Hardware Removal 2012

I refused to think for even a moment about what was happening. I focused on holidays, day to day domestic stuff and well anything else. I gave it the smallest studio apartment in NYC amount of space with a month to month lease. It wasn't a surgical event it was just another thought knocking around in my brain. How'd that work? Well, I survived.

The night before I ran errands, ate a big late dinner of surf and turf (Can you call it that when it isn't lobster?) and drank water until the last second. Generally, we have to rush around before it's light out on surgery days, but this one was slated for noon. We got all the kids dropped off and still had time to kill.

Mike took me to Lowes in my pajamas (and belly rumbling)! We wondered around and picked up some little things. Mike found this pretty fiber optic Santa village, but the display was the last one in the store. We aren't really "Christmas village" people, so believe me when I say this one is special. My socially anxious husband sought out an employee and then waited while he raised himself up in a ladder bucket dealy to grab the box for us.

I was starting to panic (but also highly amused) as we left. "Sorry we're late doctor my husband just had to have a Santa village!" We made it on time and everything ran super smoothly. Through admitting, up to pre-op, checked in and changed by 10:50am. Then we sat undisturbed for an hour surfing cyber Monday sales and joking about being forgotten (a girl can hope).

In an unprecedented turn of events the surgeon was the first person we saw. He bounded in like we were in a coffee shop and marked my hip. They all have to write on you where they're going to operate since that guy lost the wrong leg a few years back. Then he asked if I wanted to go home afterwards. He smiled as he told Mike how he ordinarily keeps people overnight, but I could "handle it" because I'm "tough." I promised to be good. They always say "see you soon", but you don't ever see them because you're under so it's hard to know how to respond. I went with "ok."

It was the weirdest thing, the anesthesiologist appeared, the scrub nurse, the pre-op nurse all at once after all that quiet. I felt like a car descended on by a pit crew. Questions asked, IV in, drugs in IV and GO! GO! GO! I'm not complaining, it was a nice change of pace.

I had to stay in recovery for over an hour because I was cold. 94.4 degrees the nurse said. Weird. They kept covering me with blankets and taking my temperature. She asked about pain and I told her it just felt swollen, but I wasn't allowed ice for a while. It was back up to pre-op once I was living person temperature again. Mike was frazzled. He left to meet Isaac after school, but I had to stay an hour with no problems in order to be released.

It was the fast food style hospital visit, in and out. Strange. It was no fuss all the way around: no lengthy pre-surgery to do list, no scheduling drama, no admission, no begging to be discharged. I think most of my family forgot it was even happening, expect for my poor mom who had Riley last minute and got kidnapped on the way home from the hospital to help out. I also had a super thoughtful friend bring dinner and take Riley for a few hours Tuesday. Thank goodness for them both because the down side to not thinking about it is that I didn't make any plans for being incapacitated.

There weren't any messages or texts waiting for me when I got home (aka before the drugs wore off). so I made "check in" calls to a few people changed my status and passed out. It seems obvious already this is going to be more painful than I expected.