Just curious as to what the day of surgery was like and your stay in the hospital. I have had so many surgeries, 5 orthopedic in the last two years, but nothing like this with my mid section. Sure cutting and plating my ulna was painful, as was the fusion of my wrist three times, but still curious about the entire journey.

I had a great surgery experience. Me and my husband got to the hospital about 2 hours before surgery. They put me in this little "pre-surgery" room, we talked and watched tv. They started the IV there and had me change and put those silly orthopedic stockings on. I dont know if they ever caught on but those are pretty much impossible to keep up on a very fat thigh that goes down to a v at your ankle. They kept rolling down. Went into the recovery room/before surgery room. My doc come in and said hi, the anesthesiologist came in and said hi. Just laid there until I went into surgery. Scooted onto table and was put out. Waking in the recovery room was fine. I did not have pain per se but felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, that kind of squashed feeling. That was uncomfortable but not painful by any means. I spent the night in because they make you. I had slept a full night before and pretty much dozed after surgery so by about 7pm I was awake and awake for the entire night. I did also have to pee about every hour on the hour. The nurse finally unhooked me from as much as she could since I was up and walking around so much that night. I had absolutely NO gas pain. By the next day that squashed feeling was starting to go away. I have only one other surgery to compare to (open gallbladder) and that was just awful compared to this one. I had some discomfort which is expected so all in all I would say I had a great experience. Nothing suprised me except for that squished feeling and that didnt hurt, more annoying than anything else.

Mine was typical as well.

I was there bright and early, didn't get any sleep the night before as I have an INTENSE fear of anesthesia. I spoke with the anestiolgist (sp) about that and made him promise he would tell me what was going on. They couldnt' find a vein so he put it in my wrist (which was not very comfy to say the least).

I had to pee they let me stop off at the bathroom before surgery. We went into the OR, I got up on the bed, I remember seeing the anestheiologist putting something in my IV I asked him if that was going to knock me out, he said yes and someone put an oxygen mask on me. Lights out until I woke up.

I made the mistake of telling them I had a very low tolerance for pain meds so when I woke up I felt like I had been stabbed and was in an extreme amount of pain. I was moaning and the nurse asked if I was hurting and wanted pain meds in my IV, I said yes and within a minute or two I was feeling good

They got me up and walking around then back into bed to take me to xray to check for leaks. Then I went to my room (I had surgery at a hospital) and slept as much as I could even though they came in every hour to check my BP and pulse. They sent me home about 4 pm.

Healing was quick and I have no complaints.