I followed the nurse to the pre-op room and was given a hospital gown and told to change my clothes. As I got undressed I took one more look at my smooth belly knowing that this was the last time I would see it like this. The next time I saw it there would be a big scar. I put on my hospital gown and got into bed. My Mom and Stepfather were able to come in and see me before they took me in to surgery which was nice. Then the nurse came to start my IV. I can truly say that I do not like IVs! When I had emergency surgery three weeks ago they had put the IV in my forearm, this time they put it in my hand. WOW! That really hurt! I did not have time to really worry about it because the nurse came in and asked my Mom to leave...it was time. I was wheeled into the operating room and they injected something into my IV. That was the last thing I remember until I woke up in the recovery room.
The first thing I noticed was the noise. It seemed like there were a lot of people moving around and machines beeping. I opened my eyes and it took me a few minutes to figure out where I was. Then I realized that the surgery was over. I had survived! I was not in any pain at the moment, but I figured that they had given me some kind of nerve blocker and pain meds. As I lay there someone came in to deliver some flowers to me. That was really nice, I was still too groggy to really take a look at them, but the box was placed on my bed until they had a room available in the cancer wing . It seemed like I was in the recovery room a lot longer than the last time I was there. Must have been a lot of people in the hospital that day.
Finally they had a room assignment for me. A couple of orderlies came and wheeled me to the elevator and up to the fourth floor. I did not have my own room this time, but at least I had the bed by the window. Not that it mattered, I immediately fell asleep. When I woke up my Mom and Stepfather were there, I remember her asking me questions about how I was feeling and telling me that it was 5pm. I may have mumbled something and fell back to sleep. The nurse woke me up to check my vital signs and told me that they wanted me to get up and start walking around, but I was so out of it I must have fallen back to sleep. They must have finally realized that walking was not going to be happening that day.
Wednesday morning came with pain...a lot of pain! I was shown the morphine plunger, what a relief!!! The nurse told me that I would definitely be walking today and to prepare myself to start after breakfast. I did not eat any breakfast, everything I tried to eat had a tinny taste, must have been a side effect of the anesthesia. One of the nurses came in to help me start walking, but first I had to get out of bed...
As a part of the surgery they had removed lymph nodes, to get to the lymph nodes they had to cut the nerves to my bladder. Until the nerves regenerated, which I was told should take a few weeks to a month, I had to have an external catheter. So there was a tube coming out of the right side of my abdomen near the point where my leg meets the body and taped down to my leg; from there the tube leads to a catheter bag. I needed to try to get up and walk around while holding not only my IV stand but also this catheter bag. The first step was trying to get out of bed. I tried to sit up and felt this explosion of pain, I almost passed out right there! The nurse told me to press the morphine button and then try to sit up. I pressed that button as quick as I could and was finally able to sit up. That was a lot of work but it was not enough, they wanted me to get up. I grit my teeth and was able to stand. The nurse got my IV stand and the catheter bag and held on to me as I started to take my first few steps. We managed to get out of my room and down the hall before I started getting tired. We painstakingly made it back to my room, but now they were changing the sheets and washing the floor so I could not get back into bed. I could not stand there either, so the nurse helped me into a chair. At this point the pain was really getting to me and sitting in the chair was really putting pressure on my wound. They finally finished and had to help me into bed, I immediately fell asleep. They had me get up and walk around twice more that day and between walking I was mostly sleeping.
Thursday came and I knew there was more walking in my future. Each time I got out of bed and walked around it was a little easier and I was able to go a little farther. The nurse had told me that I would not be able to go home until I was able to walk, so that made me really determined to do what I needed to so I could go home. If I was not able to walk well by Friday morning I would probably have to stay in the hospital until Monday. No way was that going to happen!!! The first time I got up on Thursday, the nurse helped me to get up, but I was able to walk on my own. After that my confidence grew and I got up and walked around several times unaided throughout the day. I was able to make it around the whole wing once that day (the wing is set up in a square). It took a while but I made it.
Friday morning came and I knew that I needed to show the nurses that I could walk fine and they could recommend to the doctor that I go home. I got out of bed and walked the square twice! The only difficult part for me was the sitting up part, but thanks to the morphine, I was able to do it. My doctor came to see me and told me that I could go home that afternoon! I was so happy! There was nothing I wanted more than to go home and sleep in my own bed. My Mom helped me to get dressed, what a chore that was, and I was taken downstairs in a wheelchair. I had my soft pillow ready for the car ride home, now getting into my little sportscar was really tricky. I had to recline the seat and kind of lay in the car clutching my pillow. Never did the drive home seem to take so long. I am pretty sure I felt every crack in the road too.
I was home! It was finally over! Now all I had to do was recover.....
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