Pre and Post Op

Arriving at the hospital at 0’Dark Hundred and rain. I checked in at 6 AM and then sent Thomas on his way.

I did this for two reasons: first, because I knew that Robee needed to leave for school at 6:35 and then Felix was going to be taken to school at 7:20, so he would need to be at home. Second, because as I have mentioned, Thomas worries. I could see his skin was grey and he was nervous. I would prefer him not to be there while they’re prepping me for surgery. What would be the point? I’m going to be asleep soon and I wouldn’t know if he were there or not. As much as I love him, he doesn’t help me to calm down because he’s too nervous. I would prefer to see him after everything is done.

As the nurse and aesthetician are taking my vitals and asking the same questions (my name, birthday, and what I’m going to have done while here), I’m thinking nothing. Actually, I’m calmer now than I was last week. I was freaking out last week. But now that I’m laying on the table in a purple surgical gown with a mushroom covering my hair, I feel good.

They keep asking me if I’m allergic to anything: meds, foods, etc. They ask if I’ve ever had adverse affects to anesthesia and I’ve only been under once when I had that lung biopsy in St. George. When I came out of that, I felt fine. I’ve heard some people get really sick but I’ve been lucky. Then Dr. Hoffman comes is and does the same questioning that I just had from three other people. They start to wheel me into another room and she says, “I’ll see you in there but you won’t remember it.”

I can feel the medication start to work and the last thing I remember (I think) is me looking at my hands and telling the nurse, “No, I don’t get my nails done at a salon,” and then …………..

“Kristi. Kristi. Are you awake?”

I’m blinking in the light and someone is talking to me. A guy. Asking me how I’m feeling and what day I thought it was. I believe I answered correctly because he said that was a good answer. I did mention that I hurt right here and I pointed to my stomach and he said he would fix that.

I have to prove that I’m fully awake and I tell them my full name and birthday and my age. I’m now being wheeled to my room and I’m looking for my glasses because everything is blurry. I realized later than I had them on; it was blurry because I was under anesthesia.

The pain I was feeling is gone now and I can hear my nurse and another person talking to me about my surgery. That it went well and I came through great. I hear them talking to me about my uterus and what the pictures show.

While I’m crawling out of my fog, I ask the nurse if I can take my uterus home and bury it in my backyard with the my other animals.

After a few minutes of muffled giggles, he says, “Uh no. It goes to pathology for tests and they’ll take care of it for you.” Drugs are fun.

I find out that Thomas had come back after the surgery to check on me while I’m sleeping it off.

I finally fully wake up around noon or one. I have an IV in one arm, a BP cuff on the other, a catheter tube, and a oxygen clip in my nose. Way to wake up.

I spend most of the day dozing off and on and I feel really good. There is a slight cramping feeling (she did take it out, right?) in my abdomen but aside from that, hardly any pain at all. I am on something through the IV but only when I ask for it.

What I am, however, is STARVING. I haven’t eaten food since Sunday (all liquids on Monday) and I’m empty. I first get to munch on ice. And then Surprise! My lunch is … clear liquids. Yeah. Whoo hoo. However, Dr. Hoffman says if I keep improving as much as I am, I get to eat real food tomorrow. Finally.

Thomas brings the kids to visit when he finally gets out of the office because for some reason, he was scheduled with clients. Grrrrr. So they finally come trooping in at 7, fairly reluctantly. The kids are not ready to see me, their Mom, in a hospital bed. The most ill they’ve ever seen me is when I had bronchitis and they had the flu. For most of their lives, I’ve been pretty healthy (except for that iodine poisoning that I had but they were too little to remember). So this is a new experience for them.

However, I’VE been in and out of a hospital since 1976 when my mom first got sick. I’m so used to hospitals, that this seems perfectly normal to me.

In fact, I had the weirdest experience while I was laying in the bed. I was reaching for my cup of ice with my IV arm and my vision sort of wavered and then I saw Mom’s arm reaching for the cup instead, just as I used to when I would visit her when she was recovering from whatever ailment she had at that moment. I blinked my eyes and then it was my arm again. It was a weird moment. I’m not sure what it meant.

Back to the kids ….

Robee was happy to see me but Felix was having a hard time. I’m not sure why but she really did not want to be there. I sort of wish I hadn’t asked them to visit me now. There wasn’t a need for it; I was fine and would be home the next day. I don’t think I looked that bad; a little swollen from the IV.

I’ve looked a LOT worse than this, trust me.