I'm scheduled to go in by 1:30pm the latest to get ready for surgery to start at 3pm. I wasn't suppose to have any food or drink for at least 8 hours before surgery. I was STARVING! I was a nervous wreck! I got to my room and was told to change into my gown and place all my items into my room bag to be put into the safe locker.
It was 1:45pm and the nurse comes in. It begins! She was a very nice nurse who comforted me with her own personal story about breaking her ankle at age 50 by stepping onto a street crack falling and breaking both the fibula and tibia. She had to be sent to into surgery that same day and had to get plates and screws. She appeared to be walking just fine at age 55 now. She prepared me for surgery with the last round of questions and the IV ready on my left hand. And she finally leaves me at 2:15pm.
It was 2:30pm and another knock came to my door. It's time to head in to meet the anesthesiologist. Being wheeled through the hallway and everyone was very nice and said hi. This very sweet older man comes in to ask if I was allergic to any medications and explained what he will be doing and asked if I had any questions. Once that was done the OR nurse came in to introduce herself and explained that she will be helping in the surgery room and placed the blue cap on my head. She then left me to wait for my surgeon to arrive to greet me. I was getting more anxious.
3pm came, and I'm starting to get even more nervous! Finally, my surgeon arrives to speak to me. Glad he's a silly one and knew how to calm a person down. he joked and said which ankle are we doing surgery on? and marked the correct leg with the R above my right cast. Last words of explaining the procedure and comforting words and then off he went to get ready. The OR nurse wheels me down the hallway and my surgery room was in sight! It looked like a scene from Gray's Anatomy! We made a quick stop jsut before entering the room to pick up a nice warm heated blanket pad placed on me to keep me warm in the cold room. It helped keep me warm and calm. I get in and see a person cleaning tools! It was surreal. It felt a bit cold and chilly in there too. It looked like a huge square room full of things. It felt and looked like a fridge/kitchen tiles all around the walls. I was wheeled towards my table and see the anesthesiologist with his face on and ready. I slowly maneuvered onto the table and laid down to make myself comfortable. Once I got comfortable placing my ankle on the pillow and before I new it the IV needles were in my hand and anesthesia was already getting pumped into my veins. He said "It's in you already." I said "WOW I didn't even notice you put that in already." I asked him, "Do people ever fart during surgery and do you ever laugh?" I saw him laugh through his mask and that was the last I saw him haha!
Next thing I know, I wake up and slowly my sight comes back to me. It was finally over! I noticed a nurse to the right of me monitoring my vital signs. Then I see my mom! Then I noticed my gown has been changed. Then i hear my surgeon to the left of me telling me surgery went really well! I remember it being blurry and felt no pain. The surgeon came by to tell me again that I did well and everything went well and said goodbye and that he'll be back tomorrow to check on me. I will be staying the night just to monitor me in case because I just got over a staph infection from a spider bite I got 3 weeks prior and fighting off a few infected mosquito bites. Sensitive skin sucks.
I was then wheeled to my room our of Recovery and saw a friend! Everything went by so fast and was still a blur. I noticed it was already 6pm as scheduled to be in my room. Everything went according to time as expected. I noticed I was hooked up to a machine with the IV still attached to my hand. I had morphine available to me with button and the water to hydrate me. I also had a breathing tube in my nose. I was getting a good stream of oxygen and it felt really nice. I thought I'd be hungry but I really had no appetite with all the anesthesia and pain meds in me.
Shortly, 2 more of my close friends, my brother and his girlfriend came to visit! I felt so loved and comforted. Then all of a sudden I started to feel a bit of discomfort. The nurse mentioned once I feel something, use the button as needed. I waited just a bit and I felt more pressure coming and so my friend who works for that hospital suggested if I do feel something to just push the button to relieve the pain. So I pressed the button 3 times! Almost immediately I felt better. One of them said that the anesthesia made my face a bit puffy. She took a picture to show me and the first thing I noticed was how messy my hair was haha! I looked like a chipmunk!
I got some chicken broth and crackers to snack on just to get some food in me. Since I was not able to eat, it was suggested by the nurse that I had a liquid diet which included some jello. This was a usual diet after getting out of surgery, most patients lose their appetite. It was pretty much all I can stomach. It was getting late and so my friends slowly left one at a time. I also told my mom to go home and rest because I was fine. She wanted to stay the night and asked if I needed her to but there was no bed or comfortable seat for her. I wanted her to get some rest and told her to go home because she had to work the next day. I assured her I was completely fine and felt comfortable and to not worry. I felt no pain at all surprisingly.
11:45pm came and the night nurse came to relieve the previous nurse and introduced herself. She was such a nice lady and gave me clear instructions on how she will be helping me throughout the night. She wrote onto the board to display the Plan for the day to have a good pain control. That if I needed anything, I can call her from the push of a button from the call machine by my bedside. It was a success! Though I didn't get to sleep much because it wasn't my bed, I had no pain throughout the entire night. In and out of sleep because I had to use the restroom a lot. I felt nauseous and switched from using the morphine button to a better pain med that was injected into my IV instead which worked better.
Every few hours throughout the night, I'd be reminded to do my breathing exercise to prevent getting Pneumonia and having my temperature and blood pressure checked. I was doing great the nurse said. Finally I was over the nervousness and tried to get some rest.
The night went by so fast, glad to have surgery over with. I felt no pain and was very happy about that. The meds were working! I actually some some sleep in!
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