All about surgery day.

But, I like to talk about everything - so we will start with the night before. My mom came down the night before since we weren't exactly sure when surgery was. I found out a little after 3 that surgery wasn't until 12, but mom had already left at 3 so... yeah.

Anyways... we went shopping at Border's first. The lady at the register mentioned this book that was supposed to be so AWESOME and it was right there on the counter. She mentioned it because I had a Stephen King book and a Dean Koontz book. It was called A Reliable Wife. I am not usually gullible, but I was intrigued. Thank goodness Mom was there to pick up the tab.

I didn't read the book, but apparently it isn't ANYTHING like I would like. It's more of a historical romance with a murder twist. Oh UGH. And NOW we are majorly off topic.

So Border's first and then we headed to GinMya in York. While Josh, Mom and I were on our way, Kandice called that she had gotten out of work early, so she met us there.

Sushi is a GREAT meal before surgery. Seriously.

I slept relatively well that night and even got to sleep in the next morning! I had to be at the hospital at 10:30. I was nervous, but mom and I did a little photo shoot.

Me and my mom!

Just me - all ready to go!

When we got to the hospital they didn't even have a bed for me, so we ended up waiting in the SUPER crowded waiting room. It was only like 10-15 minutes but it was enough.

A cool new feature in the waiting room though was patient tracking! There was an LCD mounted to the wall that had the case number that was assigned to each patient and let you know when they were in surgery, in recovery, etc. I didn't get to really enjoy it, but it was nice for mom and Josh.

So I finally got my bed. It was the same as before. Strip naked, put on the gown and socks and wait to answer lots of questions.

Here I am! Waiting somewhat impatiently.

So questions were answered, arm bands were put on. And then it happened. Again. WHY CAN'T THEY EVER FIND A VEIN! The first lady dug, and dug, and dug until I started getting tears and begged her to stop.

Mom and Josh then noticed my savior nurse from last time who was able to stick me last time in the hall. She came in, took about 2 minutes, prepped the area and got it first shot. THANK YOU GOD!

Dr. Prats came in and told us that tactics were being switched around. No more Strattice (pig tissue). Another material came out in between my scheduling appointment and my surgery. It was called AlloMax (not to be confused with the non-working AlloDerm). It was human tissue. He said the rep was there even and had delivered it to be used. If he liked the way it worked that is what would be implanted. If not, he did have the Strattice too that he could fall back on. Okay, game plan was set. Let's get sliced and diced!

It felt like I waited forever, but then I was being wheeled back to the OR. I got back there, I think they talked to me.

Then I was waking up in recovery. I couldn't talk really. And the woman next to me was SCREAMING about something. I just kept smiling at the nurses (which probably looked crazy scary as I am sure it was more like a sneer than a real smile). Unfortunately screaming lady took everyones attention and I was left to attempt to smile my creepy smile in the nurse's direction in between falling asleep. It seemed like I was there for a while. I don't know.

Then I was being wheeled into my room. I saw mom and Josh and they hugged and kissed me. I asked what time it was and it was after 6!! WHAT?? Did it take me that long in recovery? What was going on?

Well apparently the surgery did not go as planned. At all. Here is what went down. Dr. Prats got in there and tried pulling my stomach out of my chest and back into my abdomen. It wouldn't stay down. After cutting away a lot of scar tissue and eventually taking my stomach into my abdominal wall with three stitches it was down. That took two hours. That is not good.

He went on to close up my hernia with 5 stitches (he used one before - 2 is usually the max). Then he broke out the AlloMax, liked it, and went on to place that around the former hernia. That was then all placed and tacked down with more stitches.

So the 2-3 hour surgery was a 6 hour surgery and that was why the recovery room was so much rougher!

Then I ask if someone can please get me some water or ice chips because the tube down my throat had irritated it. Nope. Not until after my upper GI the next morning. SERIOUSLY?? Jerks. I ended up suffering all night with nothing really to quench my thirst. The nurses were MUCH nicer this time and kept bringing my zofran and toradol. I even got a morphine helper when it wasn't time to toradol yet.

The night was uncomfortable and unpleasant, but I made it through. 8AM Josh got there. 9AM Dr. Prats showed up (he had said he would be there at 9AM) and explained the surgery to me. How much rougher it was than he had planned on. That now I had to start walking to get the blood flowing and get things healed up.

I am not allowed to gain any weight. I am not allowed to lift anything over 10 lbs. I am not allowed to cough (yes, seriously). I am not allowed to get into a car accident. I can however eat small portions, take lots of stool softeners and laxatives, and walk as much as I can so that I can get to 0.5 miles before I see him Thursday.

Wish me luck! If I remember anything else (which could happen because these pain meds are messing with my memory) I'll make another post.

*hugs and kisses*

mj