On Friday, January 10, 2009 at 11:00 am I arrived at St. Josephs Hospital in Orange, CA for a 1:30 surgery time. Things went very quickly with the admitting department at the Hospital and it seemed like only minutes and Jeremy and I were whisked away into the Pre-Op room.
I was quickly given papers to sign questions asked and answered. Then it was time for me to get dressed in my new wardrobe that was provided by the Hospital. You know the see more butts gown, hair net, surgical sock/shoe covers and jump into my lovely new bed. I have to say I looked pretty HOT!***giggles***
I was assigned two nurses during my Pre-Op one was Virginia and the other was Jerome. I felt like a Queen the way they were treating me....life seemed to be good! The ole hubby was like don't get used to this....
At this point they are starting to ask questions as to who is my primary surgeon ( you know since I had three really cute male doctors it can get a little confusing....)*giggles* Once all the Doctors were squared away I was informed that Virginia thankfully and not Jerome I don't know why I become so shy at this point since THREE MALE Doctors would soon be having a party down in the Netherlands area.....***giggles*** Would need to shave me! Yes! You read that correctly, they needed to shave me like completely BALD! ***giggles, he, he*** All I could think of was OMG it's going to suck when it grows back....mind you it's not like the rain forest just very well clipped and groomed you know like the nicest yard on the block.....***giggles, winks***
Once I got over this and Jeremy and I had a good laugh it was Jerome's turn with me. He was in charge of my IV's and pre-surgery blood and tests...... I thought I was going to have a smack down with Jerome. He was having a hard time getting my IV in once he was on his THIRD try and I finally looked over and he was (for those of you who are squeamish don't read the next line) digging the needle in my arm searching for the vain...... I was totally crying and he's like: You are dehydrated and it's hard to find your vain! You think! Mind you it's now almost 1:30 I have not eaten since MIDNIGHT Thursday and Tuesday and Wednesday they had me on a LIQUID DIET. Not to mention I had to do the same process as having a colonoscopy....so no wonder I was DEHYDRATED! I made him get another nurse as the tears were running down my checks. So this very nice OLDER women named CHER came over and bamm IV inserted into right hand and all was well with the world. *****giggles****
I then met my anesthesiologist a lovely lady named Trish. I told her to keep those men in line since who knows what they would do with free rain and all......***winks*** She got a good laugh out of that. I was lucky to have a female since St. Joseph's has 40 anesthesiologist's and only 3 of them are women.
I said my good bye's to the ole hubby and was whisked into the operating room. It was now about 2:30. Needless to say my surgery was running late.... I got to meet all of my OR nurses and check out the operating room to boot. It was like a field trip of sorts... My anesthesiologist Trish said she was going to give me some courage and like seconds later I was out.
I woke up in the recovery room around 7:30pm feeling pretty good other than my lower back was killing me. (For those of you who don't know I have back trouble from car accidents most importantly one involving a cement truck and San Clemente, CA Pico off ramp my senior year when the cement truck came barreling down and did not stop until my car made it stop.....) Since they dilate you and put you in a compromising position it puts more pressure on the lower back and this sucked for me.
I was quickly taken to my room where I spent the evening battling with my nurses to get out of bed to alleviate the back pain I was having. I don't think they wanted to work that night as they ended up having several complaints reported on them....shouldn't have come into work then!
I finally got out of bed and walked around my floor dragging my IV, Catheter, tubes, showing off my butt etc. I wanted to get the leg compressions off of my legs as they were bugging me and they will not take them off until you walk around for fear of blood clots. I felt like I had 5 tales following me around and couldn't get comfortable in my bed to alleviate my back pain and lower Netherlands pressure so something had to give. From midnight until six am I was walking the halls very slowly and a little wobbly too. I felt so much better once I started to move around though even if it was a little slow.
Considering all of the surgery I had done my Doctor was extremely impressed at how well I did in surgery and in recovery. He told Jeremy if I kept progressing as I was I could go home the next day. I was like: YEAH! Only one night in the Hospital bring it on....
I didn't sleep for beans that night with them coming in and taking your temp, blood pressure, checking your incisions, monitors going off, other patients, walking the halls, back pain, etc. I wanted to be home and in my surroundings even if I was uncomfortable or not it sounded much better. My morning nurses Mary and Virginia were very nice and extremely helpful. They were impressed at how well I was moving around and feeling. I was still on a LIQUID DIET but it didn't seem to matter at this point since I didn't have much of an appetite.
So the next day I was discharged around 6:00pm and Jeremy took me home. The only bummer was I had to go home with a catheter. Since I had bladder repair work they removed the catheter and had me try to potty on my own but it was a no go. So I had to go home with it.
I was informed I couldn't do any housework (bummer), drive, no lifting anything heavier than 7 pounds, jumping around, swimming, taking baths, etc. and to see my main Doctor in two weeks.
So I had to have the catheter for a week and then was given instructions on how to remove it myself. This went without a hitch and all is well. I'm still not supposed to do any housework, no lifting 7-10 pounds, and taking it easy. I can now drive and I feel:
FAB~U~LOUS!
I am so lucky I really didn't have much pain. Every now and then I'll get some pains and the Doctor said it's because nothing is in the same place as it was before and all the nerves are re-awakening and to take it slow or I'll really feel it the next day. My external stiches have healed but my internal ones are still healing so I have another check up in a couple of weeks. I do still get tired easy I'm sure it's from all of the drugs and just healing but honestly I feel:
WON~DER~FUL!
Thanks to all of my really cute Doctors for doing such a FAB job. I wish they would have done this sooner. I still can't believe that it's only been three weeks for how well I'm feeling.
The kiddo's and the hubby have been GREAT with helping me. I really appreciate all the help and attention they've given me. I need to give my Mom a special "Thanks" for babysitting me and the kids. She even did laundry too. Moms ROCK!
I promise to try and blog some photo's soon. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things since I can drive now and trying to catch up on stuff.
~XOXO~
