I had gone to my parents' house the day before the surgery, in order to unpack all my stuff and get ready for my time at the hospital. Once I was discharged, we had decided that I would recuperate there, so that I could be under the watchful eye of my recently-retired parents. The 24-hour countdown clock had begun, and I couldn't think of anything better to do with myself except play Hearthstone on my tablet. Really meditative/introspective stuff, I know.
My pre-operative preparations.
It was also around 7:45pm that I had my final meal. The pre-op instructions stated that I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight on the day of my surgery, so I tried to eat a larger dinner than normal. After a small sip of water around 11:30pm, I went to bed.
It's really weird to say, but I was never really nervous or anxious on the day of the surgery. It just felt like something I had researched so heavily that I had somehow tricked myself into thinking I knew precisely how the next 24-48 hours would go. I woke up, didn't join my parents for breakfast, played more Hearthstone, packed up my overnight bag, didn't join my parents for lunch, and played more Hearthstone. Around 12:30pm, it became time to go. We had to get all the way out to Santa Monica, and President Obama was landing at LAX at approximately 2:20pm.
We got to the hospital, left the car with the valet (the hospital's only parking option was valet...go figure, Santa Monica), and went inside. We went to the information desk and checked in, and they directed us to a waiting area on the second floor. We got to that area, and the woman at the desk told us that this was the POST-op area, and directed us to the pre-op registration room on the other end of the floor. We walked over there and were greeted by a dark (literally half the lights were off) reception area with an empty reception desk. We then went down the hall, and someone directed us to the Diagnostics reception area on the first floor, which became the surgery pre-op reception in the afternoon. Going downstairs, we took a wrong turn and were told we were at the emergency room reception area. That guy then directed us to the Diagnostics lobby...and then we finally found the right place!
After checking in and signing several forms, the receptionist walked us to the second floor and into the real pre-op registration room from earlier (where the lights were off). We buzzed the door and a nurse greeted us and escorted us into the surgery pre-op room.
I know all of that sounded like it took forever, and quite possibly it did, but at this point everything felt like it was going at super speed. After speaking to the nurse and getting a brief orientation, I disrobed and was lying on a bed in my surgery gown. I don't remember what time it was exactly, but I felt like I went from exiting my parents' car to naked in about 20 minutes.
The nurses were great. The first one stuck a tube into my gown that was blowing hot air, something about how regulating the body temperature within the gown (which I then realized was somewhat air-tight) helped with patient comfort. So, once the air started flowing, I looked kind of like this:
LOVE ME.
So...was it comfortable? You're damn right it was.
I wish I had this in my living room.
It was at this time that I also got my first IV line ever. It was weird, but the nurse was very sweet about it when she realized I had never had one before. She even congratulated me. It certainly felt like my greatest accomplishment in life up to that point. Have you ever gotten an IV fluid drip? The cold sensation in your arm is the strangest thing.
With all that done, I looked on the clock and realized we had about an hour to go until 4:00pm showtime. Emily arrived during all of this. Because I was the last patient in the pre-op room, the nurses pretty much threw the "one person at a time" rule out the window and let all three of them hang out with me, which was really nice. My good friend Esteban came from work some time around 3:30pm, so we chatted a bit. My surgeon, Dr. Sigari, also arrived during this time, so he met everyone and answered any last-minute questions that we had.
Maybe 10 minutes before 4pm, my anesthesiologist, Dr. O'Neill, came by to give me the orientation. All the nurses had been singing his praises, and it was fairly obvious why. He was very charismatic, and easy on the eyes for the ladies. I was instantly jealous of his good looks and likely income level. He walked me through what was going to be happening and what his job was going to be during all of this (i.e. make sure that I don't wake up).
Surgery is...fun?
This whole time, I had clear view of a wall clock across the room, so I knew exactly how close 4pm was. And sure enough, at 4:06pm, I was told that it was time to say adios to my family and friends. I handed my glasses to my mom, and they started wheeling me toward the double-doors at the end of the hall...
Read on, reader.
-W
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