Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Surgery went well

I am so behind but I'm trying to slowly catch up. So here is what I should have posted two weeks ago.

I had surgery almost two weeks (Thursday, October 9th) ago to repair a hernia I've had since I was pregnant with Cameryn. It was no big deal and went really well. I actually had is scheduled back in May but with all my thyroid stuff that started happening around the same time (just in case you want to reminisce with me about all those issues they are here, here and here) I had to cancel the surgery. As it turns out, thyroid issues like the one I was having are bad and would react badly with the anesthesia and I could die or something. Though, if I hadn't had everything figured out with my regular doctor and if I had still showed up the day of my surgery with my heart rate all out of control like it was, they wouldn't have done the surgery anyways... so that was really good to know.

This time I also scheduled it way in advance so I could have the first scheduled surgery of the day. Last time it wasn't supposed to be until 4:30 pm and I was supposed to be fasting since midnight... no thank you!! I had to be at the hospital at 6:30 am and my surgery was scheduled for 8:30. I was right on time too. They wheeled me into the OR and the clock said 8:29. Does anyone know why it has to be so FREAKING cold in the surgery area and especially in the ORs?

The surgery took about 2 hours and I woke up about an hour after that. Though it took awhile to fully wake up. There was a clock right in my eye sight that I would see every time I opened my eyes and each time I looked at it, it was like 10, 15, or 20 minutes ahead from the last time I looked. And here I thought I was just blinking. My mouth was so dry and my throat hurt from the tube they have to put in you to help you breath while your under. Then the nurse said I couldn't have anything to drink (meaning I couldn't have any pain meds either) until I could move over to this reclining chair they brought in. So I sucked on ice cubes for awhile until it just wasn't enough then had the nurse and Mike help me over to the chair. Man, that hurt so bad.

Finally they gave me some graham crackers and some juice which I sucked down quickly and kept asking for more. I finally got dressed and they wheeled me out to go home around 2:00. The main area that hurt was where the hernia site was. I had laprascopic surgery so I only had three small incisions on my stomach (though the one straight through my belly button does hurt pretty bad). The only other thing that hurt was the fact that they have to kind of pump your stomach with some gas so they can move around with their instruments better. Well, they get out as much of it as they can but you're still left all bloated and fat. Plus the gas would get up into my right shoulder somehow and HURT!!!!! That was the worst part though, feeling like I had an air bubble in there. My mom's wonderful shoulder massages really helped though.

I had so much help from friends in this Mom's Club that I only joined about 4 weeks ago and people from church watching my kids for me. It was so nice and I got alot of rest that way. Plus the kids got to play with friends and they had a ball. I'm so grateful for those people that helped and are still helping me out. My mom came over and cleaned a lot of my house for me on the Friday after and the Mom's Club people are bring me six meals all spread out so I'm still getting them this week!!! I'm also grateful that I have such wonderful kids that adjust to anything it seems!! I am one lucky mom.

My parents watched my kids that day for me and of course they had tons of fun. I'll just end this post with some pics my Dad took from putt putt and other outings that day.

1 comment:

Heidi said...

I'm sorry about the surgery. I don't know what it's like to have a hernia,but Im sure it's painful. I DO know why they keep the surgery room so cold...some of the equipment has to kept at a constant low temperature also it helps to stave off certain germs and bacteria. There, you learned a little.