Surgery Day!

I was starting to get nervous, really nervous.  As October 24th approached I started having second thoughts. I kept thinking "what the heck am I doing??" and even had to call my friend the day of surgery and ask her to remind me why I was doing this. 

All dressed up and ready to go!

We arrived at the hospital around 10am and I checked in and got my pre op room.  I got to wear a fun purple paper gown, got my vitals checked and blood drawn.  I was trying to relax but it was difficult.  Then the nurse came in and said they received a call to bring me down early.  I was wheeled down to the surgical wing and settled into a hospital bed.  I got my iv inserted, which hurt like the dickens because she could only put it in my hand. Finally the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me. I had heard from other people that had this surgery to ask for some anxiety medication if you are nervous, so I did. After that I was super relaxed!




The doctor came in to talk to me right before the surgery and we decided to remove my gallbladder since the ultrasound showed I had two large gallstones.  I would rather have one surgery than two, so I was ok with removing it! After that, I was wheeled into the operating room.  I was laughing and chatting with the anesthesiologist and a couple of nurses right up until they knocked me out :)  I even got onto the operating table by myself like it was no big deal, those meds were awesome! I loved the team that assisted my surgeon, they were so nice and made me feel really comfortable.  One of the nurses told me that they are really specialized in their field and know what they're doing, so that helped a lot.

View from my hospital bed

Next thing I remember is being in the recovery room.  I woke up to pain and nausea, which was not fun. Thankfully I was out of it and kept falling asleep so it wasn't too bad. I remember being wheeled into my private room (don't get too excited because it was very small) and seeing my mom.  I finally got my morphine pump, which was like heaven :) Once I was able to get the morphine and rest some more, I felt pretty good.  I had a nurse and a CNA that kept coming in every 4 hours, which doesn't allow you much time to sleep.

I had been dreading the gas pain, which thankfully I didn't have.  It must have been the toradol shots they gave me that stopped the gas pain.  I was able to walk a little, but whenever I did the machine would beep like crazy.  The nurses would tell me "take a deep breathe!" I didn't realize at the time that my oxygen level was really low.

That ended my crazy rollercoaster of emotions day.  Looking back, I think I was pretty lucky.  The pain was fleeting, I was only nauseous after waking up from anesthesia, and there were no complications. Overall, I feel pretty blessed.  I know I had a lot of people thinking and praying about me which I really appreciate! I am thankful I got through the surgery with such ease!