Friday, May 08, 2009

Surgery

I have to say that Thursday went pretty well, and I love the staff at the Montfort Hospital.

Mom got me there for 9:30, and a nurse checked me in at 9:45. I was told to remove my clothes (and dignity), and place them in a plastic bag. You know, like in those prison movies! I then went through several checklists by 2 or 3 nurses. It might have been redundant, but I was happy that they weren't interested in making any mistakes. Got my blood pressure, temperature and oxygen level checked too. There was a student doctor there too, who was learning the anaesthetic aspect. Very nice, and had a tattoo on her left wrist that said 'Breathe'.

They wheeled me in around 11:30 or so, and it was a downright festive atmosphere in there! I laid down on the table, laid out both arms on either side, and the team got to work. I was given something in my IV to 'help me relax', and an oxygen mask to breathe through. I remember saying "Bye bye", then the next thing I knew, my doctor was leaning over me telling me that everything went very well and that it was all done.

I spent the next little while in recovery, and Michael picked me up after 4pm. I was still drowsy after everything they pumped in me.

I'm off the painkillers-I felt too out of it yesterday and was nauseous on and off. It was a morphine-based painkiller, and I was also a bit concerned about how it was affecting Susan. She slept a lot as well, but it's not something I want her to get used to!

So I'm feeling uncomfortable, but only a minute amount of pain. Stubbing my toe would hurt more. I'm going to have 3 scars; 1 in my belly button, and 2 below the waistline(no, I'm not getting into any more detail than that!). Hopefully I won't have to go through that experience again though!

2 comments:

Fawn said...

Glad to hear you're recovering well, Idania! It's a weird feeling to lose a chunk of your time like that, isn't it? I was under general anaesthetic earlier this year and it was so strange to wake up feeling like no time had passed -- so unlike sleeping.

"Breathe" -- how appropriate for someone doing anaesthesia. Perhaps she should specialize! :)

Idania said...

It's funny, the doctor wants to be an OB. It also makes sense with the tattoo because that's what we'd tell women in labour too. "Breathe! Breathe!". The doc says that the tattoo helps her when she's stressed out or very busy.