My Surgery Experience- this is long

[robinem 0]

Hello All:

I had my surgery on Monday July 24, came home on the 25th. Here's how my day went...

We got to the hospital at 5:30. The hospital has free valet parking, but my boyfriend has a phobia about it, so he dropped me and his mom off while he searched for a suitable place to park. We got to the lobby and were instantly greeted by the most cranky lady ever. Apparently, she was not happy with her job choice or the hours she was required to work.

My boyfriend finally came in and then our 'tour guide' (a man in a Tuxedo) escorted us to the surgical floor. I then went through the various required tests and pokes. The nurses had an unusually hard time drawing blood. I have uncooperative veins to begin with, and being dehydrated didn't help. Then the anesthesiologist (sp) came in and had an equally hard time finding a vein to start the line. I actually cried because they hurt so much, and I tolerate needle pokes well.

Then off to surgery around 7:30. I got the happy juice and settled down for a nice nap while the doctors did their job. However, and unexpected developement happened. Just as the dr. was finishing up, the band she had placed on me broke. I'm not exactly sure how or what happened, but it ended up that she had to remove it and replace it. Therefore, a two hour surgery ended up being about four hour surgery. My family was frantic, but they were fine when I finally wheeled out and they could see me.

Then, I got to my room. While the nurse was trying to replace my IV the shunt they put in me in the operating room quit working. She couldn't start my IV or give me the pain killers. She had to call the IV Team. As far as I could tell, there was only person on this team, for the entire hospital. I waited at least three hours for him to show up. Then when he did, he just wiggled it and said it was fixed. Until the nurse showed up and found out, the IV wasn't fixed. She immediately called him back and had him replace the whole thing. It came out of my wrist, and was put in my bicep on the oppsosite arm. Finally, I got my IV, my pain killers, and an antibiotic.

While the nurse was finishing hooking me up, she turned too fast, and her feet got caught in my Foley tube. She tripped and tugged my Foley (I was sitting up in a chair at this time). The nurse didn't pull out the Foley, but she took a dive and fell face first on the floor. She was ok though, but I was a bit scared.

During the night, I developed an allergic rash to something. They immediatly assumed it was the pain killer( because I have allergy to morphine) and took me off it! Arrrggghh... They gave me Darvocet which worked for crap. I finally convinced them that I was ok with the original pain killer if they mixed it with Benadryl. I got that mixture in the middle of the night, and all was good. I was the topic of much discussion that night.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful. The worked out the kinks from the day before, and I was finally discharged and went home Tuesday night around six pm.

Today (Thursday), I'm up and around. I can't sleep in my bed as laying down hurts, but I have a lovely comfy recliner in my living room and am managing on that.

I feel good and am ultimately happy with my descision. I'm looking forward to seeing the pounds start dropping.

Hope all is well with everyone,

Robin

[mousecrazy 2]

Wow! Sorry you had that unusual complication!

You've got a few uncomfortable days to get through, but the recliner will help you a lot...I was okay in bed after the 1st day. I don't think I slept through the night for a few days...but I just expected it and it was over before it got to be too dreadful! LOL! Get through these few days, and it will all be behind you! I was driving on the 5th day, if I remember correctly.

The main thing is take good care of yourself, and let that band heal in nicely...it'll save you lots of problems down the road!

Good luck with everything, and keep posting!

Cindy