Recovery

I'm back! Well, temporarily anyway...

The surgery went well. I was slightly freaking out about 10 minutes before the surgery. Then the nurse came in to "take me away" and I actually had to walk myself into the OR. That's right, no wheelchair or rolling bed, I walked in there and climbed up onto the operating table. Okay, THAT was a little weird. I also had about 3 different people ask me to tell them what surgery I was having and they double checked my arm band for my name and birthdate. I climbed up on the table and the room was freezing! I was literally shaking because I was so cold. They put warming blankets on me and got my IV hooked up. I looked around and it was just like an OR on TV. There were nurses scrambling around getting surgical tools ready and a general hustle and bustle. I was really nervous at this point, but I had a really sweet nurse reassure me that she has been there and knows how I'm feeling. I couldn't resist and I had to ask the nurses if they watched Grey's Anatomy. They told me that they honestly never have which was kind of a shock to me. I guess they have better, more important things to do with their lives! lol I asked the nurses if I would come to in the operating room and they said that I probably would, but would have no memory of it. Then the anesthesiologist came in and told me that he was going to give me something to calm me down. I asked him if it was time for me to go to sleep and he said "pretty soon..." That was the last memory I had.

When I came to, I was in the recovery room. A nurse came to check on me and when I asked what time it was she said 10:30. My surgery was at 7:30 am and I was supposed to be out of recovery after an hour and a half, but they said I was so sleepy so they just let me sleep. Once I was up though, it was pretty much, get dressed and leave! They gave me Vicodin, got me dressed and wheeled me into a small room where my husband was able to see me finally. A discharge nurse went over some instructions and had Andy pull the car around. They don't waste any time! The rode home was horrible as I was nauseous and it was a bumpy 40 minute drive. Andy had to help me with everything, getting up, rolling onto my side, etc. It's amazing how much you use your abdominal muscles for everything and how helpless you are when you can't! I slept most of the day and when I was awake, I was horribly nauseous. I kept thinking, if I throw up, my stitches will probably split open! Horrible thought, I know... I finally realized the Vicodin was making me sick so I switched over to Ibuprofin and have been fine since. Each day is a bit better than before. I was able to get out of bed on my own as of last night so that's good. It is great being waited on hand and foot, but the control freak side of me wants to just get up and do everything myself! My most bothersome thing right now is my aching back from laying down so much.

I had a good experience for what it was. My surgery took place at Fairview Southdale and my surgeon was Dr. Luis Laguna. He was great and when I asked my regular doctor about him, he said that he would let Dr. Laguna operate on him, which he can only say for a few people so that made me feel better.

Anyway, I'm sure that is much more than anyone wanted to hear, but I wanted to document everything for myself as well. Thank you for all of your well wishes and hopefully I will be feeling more up to myself soon! My surgeon said the hardest part of my recovery is that I can't lift my kids for 4-6 weeks.