No Turning Back Now

Monday was the big day! I woke up at 6am and I was full of excitement which was a relief because the night before, I was full of anxiety. I went over all of my “day of” instructions, dressed comfortably and tried not to think about how badly I wanted a cup of coffee. By 7am, hubs and I were off to the surgeons office. One of the things that I find pretty cool about these procedures now, is that many plastic surgeons have “surgical suites” within their office, so you don’t have to go the hospital.

When we arrived at the office we were greeted by the nurses and we were taken back to a prep room.  I once again had to wear the oh so sexy pink gown and horrific paper string bikini bottoms. This time they added some knee-high compression socks, teal non-skid slippers and a hair net thingy. (Yes, thingy is a word to me). I really should have had the hubs take a photo of me but I was starting to get nervous at this point. The nurse went over all of my consent forms again, placed a warming blanket over me and then hooked my up to an IV which wasn’t very comfy at all. Shortly after, the surgeon came in and I became his canvas. He had me stand up and he began marking my abdomen for symmetry and incision lines. When he was done doing his best Picasso impersonation on me, the anesthesiologist came in and went over what he would be doing. Before I knew it, I had to say goodbye to my husband and make my way into the surgical suite.

As we walked down the hall, I began to get nervous. The room looked very similar to a standard operating room but a little more cozy. They had me lay down on the table and I guess the anesthesiologist started the sedative because I felt woozy and out of it when I had to sit up so he could start the spinal block for the procedure. I don’t remember laying back down or anything, next thing I knew I was in a recovery room and in a lot of pain. It seems I was having muscle spasms due to the muscle repair that was done so they gave me a shot of demerol and it knocked me out a little longer. I can’t recall much of what happened while in recovery. I just know I was very uncomfortable from the muscle spasms and I was very groggy from the demerol. I don’t even recall being moved from the bed to the wheelchair. I just remember an awful muscle spasm at that time, getting nauseous and vomiting, which was the most painful thing I ever felt.

I was grateful to see my husband and happy to be on my way home. Getting in and out of my truck was not fun, but once I was home, he was able to give me a muscle relaxer and I was able to just pass out and rest. Monday is really just a blur since I had so many meds in my system and we didn’t get home until 6pm. Tuesday was a little better but trying to get up so I could use the bathroom was not an easy task. I remember thinking “Why did I do this?” many times throughout the day. It’s amazing how much you take your core strength for granted. Wednesday I was able to get up on my own and I didn’t need help in the bathroom anymore. I did however start to have issues with the compression garment. It seems I have “stranger rib anatomy” so the garment was bunching up and squeezing me under the rib cage. I was allowed to unzip the garment a little for some relief and they had me take two Percocet every 4 hours to help with pain relief.

Today I am pretty zombie-like from taking so many Percocets but I was able to get some good sleep last night. I even made it upstairs so I could change my sweatpants, tank top and wash up a bit.

Tomorrow is my first post-op appointment and the surgeon should be removing the two drains as well as the pain pump from me. I’m looking forward to this because 24 hours after they are removed, I’m allowed to shower. I think once I’m able to shower I’ll feel more human again. I’m also looking forward to this because the compression garment should come off briefly and I’ll be able to see what was actually done.

Sorry if this I’m rambling in this blog post or if it has typos or unfinished thoughts. I’m as high as a kite on pain meds right now but I wanted to give everyone some form of an update.