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Yarr! It be Talk Like a Pirate, Surgery Day!
I'm really hoping the fact that I've gotten so little sleep in the last three days will make it easier for me to sleep on the way home. I finally decided, around 4:30 this morning, that I may as well just get up, seeing as how I'd been waking up nearly every hour anyway. Ugh. At this point, I'm willing to say that the worst part about all of this is not being able to drink anything after midnight... It's just barely 5:00 and I'd already kill for a glass of water.
We'll be leaving the hotel about 6:30 in order to get to the hospital a little before 7:00... and once I'm checked in, my mom and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rackham will head back to the hotel to get all checked out and probably go to breakfast... without me. I'm guessing I won't get to eat until around Noon or so, since my surgery isn't scheduled to start until 9:00 and my orthopaedic surgeon thought it would take around two hours.
Yesterday was filled with all the fun paperwork and pre-op stuff... they really have the whole thing down to a fairly smooth system here. First the meeting with the surgeon, then to Admitting, then Radiology and last to Day Surgery, where the rest of the people I had to talk to came to me (the lab tech for the blood work, the respiratory therapist, the physical therapist). Apparently, the bulk of the hospital's business comes from the orthopaedic surgeons I'm here to see... not surprising, given their reputation (they have enough people coming from out of town that the hotel we're staying at gives discounts to their patients).
The weirdest part, so far, is that the respiratory therapist told me to use my inhaler before I went to bed and after I woke up... do you know how *bizarre* it is to use an inhaler when you're not actually having any breathing problems? It just seems wrong...
I really am hoping that I'll be up to the drive home this evening (that would be Rackham driving, btw, NOT me... I don't get to drive again for about a month). They're going to be giving me the good stuff to take for pain, plus I'll apparently have a pain pump (which sounds like the exact opposite of what it is... like it's some sort of torture device: "Hook her up... to the Pain Pump!! *evil laughter*"). My mom was saying that the patients they've worked with at their PT clinic who have had this surgery here have all come home the same day... and since La Grande is also about a 4.5 hour drive away, that's a pretty good sign.
We'll be leaving the hotel about 6:30 in order to get to the hospital a little before 7:00... and once I'm checked in, my mom and
rackham will head back to the hotel to get all checked out and probably go to breakfast... without me. I'm guessing I won't get to eat until around Noon or so, since my surgery isn't scheduled to start until 9:00 and my orthopaedic surgeon thought it would take around two hours.Yesterday was filled with all the fun paperwork and pre-op stuff... they really have the whole thing down to a fairly smooth system here. First the meeting with the surgeon, then to Admitting, then Radiology and last to Day Surgery, where the rest of the people I had to talk to came to me (the lab tech for the blood work, the respiratory therapist, the physical therapist). Apparently, the bulk of the hospital's business comes from the orthopaedic surgeons I'm here to see... not surprising, given their reputation (they have enough people coming from out of town that the hotel we're staying at gives discounts to their patients).
The weirdest part, so far, is that the respiratory therapist told me to use my inhaler before I went to bed and after I woke up... do you know how *bizarre* it is to use an inhaler when you're not actually having any breathing problems? It just seems wrong...
I really am hoping that I'll be up to the drive home this evening (that would be Rackham driving, btw, NOT me... I don't get to drive again for about a month). They're going to be giving me the good stuff to take for pain, plus I'll apparently have a pain pump (which sounds like the exact opposite of what it is... like it's some sort of torture device: "Hook her up... to the Pain Pump!! *evil laughter*"). My mom was saying that the patients they've worked with at their PT clinic who have had this surgery here have all come home the same day... and since La Grande is also about a 4.5 hour drive away, that's a pretty good sign.
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We'll be thinking of you out here on the east coast. Here's to a swift and successful operation and full mobility and no pain in just a little while longer. :)
Because the Maker only knows what Mary may have us do at C5...
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You should be able to sleep afterwards; they wake you up after the anesthesia to make sure you WILL wake up, bundle you in the car, but then you can gleefully go back to sleep and stay there a while.
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I hate the "no eating! No drinking! Arrr!" part, but the IV helps with that. Plus, you get a couple of days of making other people do things for you, which gets old after a while, but is nice for those few days, whether you feel icky or not.
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::sends healing vibes::
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We look forward to catching up with you in a few weeks.
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This isn't weird -- they made me do the same thing before I had an endoscopic ultrasound last week. I think it has something to do with stress - when you're stressed you're more likely to have an asthma attack, etc.
I hope everything goes well, Fen, and that you heal quickly. I'm glad they're giving you the good drugs, which in my opinion help enormously.
Keep us posted on your progress.
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I pray that everything will work out for you. I've had a pain pump a few times. It works nicely. (Though your idea of The Pain Pump as a torture device made me cackle! It's a good sign that you still have your sense of humour.)
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I'm thinking good thoughts for a rapid and uneventful recovery
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My mom had a PCA after one of her surgeries and Dad faithfully stayed at her bedside. Every time she'd start to wake up and come out of it, she kind of go "mmmrgh," a sort of moan that my father chose to interpret as pain, hit the button, and snow her right back under. (We're substance lightweights.) We all laugh at the story now.
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