Successful Surgery!

Hello everyone!  Now that the day has calmed down and I have gotten some sleep, I thought I would share how my surgery went!

Everyone said I did great!

My day officially started at 5:30 AM when I was told to be at the hospital.  We got here on time and waited to get back for a little while. My prep nurse had me change into some sort of paper gown that I wore to surgery. Of course I was nervous, and crying a bit as I seem to do when I am really tired and anxious.  I had my first blown vein ever, when  the nurse inserted my first IV. It looked fine until the nurse tried to run fluid. So she ended up having to place in my hand, which wasn't bad actually. The blown vein doesn't hurt either.  she also gave me a nausea patch that went behind my ear.

During this time a friend named Kayla, who is a surgical tech student graduating in May,  came to visit me while she was doing her clinicals. I was so grateful that she came to visit!

After they had me all set, they let my mom come back while the surgeon, anesthesiologist,  and my OR nurse came to speak with me and take me to surgery. Which of course I was mortified that I had two males because of the issue I had with being naked and not really wanting a Foley Catheter. Thankfully however, they knocked me out before doing that so I suffered none of my usual embarrassment.

After the OR nurse gave me a blood thinner injection,  we were off to the operating room. I just barely remember being wheeled in and scooting over to the operating table. I remember vaguely that they put some kind of boards on the sides of the table for my arms. The next thing I barely remember is waking up slightly in the operating room and hearing them say that I wanted my catheter out before I left surgery and felt that removed. Again thankfully, I was still loopy so barely remember it, and so I really wasn't embarrassed. ..thank God.

When I got to recovery, my nurse there ended up giving me two morphine injections and made sure I was stable. Then she called and gave a report to my nurse for my admission .

My mom and my friend Amanda were waiting in my room when I got there. Yay! They helped the admission nurse, Amy, to get me settled. Also, I had a ton of pillows and have used about all of them. I even brought my own on the suggestion of a friend, Amy Wells. Thank goodness I did follow her advice because it really helped my pain to sit up and press a pillow to my stomach.

I tried lying in bed for a while but at the time it was too uncomfortable.  So they fixed up a chair for me and I sat in that for a few hours. That and the dilaudid they have been giving me about every two hours, mixed with liquid IV acetaminophen has really helped me.

I also got up two or 3 times to go walking and to use the restroom. That also helped my pain although it was a bit painful at first to do so. Otherwise,  they have had compression. Devices on my legs off and on to prevent blood clots.

There have been a couple of times when sharp pain has made me nauseous,  but as soon as I received pain Medicine I felt better within 5 to 10 minutes. Also, my throat was really  sore from intubation so my surgeon let me have a throat spray called Chloraseptic; that helped tremendously with my dry throat. I have also gotten albuterol nebulizer every 4 hours and Zofran to help with my nausea.


I finally managed to get comfortable and go to sleep.  But so far everything has been good. The clinical staff have been completely awesome to me. Hopefully I will feel even better today! I will have to have another UGI to check for leaks in my staple line. But after I pass that test I should go home with my mom for a few days.

My Nurse Practitioner said she was really proud of me for walking so soon, and that I was her best patient right now. Woo hoo!


But that's all for now. I will update tomorrow how my UGI test went.