I also wanted to get some housework done so I would be able to recover and not do too much in the next couple of days.
So did laundry, dishes, tidied kitchen,fridge,did a quickie pantry makeover, cooked soup(whenever the temperature goes below 50 I cook soup) did a pile attack(all the paperwork that accumulates unless I hit it diligently every day). By the time Ferit came to pick me up to leave at 11:30 I was still in the shower.
I wore the beautiful BC scarf that Erin my friend from work had given me since it was Valentines day I proceeded with wearing a pink sweater too. The only pants I can fit(if you do not count the stretch jeans which if absolutely necessary I basically squeeze myself into leaving minimal amout to breathe( in are my blackstretchy yoga pants so that makes getting dressed fairly easy.
We were a bit late and on our way there received a call from the Hospital (Ehmm.. Ms Arditi you are scheduled for surgery ?) Oh well, I always have to wait for them, and I was positive that today I would be waiting for them a lot at one point.
Told Ferit that I would like to stop by Einstein Bagels on our way back from surgery to grab a bit.
I am going public with the following phat picture ! That should give me some motivation NOT to chomp down everything that is not moving.
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Checked in the Admissions and was rushed off to Surgery Waiting Room, without even having time to settle into a chair I was rushed off to Surgery Prepping room by myself. I was given the usual gown (that opens in the back I really do not know why these gowns open in the back whereas all the time the nurses have to fumble through the front to get electrodes in.. etc.. no one is usually interested in the back/butt so why are they left open ?)
This gown though had a cool feature it had a large hose attached which blew hot air to keep me warm I had this before and I really liked it. Got some cute hospital socks too, along with funny white compression stockings which have holes on the bottom ??
Since my port was getting removed they had to put an iv on my arm, the tech that initially came first wanted to Lidocaine the area before sticking the needle and I was like ' hey why will you be pinching me twice ? just get going forget about the lidocaine' -- I do not like lidocaine the couple of times I put it on at the dentists office it made me even more sensitive feeling like frost bite.
He proceeded with trying to find a vein in my hand.. twisting the needle in ok I am very patient and have a high pain tolerance but guess I must have sighed with frustration. Then he gave up on that one and applied a tournique to my upper arm and tried to find a vein there. Again no luck, at this point I must have shown my thoughts like ' Ok dude if you do not know what the.. you are doing get someone who does in here asap' and he said that he would find someone who was really good at finding veins. Smart move on his part, he swerved a beatchh attack which was coming at him.
The 'vein guru' came and she stuck me with a needle in a second saying ' this should do it' I was very tempted to say not to let that other guy near the patients but decided to shut up since I would be unconscious pretty soon and did not want anyone having any ill feelings towards me.
On my right arm which I had 6 nodes removed, they wrote with permanent markers No Blood Pressure/ No IV since I would not be awake to defend myself.
There was a problem about the consent not including the port removal so we had to go through the paperwork again. The anasthesiologist came and was a very scary looking guy !! Then the anasthesiologists nurse came, then Dr. Pope's nurse Debbie came oh and there was also NP Kim who was prepping me along with some other nurses which I do not recall, I answered the same questions over and over again. Did I have anything to eat/drink after midnight-NO, ( I am not going to tell the little snack I had at 1:30 am ), did I take any meds today - NO, was I allergice to any meds -NO, did I have reaction to anasthesia last time - NO. What was my birthdate, what procedure was I having done today .. blah blah... I know these are to protect the patients.
They allowed Ferit to come and visit for a couple of minutes and he was ushered out.
I was looking forward to getting knocked out by Valium presurgery but they could not do it until Dr. Pope came and marked me. That happened at 2:15 he was running late, he made several marks on me to determine where the expanders are I asked him again about Jacksonville trip this weekend he said that as long as I kept the body temperature down and did not exhaust myself I should be fine. Yey!!!
Then they gave me the Valium and wheeled the bed into the surgery room. They placed me on a very narrow table which had 2 narrow extensions for the arms to be stretched out,they tied my arms there, I basically was in a position to be crucified were my last thoughts just after I saw the scary anesthesiologist talk to me.
I woke up at 4:30 shivering like crazy and a nurse was sitting with me, I felt sooo cold. I asked whether it was normal she said yes. This had never happened before in my previous surgeries. I was feeling kind of sick in my stomach too, and my throat was very sore from something that they must have stuck down. Asked for ice chips since my mouth felt like parchment. I did not feel any pain but asked for pain meds anyways and as soon as the nurse injected it into my iv my shivering stopped.
I certainly was feeling worse than I had felt after my mastectomy which was interesting this time the anesthetic drugs just did not agree with me, I did not have any pain in my surgery site.
Around 5:00 they brought Ferit in and wheeled me to another discharge room where the nurses dressed me in the bed and I was transferred to a recliner. I was really dizzy and hardly walked from the bed to the recliner, it is amazing how quick they try to get rid of patients, I think I was one of the last ones there and they were closing shop. One of the nurses did a scarf design which I really did not like but was too tired to do it myself and I did not want to hurt her feelings.
And I got an awesome Valentines day present from Ferit ! A Beautiful Valentine's day card and the printout of a Sales order for a pillow that I have been wanting to buy for about a year ! The Sofitel pillow ! Can not wait until it comes.
After going over post-surgery details with Ferit I was wheeled to the discharge area where Ferit picked me.
After about 10 minutes in the car I really got sick and luckily they had given me the little bowl where I was able to relieve myself,so thats why they do not want one to eat. This was the first time that I got sick after getting anaestesia, I think it is because my body has really not recovered from chemo and the balances are still fragile. Even the idea of food made me sick so of course there was no stopping at Einsteins.
After getting home cooked a chicken noodle soup and ate it with lots of lemon juice, that felt semi-good and I was able to take half a pain killer ( I did not have pain) that I was hoping would ease my uptight state. Hydrocodone immediately relaxed me and I was able to veg in front of the tv dozing on and off wathcing Lost.Ferit prepared me some feta cheese and muffins/tomatoes,olives, my stomach is still not ok but kept them down. Around 10 o'clock I started feeling really good and proceeded with tidying the kitchen, finally the drugs were getting washed out of my system.
Took a whole Hydrocodone and went to bed around 10 and was able to sleep until about 1 o'clock(then got up and started writing this) I ate a bowl of cereal and started feeling nauseous again. My arms have almost full mobility and there is very little pain in the surgery area.
Still contemplating on whether to go to Jacksonville or not Friday morning is a bit early to make a decision but we have to tell the hotel by noon if only my stomach would settle.
Zeren is coming to babysit me tomorrow when Ferit leaves for work.
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