June 8th, day of surgery…

Hey All, I must apologize for such a long wait between blog entries. It’s been a moment since I felt comfortable enough to write the kind of update I wanted to, so I’ll attempt that now, and will continue in quicker intervals. Lots of things have gone on since my surgery, and I wanted to cover as much as I can so you really know how I’m doing! (I’m doing fine BTW, but it took a bit of a road to get there…)

So the day/night before my surgery was a bit torrid. Besides the absolutely wonderful (/sarcasm!) bowel prep I had to endure, and the mentally crippling anxiety my mind was manufacturing from thinking about what was about to happen (that I held at bay as much as I could), sleep was at a premium that night. I had everything prepared to go for early that morning (had to leave at 6am for the hospital), I just needed my mind to be prepared and that took a moment to put together. Needless to say I was running a little late, but Kristine (my wonderful girlfriend, for whomever still might not be in the know) was there on time and ready to go. We piled into her car eventually, off to what would be one of the most important medical procedures I’ll ever need to have done. Here we go…

Once at the hospital, I registered and was situated in a little segregated room full of nurses and doctors and phlebotomists running around, vitals checked and pre-op interview had, then the specialized pre-op nurse came in for final preparation and to make sure I knew what was about to happen. She had to shave my tummy around my abdomen area, and little known fact, I am super ticklish around there so it probably sounded like someone was attacking me. But I got through it haha! Then the anesthesiologist came in eventually to talk about pain management during the surgery. He spoke of a few options, one of them being an epidural…and I had done some reading about that previously…SCARY! Probably more frightening than it really is (I feel for you pregnant women!!), but I have zero tolerance for pain like that looked like it would bring, so we had some more verbiage back and forth, and I guess they decided that a local/general was all that was needed after all. Whew! Then they fashioned me with a top of hand IV line (that would be needed for the next week while recovering in the hospital), and whisked me away to the surgery area. Kristine was with me the whole time up until GO time, virtually (and sometimes literally) holding my hand, as I’m sure I probably looked like a scared little kid waiting for some kind of doom to enfold. But it was time and she left sadly and reluctantly, only to return later after the surgery…but I digress…

They wheeled me into the operating room where the deed was to happen, and wow…talk about overwhelming! All the nurses, doctors and assistants galore tending and talking to me like busy bees all at once, as if they all had just downed a carafe of strong coffee moments before. But this was necessary as there was much to do to get me ready for what was about to happen. And luckily it was only for a moment to me, as they pretty much immediately started administering the IV anesthesia, and within about 2 minutes I was out like a light. In the seconds right before however, I remember briefly feeling super anxious about not being in control of this crazy environment, but I also knew I was in good hands, so off I went into narcotic oblivion (que Millennium Falcon light speed scene…) whooooooooooooooosh!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here is where I come to, foggy and drowsy and in a where-the-hell-am-I kind of way…in the recovery room, also filled with nurses and doctors tending to different patients, me being one of them. And once I realized I wasn’t dreaming, I got my bearings and then OMG…THE PAIN. I have to admit, I was not prepared for this. To say it was excruciating was the biggest understatement, as I felt like an alien either was about to or had just popped out of my abdomen. Also picture me trying to talk, having had a tube recently taken out of my throat, sounding super hoarse due to that and the lack of water for the multiple hours I had been under. I tried to convey my ultimate pain and discomfort to the nurses and such, but it kind of felt like it fell upon deaf ears for a little bit. I was definitely not the only one going through it in there, and I caught myself needing to rein it back because I wasn’t dying (though it sometimes felt like it!), and I needed to get a handle on this. Eventually they gave me sips of water and ice chips, and set up my IV to give higher dose pain meds than what was already going through my veins. That part of the experience was incredibly hard, and to think about it now scares me a bit still, but you know what? I got through it and I was fine, the hard part was over with. They took care of me, I lived through the pain, and now I NO LONGER HAVE CANCER IN ME! HUZZAH!

Ok I’m going to stop here for now, and let you all digest this one (yes pun intended). Sometime soon in the next couple of days I’ll continue the next chapters, both how it was in the hospital for a week recovering, and how it’s been since I was released back home on 6/14. Until then be well and thanks again for taking the time to read my story.

Also, (and this will be the last time I mention it), please feel free to subscribe to my blog for notifications of new posts. I promise it won’t inundate your inbox by any means, and you can unsubscribe whenever you decide you don’t want to receive them. You can set it up by putting in your email address in the subscription part on the home page, and remember to check the “Blog” box (or else you won’t get any notifications). Thanks again all!