I'm alive! ALIVE!!! *muwahahahaaa!!*

And officially a Bandster!!

This will be long, I apologize in advance. :tt1:

Surgery went REALLY well. I went to Day One Health in Chicago and everyone there is phenomenal!

I got there are 5:00am (half hour earlier than scheduled) and NO ONE was there! The place was dark! Ha! But not for long. We got let in a few minutes later and completed the rest of the paperwork, then went back to prep for surgery. Again, I cannot stress how awesome everyone is there! I think I am going to get them a thank you card and bring it Friday for my follow-up.

ANYWHO--once they wheeled me back into the O.R., another nurse came in singing a Michael Jackson song-- "You are not alone...I am here with you." I said, oh that's good! They started to "strap" my arms onto the boards and I said "and this the part when I'm asking myself 'what the heck am I doing here?'" My anesthesiologist (sp?) said "one time I actually had someone jump off the table and say 'forget this' and leave!" That made me laugh. Then he gave me something to "relax" and I woke up in recovery!

I was very sore, but asked for some pain meds and that was NICE. Once I got the thing out of my nose, I decided to walk--a LOT. And this really does help! I lapped the area countless times. Started very slowly, but was jogging a while late. J/K! Yeah right! But I was walking at nearly "normal" speed. Everytime I would pass the nurse's station they would ask if I was ok and if I was nauseous. I NEVER got nauseous (yay!) and haven't had any gas pains yet either. (Hopefully I can avoid the majority of that.)

Didn't get to leave until about 2:30 because I was waiting for the doctor to do my swallow test--which tastes like butt, by the way! Ha! They gave me a little can of apple juice to get the taste out of my mouth. That juice could have been a steak dinner! It was amazing!!

Got back home around 4 and had a little chicken broth, SF popsicle and liquid Vicadin. Called my parents and they were really surprised how good I sounded. I may have talked their ears off. LOL But my dad is considering the surgery as well, so I talked in depth about everything! Finally took a nap from about 6:30 till 9. Will go back to bed soon, but was able to have a jello cup and TWO cups of hot tea (no milk!) And some Vicadin for dessert!

Who knows how I will feel tomorrow, but I do not regret this so far! Even with the pain in the incisions. That will pass and I'll be on my way to a new life.

The name of the clinic is very fitting...Day One. I feel like it's my birthday!!

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and well wishes! I will post again tomorrow--hopefully as upbeat as I am right now!

xoxo

Maggs