So, where did I leave off... Oh right... making the Indian resident smile and laugh.
It wasn't actually two long after that, that I was told I would have surgery either that night or early the next morning and then the next thing I knew I was being taken upstairs to prep for surgery. I met a nurse who wasn't happy that I still had my glasses on and I also met with my anesthesiologist, Dr. Buday, some other random nurses and Kim the 3rd year student who got to scrub in for my surgery. I was still in a pretty good mood and the nurse told me "Well you won't be for long." I just looked at her. What an awful thing to say. I know I was drugged and I know that I was going into surgery. But I trusted these people to take care of me so I had already decided that I was going to be ok and the thought of being upset, or angry or annoying never entered my mind. They asked me what I did for a living and what I was doing... many were astonished that I drove myself to the hospital with appendicitis. I told them about Ohio ENT and all the doctors I worked for. Mentioning Dr. Hiltbrands name and a few others. The anesthesiologist, who was very nice, I can't remember his name, told me that I was going to be intubated. I immediately asked if I would be asleep when they put it in and would I still be asleep when they took it out. He said "oh yes, the only thing you may have is a sore throat after." Working for ENT I knew that this was a possibility and immediately started to think about all the patients I had talked to who after being intubated had VCD, hoarseness, sore throat, loss of voice.... I had to quell these thoughts. I couldn't let them run rampant. So I did. I remember being wheeled in... moving from my bed to the table... I distinctly remember my right arm being stretched out straight away from my body and strapped down to a table or something.... I vaguely remember my left arm getting the same treatment... then I remember seeing the mask coming down over my nose and mouth.....
I remember hearing someone calling my name. "Erin... your done with your surgery, everything went well... we were able to do your surgery laparoscopically..." I remember how sluggish my arms felt and how I wanted to scratch my nose but they wouldn't let me touch my face... my arm was heavy and floppy anyway and I probably couldn't reach my nose anyhow. LOL. Then they made me help move my self to my bed... or a bed...I was soo heavy and it hurt... man my body just didn't want to move... but the more I did, the more coherent I became. I was finally allowed to scratch my nose but they didn't want me to remove my oxygen hose though that was what was causing the itchiness. I dont' really remember being rolled down the hall, but I remember being pushed into my room and things locked into place... or I may have the whole moving me from one bed to another mixed up.. I remember seeing my mom and that was nice. She was there when I went into surgery and she was there when I got out of surgery and I had all that done before my friends even got into sit down to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. I remember mom sitting with me for a bit and then I think I told her she could go home. I wasn't going anywhere and I was really alright. Hopped up on pain meds and my needs being met by the nurses on the floor I wasn't worried. I was worried however when the one nurse came in, a gentleman from a different floor who was filling in, wanted me to hop out of bed and get weighed. I have to admit I was a bit put off by this as I had just had abdominal surgery and while I was on meds, I didn't think I could stand and it would have been just my luck that I would have fallen down, my bare butt would be in the air and my newly stitched flesh would come ripping open. I've seen flesh ripped open before and is not a pretty sight. Just ask my grandpa Bruce.
So here's the thing about just getting out of surgery. They come in every half hour for the first 2 hours and check your vitals. And the carts they pull around with all their equipment on it, is not quiet. So don't even think about getting sleep for the first several hours... because even if it gets past that 2 hour mark where they are checking you every half hour, it then gets pushed back to every hour. So just as your starting to find a comfortable position to drift off for a bit the racket of the cart jerks you unceremoniously awake for the next heart rate, temp and blood pressure check. It got to the point where I would just hold up my right arm for the blood pressure check, open my mouth for the thermometer, like a baby bird waiting for food, and prep my left index finger for the heart rate check. I tried to be as efficent as possible. Then I found out that I would be receiving a visit from a Dr. Fisher a cardiologist. A cardiologist you say?? Why should I be getting a visit from a cardiologist?? Well apparently they noticed a slight abnormality with my heart beat when I was under during surgery. So they drew some blood and gave me another EKG. The results showed that my heart had damage done to it by some sort of trauma... like a heart attack. I don't believe I have had an heart attack. But my heart says something different. Dr. Fisher showed up about 6:30 am. We played a game of 20 questions where I answered "No" to every one and he didn't seem to be to concerned but wanted me to have an ultrasound of my heart all the same just to be sure. So I had to wait for the ultrasound. And wait. And wait.
The projected time of my departure had been estimated at 11 or 11:30 am. Mom and Jim showed up about this time expecting me to be able to leave. Jim is my father and he is wonderfully funny and easy to get along with. In true Jim fashion he started joking around about Vick's Vapor Rub and different places to put it... I will not go into details, but needless to say I had my first real laugh that brought me to tears because of the pain. But I didn't mind. I held my belly and let myself laugh and relax a bit. I didn't really expect to leave at this time, but I was expecting to have my ultrasound by then... no such luck. Of course not. It wasn't until I paged the nurse and asked when I was going for my ultrasound that I got an answer of around 1 or so. It didn't seem to be too long after I asked that I found myself being switched from on bed to another and getting trotted off down the hall towards where the ultrasounds were done. I saw Kim one last time. She was coming by to check up on me to see how I was doing and to say good bye. Her 12 hour shift was over and she was on her way home. I thanked her for being so kind and wished her luck with her schooling. The ultrasound was really cool and would have been even cooler if I didn't have to lay on the side of my incisions in order for the technician to get a good angle on my heart. I got to see my heart and wow... what a neat test. After moving the wand(?) around, she finally found what was caught ont he EKG. I watched a valve of my heart go "ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-------chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk..." and so on. I have an arrhythmia. Who knew? I didn't. I did not let this freak me out. I have probably had this forever and it seems to be erratic. How many times have doctors listened to my heart and not heard it... or maybe it was a fluke due to the anesthesia. It was another couple of hours before I was released from the hospital. I had to wait for the all clear from Dr. Fisher and Dr. Buday. At 3:30 I got it. Yay! I can go home. And home to my mom's house I went, where she took care of me for the next week, helping me get in and out of the chair, making all my favorite foods, reminding me to take my pain pills... She did a wonderful job mothering me and I tried hard to make it easy for her.
Two weeks later I am back at work and still a wee bit sore. I am doing better though. I am not taking my pain pills anymore just ibuprofen or Aleve for any lingering pain. I have three small incisions on my left side two of which will fade away almost completely and one I think I will be able to see for a long time from now, which is fine by me. I'm not so vain as to be upset by this mile marker in my life.
I am so thankful that this happened while I was still at home. Still covered by insurance. Still able to afford a big surgery. Still able to be cared for by my mommy. ;) Soon I will be in Denver and who knows what is going to happen or when I am going to have insurance again. While I plan on getting a job as soon as I can, I know that it could take a while. So glad I will have everything taken care of. My teeth will be cleaned, my prescriptions will be refilled and my pesky appendix is gone from me, never to bother me again!
