head, but hey - they helped!
Thankfully, I was never sick from the anesthesia (another fear of mine). I only needed the nausea medicine twice, but those times, I didn't feel bad, only very slightly, so I figured play it safe than be sorry! The steroid medication kept me awake and the pain medication knocked me out! I cried several times that day and slept A LOT.
I ended up staying overnight and going home the next afternoon. Recovery and healing here we come!
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