Journal - The Big Day

We left for Omaha at about 9 or 9:30 on Tuesday morning. Joni decided to take Adam with us so she wouldn’t have to sit by herself while I was in surgery. We normally stop at York for a bite to eat on the way to Omaha, but I wasn’t allowed to eat anything past midnight of the day before so we drove straight through with just one quick rest stop right before York.

Surgery was not at the hospital this time but at the surgery center on the lower floor of the doctor’s office on Dodge Street. We got there at noon, in plenty of time for my 12:30 appointment. At around 12:30 they took Joni and me into a room where we met with Dr. Hodges. She did a pretty good job of explaining exactly what would be taking place during the surgery and patiently answered our questions. I’m not really sure how long we were with her, probably 15 or 20. From there Joni and I had to say our good-byes as she would not be allowed back into the prep area.

One of the nurses took me back into a small locker room and gave me a rundown on everything that would happen prior to surgery. Then she gave me a pair of scrub pants and a gown to change into and left the room. I got changed and put my clothes into a locker. The key was attached to a safety pin, which I was instructed to pin onto myself somewhere after I had locked the locker. When I came out they led me to a bed and got me situated. I was hooked up to an IV, heart monitor, and blood pressure cuff while a few drops were put in my eye. During all this the anesthetist and head nurse were talking with me and asking questions and so forth. Dr. Feilmeier stopped by to say hi. I was kind of wondering if I would see him and was glad when he stopped. Nice to see a familiar face. I may have mentioned this before but he’s a pretty good guy. Last Saturday when I got the bad news, he had been about to leave the room but when he saw that I was having a hard time with it he came back in for a few minutes and actually consoled me.

Anyway, the next thing I knew they were wheeling me to the operating room. Just like before there was absolutely no sensation of falling asleep at all. One minute I was wide awake, and the next it was all over and I was waking up in the recovery room.

There was a Pepsi waiting for me, Joni had brought one in shortly before I woke up. They had me sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes to drink that and eat some crackers. They said I would need something on my stomach for the pain pills they were about to give me. I put on my shirt and shoes but instead of changing back into my jeans I just wore the scrub pants out. They’re not much different than the lounge pants I wear around the house. Anyway, from the time I woke up I almost felt like I was being rushed out. Before long we were back in the car and headed home. It was much later than I had expected, around 5 o’clock.

Shortly after getting back on the interstate I threw up. They had given me a bag for that just incase so that was a good thing. I had planned on getting something to eat as soon as we left but I wasn’t hungry. The bad part was that I think I threw up my pain pills before I got the full benefit of them. I had more but didn’t want to take them on an empty stomach and food was out of the question for the time being. I was in a little bit of pain all the way home but it was manageable. Right before York I had another bout with nausea but was able to fight it down that time. I suppose I dozed on the way home but I’ve never been able to sleep well in a car or bus or airplane.

I guess it was about 8pm by the time we got home and I felt like I was ready to try eating something. I had been thinking about it on the way and had decided some Ramen noodles might be gentle enough on my stomach. Joni made me some but I only got two bites before I started to feel sick again. I didn’t throw up though and finally just ate some crackers, which went down just fine. Then I was able to take some pills and I guess I went to bed shortly after that. It’s only been three days but some of the details are already hazy.

It was a busy day. In retrospect I guess it would have been better to stay overnight in Omaha. I didn’t realize we would be getting out of there so late and I also hadn’t expected the nausea since I haven’t had that problem before. But it turned out okay and I have to admit that it was pretty nice to come home to my own bed after such a day.