surgery went well

Thursday morning Ron and I headed over to UT medical center, I had to be there at 7:30. I checked in, paid my $15.00 co pay, and headed upstairs to the cardiac wing. I had a very nice room. All the other surgeries I have had I was put in a big long room and everyone just had a curtain to separate them, I had an actual room.

The nurse comes in and asks me all the million questions that they always ask you when you go into surgery and then puts in my IV. Another nurse comes in, the nurse that will be in my surgery assisting the doctor and she attaches me to all the million "stickers" I need to be attached to, and the very large ones just in case they need to shock me. (Heidi, I know I am butchering this, I don't know all your technical terms. LOL) This nurse, Debbie, informed me that I may wake up during the procedure, but that is normal, once they get my heart racing. Um, ok then.

After that was done I got wheeled into the surgery. I was put onto the bed in there and I met the other doctor that would be assisting, his name was Clive. The first thing he asked me, What kind of music do I like? He had Zeppelin, Van Halen and Boston. Interesting choices. I told him anything but Zeppelin, so Van Halen it was.

Debbie told me that they were needing to take my blood pressure and this first time it will get really tight. I remember it started tightening, and then Debbie came over and injected medicine into my IV, and that was it, I was out.

At one point I remember dreaming, I don't remember about what but I remember dreaming and then I woke up. I looked over to my right and saw my surgeon and Clive and I asked, is everything going ok. Dr. Hughes said "Jennifer, yes, everything is going great, we just got your heart racing and found where the issue is, so we will fix it for you." Then I was out again.

Next thing I remember was Clive waking me up with Debbie. Then I got wheeled back into my room. My nurse came back in and asked if I wanted some vicodin. I told her I wasn't in any pain except that my lower back really hurt. She told me that was completely normal and asked if I wanted one or two pills. I, like an idiot, told her one, and then of course fell back asleep.

I was woken up when my nurse came back in to check on me. She asked if I could sit up, so we tried to sit me up, OMG, I was in so much pain, in my back, that I started crying, hysterically. I got the second vicodin. :) And back to sleep I went. (BTW, my back hurt so much because I was lying flat on a hard bed for hours. That was the only pain I had.)

Here are the funny stories now. Apparently in between me waking up when I was back in my room, I was telling Ron some stories from the surgery, then I would fall back asleep. I would wake up and tell Ron the exact same story. I did that twice. I also asked Ron to call my friend Michelle to tell her I was ok. Did that twice too. I remember Ron telling me the first time I repeated a story, yeah, you told me this already. Then I asked him to call Michelle. He asked why, so I told him, to tell her I was ok. Ron said, yeah, I did that already, you already told me to call her. Then I told him the story of me waking up in the middle of surgery and he said "Jennifer, I hate to cut you off but we had this conversation already too." Poor guy.

AT 2:30 I was told I could get out of bed. I did and went to the bathroom, came back to my bed and I got very nauseous and a little dizzy. Back in bed I went. An hour later, we tried again. No go. My nurse brought me zofran. I love zofran. I had that when I was pregnant with Evan and Lea, it's a wonder drug, no more nauseousness.

At around 5 my nurse asked me if I drank coffee and if I wanted a cup. Of course it was decaf, but it perked me right up. I was able to get out of bed and walk the hall with two nurses, so then I got to go home, at 6:00. (Apparently I was very grey looking and pale, so that was why they gave me the coffee and kept me in bed.)

Overall, this surgery was a breeze. I was in a little pain yesterday, but that was because I got out of bed and did a little too much too soon. When I say a little pain though, it was very little, I didn't even need to take advil for it, I just went back to bed.

When I got home Thursday I found out that the kids elementary school teachers made dinner for us, and sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. That was so nice of them.

So that was it. Mom and Dad have been wonderful, I loved having them here. I feel terrible though because Mom is still not 100% from her foot surgery and it has been difficult going up and down my stairs. They are leaving tomorrow, which sucks.

Oh, Evan got sick Friday. :( Croup again, very minor case of it, but the poor baby had an infection in his eyes too, all nasty. He didn't even look like Evan, his eyes were so bad. Now I need to give him eye drops 3 times a day for 7 days. He has been a trooper with that, thank God. Nothing like his mother was at his age. He is looking much better now though. Now, everyone has a bad cold though, Evan, Lea, me and Ron. Somehow, knock on wood, Andrew is fine.

Like I said in my last post, there are no PTO plans for awhile so I should be able to get some cards done to show. Thank GOD. I have my first workshop coming up soon. :)

Thank you to all for the get well wishes, I appreciate it.