procedure day

I went to bed closer to 1AM than midnight. The plan was, stay up until the last possible moment and have something to eat and drink, so I wouldn't be tremendously dehydrated this morning. So I had some tea and cookies at midnight, and that was fine, but then I was puttering around making the kids' lunches and whatnot. By the time I got into bed, it was nearly 1AM, and then Cooper was making a racket. He doesn't like to be alone, and he couldn't find Alice. So I brought him downstairs, and I couldn't find Alice, either. She wasn't in any of her usual downstairs sleeping places, and I was just about to start looking upstairs when DS1 came down with her, all droopy in his arms, saying, "This one was being sneaky."

Sneaky, indeed -- the door to the boys' room had been closed since they were tucked in. We had no idea she was in there! Cooper was happy to be reunited with his sister, and I finally went to bed...

... only to wake up at 4:30 with a full bladder, of course. I didn't need to get up for another 15 minutes or so, but of course I didn't get back to sleep. I got up and got dressed and came down, and M was already here to take me up to Phoenix. There were quite a few cars on the road but everything was moving along fine. We found the place, parked, and I checked in.

We waited for about half an hour, 45 minutes, and then they called me back. I changed into my hospital gown and booties, and they gave me warm blankets (that is definitely the best part). Before long the nurse came and gave me my IV, then the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me, then the OR nurse came by, and finally Dr. D, my surgeon came in 10 minutes before my procedure was scheduled. The next thing I knew, the anesthesiologist was giving me Versed, which stings something fierce coming through the IV. I remember my hand killing me, then not feeling too bad, and then I was waking up in the recovery room. I love Versed.

Awake in the recovery room, I drank some cranberry juice and felt a little spacy but fine. As I was getting dressed, my surgeon wandered by and asked, from the other side of the curtain, how I was doing. "Fine," I said, too looped to ask him any questions. And then it was time to go home! DH pulled the car around and we were home by 10:15.

I puttered for a while, had some beef barley soup, went back to bed at 11:30, and slept until 5. DH fielded about a half-dozen phone calls, everyone wanted to know how it had gone and if there was any word. The only word is that the surgeon will call me when the pathology report is in, and I'll just have to wait on that. The kids were fine today and had finished their homework (mostly) by the time I got up, and DH got us all takeout for dinner, so the evening was relaxing, too.

So far I'm doing well on just Tylenol. I have a prescription for something stronger but I really don't see the point if I don't need it. I get to take the bandage off tomorrow and have a shower. I'm dreading it, I don't want to look at the incision, and I don't want to have yet-another-scar. (Yes, I am being a baby about this.) Of course it's too late now.

It was nice to sleep most of the day, especially since I actually slept instead of the drifting in and out of consciousness that I usually experience after surgery. This one was quite short so I didn't need too much anesthesia, so I hope to be completely out of this wooly-headedness by tomorrow. My last two surgeries were much longer than anticipated, so it was very nice that this one went according to schedule. I can't allow myself to read anything into that, but for today, anyway, it's good not to be in a prolonged post-op daze.