Surgery Went Well

Happy Halloween, ya'll! 

I'm sitting here eating a Snick.ers candy bar as I write this.  We are not handing out candy this year, but we bought a bag of candy just in case kids showed up.  But instead of handing out candy, I'm eating them myself.  I'm only having one.  Ok maybe two.

Surgery went well this morning.  We were concerned about the heavy fog this morning but it was all cleared up by the time we left the house.  Traffic seemed to be heavier than usual though and there was an accident on the way to the hospital.  But we left early enough to get there early enough for our 8:30 am check-in with about 10 minutes to spare.

Went through the usual check-in procedure - paperwork, insurance, etc.  Then we were shown the waiting room and told that I would be called after about 15 minutes.  After waiting about 45 minutes (I should have checked with them earlier), a nurse came out to tell me that I was early and my surgery was not until 12:30.  My clinic screwed up on the timing!  I was a kinda mad, but I was too tired to do anything about it.  The good news was my doctor was possibly running early on the earlier surgeries.  So we just waited.  I told the nurse I had to pee if we were going to have to wait again, and she showed me the way to the bathroom.  While there she said she would have me produce a urine sample as well.  She asked if I had ever had my tubes tied or had a hysterectomy.  I said no.  Any chances that I could be pregnant?  I said no.  I told her I am still slightly bleeding from my period.  In fact, I had 2 periods in 10 days, I told her.  Still she wanted a urine sample.

I was finally called into the pre-op prep area.  The nurse had me change into a gown, cap and socks.  I told the nurse that I was still bleeding slightly/spotting and she gave me a pad, and one of those "super sexy grandma-ish one-size-fits-all" disposable underwear.  I was styling!  The gown was also pretty cool.  It's a special gown called "Bair Paws".  It was made of a special paper material and attached to a hose that blew in warm air into the gown.  There was even a special remove control that you can control how warm you wanted the air to be.  That was the highlight of my stay I think.  I didn't take a photo of the gown, but here's a photo of the remote control.  I did find a website about it.

The nurse asked me lots of questions including all the meds I take and when.  I told her about Lu.pron and and that I was adopting embryos and will be having a FET in November.  She had never heard of embryo adoption and thought it was so cool.  I was very happy to be able to tell her about embryo adoption.

Later, I met the anesthesiologist and we went through the usual questions again.  I mentioned how the last couple of times, I had nausea at recovery even though they gave me Zo.fran.  Plus I had also thrown up after I got home.  They decided to give me a nausea patch for motion sickness too.  A lot of times the drive home makes the nausea worse.

The nurse put in an IV line in my arm.  Later a nurse anesthesiologist came and injected some pain and meds and something to relax me in my IV line.  I said good bye to Babe, and was wheeled into the OR at noon, half an hour earlier than my original scheduled time.  I was feeling a little loopy already.  They put an oxygen mask on me, injected my anesthesia meds, and I was out.

Unlike my prior experiences, my recovery went very well.  I woke up feeling pretty good.  I was not awakened suddenly and multiple times by the painful squeezes of the BP cuff, or jarring noise of the BP machine.  No nurse yelling loudly at me asking me how I was feeling.  I was not desperate for the nurse to leave me alone and let me sleep.  I was not nauseated and feeling like I was going to throw up when the nurse raised me higher on the bed.  She did ask me a few times my pain level and gave me more pain meds as needed.  She asked me if I thought I was ready to sit up, or if I wanted some more time to rest.  I told her wanted more time, so I took another short nap.  She gave me iced water and some crackers. She was nice and I didn't feel rushed.  I felt pretty good.  

Soon it was time to sit up in a chair.   Babe came in to be with me and not long after, it was time to get ready to head home.  I went to the bathroom to pee, and put on a pad and one of those "infamous" hospital underwears.  Babe helped me get dressed, and I was wheeled out in a wheelchair armed with a plastic ziplock "puke bag" provided by the hospital.  Just in case.

I got home feeling good all the way.  No need for the puke bag.  Didn't puke when I got home either unlike the last couple of times.  I had some leftover comfort food from dinner last night and went to bed.  I napped for about 4 hours.  I started feeling some cramping so I took another dose of the pain killers.  It's important to manage to pain before it starts to become a problem.

So all in all, I had a good day.  I might even sneak in a couple more candy bars later.  And now I'm off to relax and watch a movie with Babe.  

Good night, everyone.  Hope you had a great Halloween celebration!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers!