So, lets start at the beginning.
The hospital had called here a few times on Tuesday gathering information about me. Much more extensive than the surgi-center. One of the calls was even a sort of medical history check. As it turns out, it did save some time before the surgery.
We got to the hospital at 9:45am. I signed in on the 5th floor (believe it or not, thats the main floor...) and filled out a short form. A lady came out and took me to a cubicle where they photocopied my ID and my insurance and entered me into their computer. She printed a few things and 2 sheets full of labels. From there, I was sent to the 6th floor to wait. Apparently they have more than one surgery area for outpatient procedures--one on the 4th floor and the one I was at, the 6th floor. Frank and I sat down and the first thing I noticed was a huge TV screen with patient information on it. Nothing really personal, just name, doctor and OR number. Next to that were a bunch of boxes that indicated where in the process you were, ie: pre-op, OR, Recovery etc. I thought it was kind of cool. I told Frank he could watch my progress but he just rolled his eyes.
Around 10:30, they called me in to the pre-op area. I was instructed to undress to my undies and to put on a gown and some booties. I also had to take off all my jewelry. Typical hospital routine. After I did that, they did a urine pregnancy test which of course was negative. A nurse stayed with me in the little room filling out something on her computer and another nurse came and started an IV. Naturally, she saw what she thought was a great vein and despite my protests, she inserted the IV in it. I now have a HUGE bruise there... Anyway, they got that running, checked my BP and temperature and then wrapped me up in warm blankets. I cant say I was cold but they did feel good. The gadget they used to check my temp was pretty cool. They touched it to my forehead then moved it quickly across my skin to my neck. Very Star-Trek'ish! After that, he first nurse went and got Frank so he could sit with me while I waited. Then the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me. Pretty standard stuff, but way more in depth than at the surgi center. A few minutes later, Dr. T came and talked to us. He had originally said he wasnt going to do anything with the right lower but somewhere between my last visit with him and yesterday, he changed his mind. Um... okay. I just told him to do what ever he thought was best without wrecking my eyelid function. He poked around at my eyes a little as if he was confirming some plan he had made. I guess my eyes agreed with his plan because he really didnt say much else.
A few minutes later, they rolled me into the OR. Dr. T was pushing the stretcher with the nurses too! They got me positioned, and an old Stevie Nicks song was playing. The anesthesiologist said I looked nervous so he gave me something to relax me. It did nothing and he noticed that so he zapped me with some more. I felt that one! There was some talking going on but thats when it gets hazy. I think that was around when they gave me the white stuff to put me to sleep. What seemed like about 2 minutes later though, I could hear myself asking them to put me back to sleep. I think I repeated it about 3 times before the anesthesiologist said they couldnt because I was coughing. Let me back track there for a minute. Over last weekend, my daughter was here. I took her to the doctor because her tonsils were really big and she had been sick for a few days. I think I caught something from her because for the past few days I had a slight sore throat and a little coughing. I didnt have a fever or anything so I didnt mention it to the docs. My theory on that was that I didnt want my surgery canceled and since I felt okay and wasnt feverish I kept it to myself. Yeah, I know... So, back to me coughing. Naturally, they dont want to have me coughing while they are working on my eyes so they gave me something to stop the cough but also couldnt put me back under. Interestingly, I havent coughed since... what ever they gave me killed it. In reality, I was asleep for more than the 2 minutes I thought. It was more like 20-30 minutes. The doc says its more like a coma and not sleep because you dont dream. Now that was new... I never heard that before but I didnt dream, so he was probably right. During the last half of my surgery, I ended up in coversation with the docs about their specialties and medicare. Go figure. I cant say I remember details other than asking Dr. T why he chose occular plastics and a few other sketchy things. I'm pretty sure he answered me but I have no idea what he said LOL.
After he was done, they rolled me into the first recovery room. I was wide awake so I didnt have to stay there long. The anesthesiologist (sorry, I just cannot remember his name...) left orders for nausea medication and morphine if I needed it. Seriously? Morphine would have been way overkill for this kind of surgery but I guess that's what he's used to doing. I didnt have any nausea but I did feel the pain coming on as the novicaine wore off. They asked me on a scale of 1-10 where it was and I said about a 2 working its way to a 3. Definitely not morphine worthy! They tried to find him to get me a percocet but he was gone. Eventually they moved me into the second recovery area where I was able to sit in this incredibly comfortable recliner. Note to me... must find out if they sell them to the general public. Frank was able to come see me there and since at this point, it was around 2pm, he was quite antsy. After about another 30 minutes, I was allowed to leave. Of course, since its a hospital, they have to wait for someone to roll you out in a wheel chair. Gotta love it. I finally got out of the hospital and as usual, the first stop was Dunkin Donuts! haha!
I have to say, at first I felt okay but by the time I got home, all the drugs they had given me to relax me kicked in. I felt really sluggish and just didnt want to move out of the bed. Thats why I never did get on here to update. I snapped a few photos and decided I should just go lay down. I applied some ointment, then situated myself with ice packs and took a percocet and went to sleep. Here are the first photos:
My daughters called around 8pm to check on me and I went on back to sleep until around 3am. Thats when I finally got up and looked in the mirror. The incisions are definitely smaller than any of the other ones but they still hurt and of course, the bruising and swelling had started. I got some fresh ice packs, put some more ointment on and went back to bed. This morning, I got up, checked on the incisions and did the ointment, snapped a few more photos and went back to bed. My daughters came over this evening with cupcakes and flowers. What a nice surprise! I think it perked me up a little too. They said I didnt look too bad and that made me feel good!I had cleaned up some of the gunk earlier in the day and I'm glad I did!
So, here I am. Almost 36 hours post op. Right now, the left upper lid hurts. Thats the one where he did the most work. The others arent really painful at the moment, but I am aware of them. Earlier, I absent mindedly rubbed my eye. UGH!!! that hurt! I didnt take any photos tonight because the camera battery is dead. I'm charging it but I think by the time it gets charged, I'll be asleep again. The photos below are from this morning. Maybe I'll just take photos once a day. We'll see how that goes and as you all know, if something out of the ordinary happens, I'll photograph it all!
I'll be back tomorrow to update again. I want to take a good look at what he did and then try to explain it to you guys!
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