I have never had surgery before but I did as told and didn’t eat or drink anything from midnight until my 6am check-in time. I woke up at 4:45 and took my Uli out for a walk and then took a shower. It was so peaceful to be outside with my babydog at that time.
Then Paul drove me to the hospital and I went into the “check-in” room on my own while Paul waited in the waiting room for me but after a few minutes, I asked if I could bring him in and the nice lady checking me in said of course. So I asked Paul to come in and I felt a tiny bit less scared having him there. By 6:45, I was brought into a room and given a gown. That is when I started to get nervous. Once I was in my gown, the nurse came back in the room and I asked her if I could leave my underwear on and she told me “no, everything off” so I had to go back in the bathroom to take them off. I felt weird about that but later on when I had an IV in my arm and had to go to the bathroom, I realized what a good idea it was. I also appreciated the “open in the back” hospital gown for that same reason. Anyway, it was a very fast paced process after that. A nurse came in to put the IV in my arm, I was given a warming blanket and when I asked for a second one, they quickly brought one, a lady that is conducting a research test that I agreed to came in to say hi (I knew I would give blood before the surgery for the research), the anesthesiology team came in to talk about the procedure and to ask me if I had any loose teeth that they should know about. I told them that I didn’t but that if I came out of surgery with one, I would know who was responsible – we giggled about that (mine was a nervous giggle). Here I am before things started really moving forward in the pre-operative room.
They put an oxygen strip into my nose at some point and then the surgeons came in to see how I was doing and to ask if I had any questions. Paul had my long list of questions and so he asked some and then commented that I had a lot of questions and that some are probably better to ask after surgery. I laughed because I was hoping he would ask my question about how hard the thyroid is to remove – my example that he did not read referred to chicken – some bits are super easy to cut apart – just snip a little part and you’re done and then other parts are harder to separate. What part of the chicken is most similar to the thyroid? Paul looked amused as he read that question to himself and skipped to the next one.
The surgeons told me that the breathing tube that they would use for this surgery would have “feelers or sensors” on the outside so that they could monitor my laryngeal nerve throughout the surgery. I had been told earlier that before they took me into the operating room they would inject something into the IV that would relax me. Thank goodness because things were happening so quickly that by the time I was ready to go into the operating room, I needed to be relaxed. My normally very low blood pressure was elevated pre-surgery. I was able to look up and see Paul’s face while all of those people were coming into the room. After I was relaxed, (I think it took all of 30 seconds to be effective) the team moved me from my hospital bed to a stretcher and into the operating room. I remember being moved from the stretcher onto the operating table and seeing two or three giant light sources above the table. I remember saying that the lights were like I remember from TV shows like ER and the staff laughing. I was told that they were going to put sticky monitors on my body and they did. Then it was time to tell me that they were going to put an oxygen mask on my face and that I would fall asleep pretty quickly. I think I was out within 5 seconds. Maybe less.
Then Paul drove me to the hospital and I went into the “check-in” room on my own while Paul waited in the waiting room for me but after a few minutes, I asked if I could bring him in and the nice lady checking me in said of course. So I asked Paul to come in and I felt a tiny bit less scared having him there. By 6:45, I was brought into a room and given a gown. That is when I started to get nervous. Once I was in my gown, the nurse came back in the room and I asked her if I could leave my underwear on and she told me “no, everything off” so I had to go back in the bathroom to take them off. I felt weird about that but later on when I had an IV in my arm and had to go to the bathroom, I realized what a good idea it was. I also appreciated the “open in the back” hospital gown for that same reason. Anyway, it was a very fast paced process after that. A nurse came in to put the IV in my arm, I was given a warming blanket and when I asked for a second one, they quickly brought one, a lady that is conducting a research test that I agreed to came in to say hi (I knew I would give blood before the surgery for the research), the anesthesiology team came in to talk about the procedure and to ask me if I had any loose teeth that they should know about. I told them that I didn’t but that if I came out of surgery with one, I would know who was responsible – we giggled about that (mine was a nervous giggle). Here I am before things started really moving forward in the pre-operative room.
They put an oxygen strip into my nose at some point and then the surgeons came in to see how I was doing and to ask if I had any questions. Paul had my long list of questions and so he asked some and then commented that I had a lot of questions and that some are probably better to ask after surgery. I laughed because I was hoping he would ask my question about how hard the thyroid is to remove – my example that he did not read referred to chicken – some bits are super easy to cut apart – just snip a little part and you’re done and then other parts are harder to separate. What part of the chicken is most similar to the thyroid? Paul looked amused as he read that question to himself and skipped to the next one.
The surgeons told me that the breathing tube that they would use for this surgery would have “feelers or sensors” on the outside so that they could monitor my laryngeal nerve throughout the surgery. I had been told earlier that before they took me into the operating room they would inject something into the IV that would relax me. Thank goodness because things were happening so quickly that by the time I was ready to go into the operating room, I needed to be relaxed. My normally very low blood pressure was elevated pre-surgery. I was able to look up and see Paul’s face while all of those people were coming into the room. After I was relaxed, (I think it took all of 30 seconds to be effective) the team moved me from my hospital bed to a stretcher and into the operating room. I remember being moved from the stretcher onto the operating table and seeing two or three giant light sources above the table. I remember saying that the lights were like I remember from TV shows like ER and the staff laughing. I was told that they were going to put sticky monitors on my body and they did. Then it was time to tell me that they were going to put an oxygen mask on my face and that I would fall asleep pretty quickly. I think I was out within 5 seconds. Maybe less.
No comments:
Post a Comment