Post Surgery

Tomorrow will be 1 week post Nephrectomy and I thought I would jot a few thoughts down. It's been tougher than I imagined. I thought I could handle pain, I had 2 over 9 lb boys without any pain medicine and figured this would be similar. Nope--way different. With labor it was intense pain with short breaks in between. With surgery it is a very manageable dull pain that never lets up. It is the accumulation of pain that is mentally taxing. I am ready for it to be done just as I was ready for the boys to be born, but there is no end. The only end to this is time.

I have been celebrating the small things. It now only takes me about 2 minutes to get out of bed whereas just a few days post surgery it was taking up to 10. I am also home (Uncle Ray's house) from the hospital. I am getting lots of sleep and feeling semi-normal.

We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am on Tuesday 9/4. When we arrived they put us in a room and took our vitals as well as asked lots of questions. Around 7:15am thay came to get me and I was able to throw my arms around Jasine one last time before they seperated us for surgery. I got to ride on a hospital bed with a warm blanket wrapped around me to the 2nd floor pre-opp room.

In the pre-opp room I had an IV inserted in my right wrist and was again asked many questions. One of the frequent questions was "So what are we doing to you today?" When the 4th person asked me this I finally said "You guys are scareing me. I should hope by now you know what surgery I will be having and not have to ask me about it." The nurse calmly explained they were all very well aware what surgery I was having they only wanted to make sure I knew. I did.

The Anesthesiologist came over to talk to me and said he was going to give me some stuff that might make me sleepy. At the time I was sitting up on the bed hugging my knees to my chest and having a good chat with the person in the bed next to me. They gave me the drug and started to move my bed out of the pre-opp room and into the hallway. The hallway is as far as my memory goes. I remember thinking I do feel tired and I better lie down. The next thing I remember is somone shaking me and saying "Wake up, it's 1:30pm. You're done" 6 hours of my life are blank; a strange feeling.

My next awareness after being told to wake up was my mouth being very dry. I felt as if I had been stuck in a desert for 1 week with no water. I slowly became aware of my surroundings and asked where I was. I got "Where do you think you are?" In the snottiest post-opp voice I could muster which sounded more like an aged smoker "Recovery room, UC Davis Medical Center." I was done with stupid questions.