Surgery Day
On June 1st, 2016, I had to be at the hospital by 5:30am. My surgery was set to begin at 8:00am and I was in a daze. Everything seemed to be moving so slowly. It's one of the times in my life that was getting recorded straight to my long-term memory, and even though the clock was moving faster than ever before, my brain was slowing everything down around so I could remember it more clearly.
After getting checked in and reviewing my insurance information (a weird conversation to have the day of surgery), I walked to a pre-op room. Here, a nurse shaved my torso while others took vitals, double checked my information, and started an IV. After the prep work was complete, Dr. Miller walked in and signed my chest, marking me to be sure he would be cutting open the right person. After a few short minutes with my dad, step-mom, and girlfriend, I was taken to the operating room.
Surprisingly, I was excited as we entered the room. This was the day I had been preparing for. I had been afraid of this exact moment for so long that when it actually happened, I was almost relieved. After being lifted from my bed onto the operating table, I got one last look around, heard discussion of a "safety check" and then the lights went out.
I woke up in what seemed like a few moments after the "safety check." There was a tube in my throat and my arms were immobilized, but I was so happy. Before surgery, I had played this over in my head to get prepared. I knew I was going to wake up in a strange place. I knew there would be a breathing tube in my throat. I knew my arms would be tied down. I got myself prepared for all of this by imagining what it would be like, so when it happened, I was ready.
After getting checked in and reviewing my insurance information (a weird conversation to have the day of surgery), I walked to a pre-op room. Here, a nurse shaved my torso while others took vitals, double checked my information, and started an IV. After the prep work was complete, Dr. Miller walked in and signed my chest, marking me to be sure he would be cutting open the right person. After a few short minutes with my dad, step-mom, and girlfriend, I was taken to the operating room.
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| Ready to be rolled into the operating room! |
Surprisingly, I was excited as we entered the room. This was the day I had been preparing for. I had been afraid of this exact moment for so long that when it actually happened, I was almost relieved. After being lifted from my bed onto the operating table, I got one last look around, heard discussion of a "safety check" and then the lights went out.
I woke up in what seemed like a few moments after the "safety check." There was a tube in my throat and my arms were immobilized, but I was so happy. Before surgery, I had played this over in my head to get prepared. I knew I was going to wake up in a strange place. I knew there would be a breathing tube in my throat. I knew my arms would be tied down. I got myself prepared for all of this by imagining what it would be like, so when it happened, I was ready.
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| Marisa hanging out with me post-op. |
My surgery was scheduled to take about 5 hours. After only 3 and 1/2 hours, I was being wired and glued together and heading toward the ICU. The thing I remember most when I started coming out of anesthesia was the people around me. My wonderful partner Marisa was standing next to my bed, my dad and step-mom were in the room, and I was so excited to see my roommate and co-worker Kim had made the trip to the hospital. Since my breathing tube was preventing speech, I used sign language to communicate with the people around me. Basically, I was only finger-spelling Kim's name, but I was on some pretty heavy narcotics, so this was a great feat. I also remember dancing. Again, this was the day that had been something that had terrified me for years. When I woke up and knew I had survived, I could not stop my feet from moving back and forth with excitement. The nurses in my room were not amused and pushed more drug into my IV to make me stop being so excited.
The rest of the day was a daze. The breathing tube came out pretty quickly after I was awake. I was a little uncomfortable, but mostly excited to start the healing process. I stayed in bed the rest of that day, happy to be alive and happy that the surgery was a success.
Dear Bob, I cannot thank you enough for this blog! I have been devouring every post. I am a 35 year old girl, ok woman:) Mom of a 3 year old boy, that lives in the Netherlands. I have been living with my aortic stenosis since birth. It has been in the light category for most of my life, then as I got 28 or 29, I entered the moderate scale and as of a few years it is severe. My last check up was a week ago and there has been an increase in the Vmax. So I have to think of surgery soon. I am absolutely terrified of both the surgery itself and he idea to reoperate of course, but at the same time super scared of the cons of the life-long medication route. Mainly the severe bleeding. And as I will probably choose a mechanical valve, I just wonder and wonder how this will affect my life, mostly at an older age, when bleeding risks get higher. The cardiology here gave me an information website that shows how 18 of 100 women aged 35 bleeding occurs during life (whatever that means), 20% is huge. Needless to say I am super inspired how you went back so quickly to your rock climbing lifestyle. That is how it should be, not compromising, but working with our lifestyles. I do not rock climb, but go occasionally to boulder here. Not many rocks around. I just wanted to say, this blog is keeping me sane in many ways. I am super super emotional and find this whole situation especially hard since I am a mom of a small child and feel such huge responsibility, so reading your posts actually helps me be a bit more sane:) Btw, I am sure this wont be my last comment.
ReplyDeleteYoana,
DeleteI just saw this post now. So sorry for the delay.
Surgery is absolutely terrifying. I was in a similar mind sent going into the operation. I cannot imagine a more invasive surgery to get.
Luckily, I found a cardiac surgeon that I loved and just spending time with him out my worries at ease (a bit).
Where are you at now in the process? Always feel free to email for a quicker response. I am also always available to chat on the phone, if that helps.