My surgery was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb 3rd. I was told to be at the hospital NLT 6:00 a.m.! Since Ginny and I didn't particularly feel like getting up at 3:30 to leave by 4:30 to be at the hospital by 6:00, we decided to spend Monday night in the Potomac Mills area at a motel that was only a mile or so away from the hospital. Much more relaxing for both of us!
After checking into the motel, we found a Pizzaria Uno nearby and had a nice, quiet dinner. We returned to the motel and I read until about 9:00 p.m. and then turned in.
On Tuesday morning, we were roused by the 4:45 a.m. wake-up call we had requested. I got up, showered and got dressed. Of course, I was supposed to arrive at the hospital fasting, so I didn't have to worry about breakfast. Ginny didn't need food that early and would just wait until after I was taken into surgery before she found herself some breakfast.
As we drove to the hospital, I remember feeling no real anxiety. I knew that this was the right step in my life at the right time, so there was really nothing to worry about.
At the hospital, after checking in with Registration, I was taken to the lab to have blood drawn for something they called "type and sort". This was done so that they could have several units of blood ready in the OR, just to be safe. After finishing that, Ginny and I headed back to the Surgical Suite.
There I was put in a small room with a bed and the obligatory I/V contraption. After getting undressed and into the hospital gown, the anaethesiologist came in and hooked up my I/V. I don't remember too much after that. We only had to wait about 15-20 minutes before they came to take me into surgery. I remember saying goodbye to Ginny, getting a kiss from her and then being wheeled out of the room, but nothing after that. They must have started the anaesthesia already.
The next thing I remember is that uncomfortable feeling of starting to come out of it in the Recovery Room. I call it uncomfortable because you're half in it and half out of it still. I remember feeling a lot of activity going on around me and an obnoxious nurse who kept moving my left hand back down to my side every time I tried to rest it on my upper chest. I guess she thought I was going after some of the incisions. I don't know!
Anyway, after what I have been told was an hour or so in recovery, they took me up to my room. I was still kind of "out of it", only partially aware of what was going on around me. Ginny was there waiting to greet me. I'm sure I didn't act like I was happy to see her very much. I was still trying to wake up!
Monday, February 23, 2009
The final days before the operation
It's time for me to catch up on what's been going on with the ol' Cheese grater.
I can not believe it has been almost a month since I last entered anything here. So much has happened during that time that I'm sure I will not get everything down. But I'll give it a try!
Pre-op liquid diet: I had to give up on the Optifast diet after about five days. The shakes were going right through me. I lost ten pounds during the process, which was the whole purpose of going on that diet. But, I don't think it was a "healthy" weight loss.
During the last week in January I went through the final clearances from my cardiologist, family doctor, and the surgeon's office. I met with the nutritionist and my surgeon on Thursday, the 29th. They noted that they were still awaiting the input from my cardiologist and clearance from my family doctor. I let them know that I had appointments the next day for those.
On January 30th, I had appointments with the cardiologist first thing and then my family doctor later that morning. From the cardiologist's standpoint, he wanted me to have one last EKG (which was normal). When I got to my family doctor's office, she wanted me to have an EKG too. I told her about the one done earlier in the cardiologist's office. So, they spent the next couple of hours trying to get that one faxed over.
I'm going to break this up into multiple posts so that people don't have to wade through everything if they're only interested in certain parts of the story.
I can not believe it has been almost a month since I last entered anything here. So much has happened during that time that I'm sure I will not get everything down. But I'll give it a try!
Pre-op liquid diet: I had to give up on the Optifast diet after about five days. The shakes were going right through me. I lost ten pounds during the process, which was the whole purpose of going on that diet. But, I don't think it was a "healthy" weight loss.
During the last week in January I went through the final clearances from my cardiologist, family doctor, and the surgeon's office. I met with the nutritionist and my surgeon on Thursday, the 29th. They noted that they were still awaiting the input from my cardiologist and clearance from my family doctor. I let them know that I had appointments the next day for those.
On January 30th, I had appointments with the cardiologist first thing and then my family doctor later that morning. From the cardiologist's standpoint, he wanted me to have one last EKG (which was normal). When I got to my family doctor's office, she wanted me to have an EKG too. I told her about the one done earlier in the cardiologist's office. So, they spent the next couple of hours trying to get that one faxed over.
I'm going to break this up into multiple posts so that people don't have to wade through everything if they're only interested in certain parts of the story.
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