Surgery

I've already figured out that typing left handed is hard to do!

Surgery was Monday and now it's Friday evening. My husband, Jeff, and I arrived at Grant Hospital at 7:30 am. The nurses had called me the Thursday before and said my surgery was being pushed from 9:00 to 9:30. When we got to the hospital, we pulled right up to valet parking which was free for surgery patients. We went upto the second floor and right to a reception desk. The receptionist verified who I was, put on my hospital bracelet, and gave Jeff a card that had an ID number on it. When they were done with my surgery, they'd flash a message up on a tv in the waiting room to let him know I was done. The receptionist then callled back to the nurses and sent me right back.

The pre-op area was super nice. They weighed me and had me pee in a cup and then put me in a little room. I changed into my gown and footies and lay down on the gurney. The nurse asked me all sorts of questions and took my blood pressure. Another woman came in and took my ID and insurance card and then the on-call doctor came in. He listened to my lungs and asked me about my medical history since he'd be the doctor in charge of me after I got out of surgery. There was a struggle to get my IV started and eventually a second nurse had to put it in the back of my hand. While I was signing my consent forms, Dr. Millard and his resident, Dr. Mickelsen, came in. Dr. Millard asked me again if I knew what they were going to do to me and then nicely initialed my right arm. I guess he was claiming me as his own.

Dr. Millard left to go get changed and Dr. Mickelsen asked me some more questions about my history of symptoms. Then I was joined by the anastesiologist who asked me more questions. Jeff left at this point, taking my glasses with him so I was blind. Finally, I was left with the surgical nurse who was going to wheel me upstairs to the OR. All in all, I think I saw about 10 different people leading up to surgery time.

The trip to the OR was surreal. It was like on TV. The halls were empty and we just went up a surgical elevator and then right into the big brightly lit OR. There were a couple people waiting and they had me scoot over onto the operating table. As I was doing so, the nurse put something that burned into my IV. I lay back on the table and they put the mask over my face and someone asked me where my favorite vacation spot was. Then I was gone. Nothing.