What I remember from June 19th

Here's my recollections from the first 24 hours after my surgery.

June 19th. We get up around 5am to get ready and head over to the hospital. I think it was a 6am-ish arrival time. We checked in and waited for the insurance people to arrive. We got all the paperwork signed and went back to the family waiting area. They took me back to the prep area by myself.

The nurse took a medical history and asked about current medications, etc. She started an IV line. I generally have low platelets so when she put in the needle for the IV, I actually squirted blood all the way over to the privacy curtain. They let Charles and my parents back to sit with me while we waited for the doctors to come by.

The surgeon came first to talk about how the surgery would go and when my family could expect to hear from him. He asked if the hospital could use my left over slides from the removed tumor for research. I told him "Of course. I don't want any of it back!" He marked the right side of my head behind my ear with a marker.

Then the anesthesiology team came to talk to me. They over-shared for sure. They told me I'd be breathing a mask of 100% oxygen because they'd put me into such a deep sleep that I wouldn't be breathing until I was intubated. Ugh. Way to make someone worry, right?

I told my family "I wrote everything I needed to say in my emails so I'm not getting sentimental right now. See you later." They hugged/kissed me and the nurses wheeled the bed into the OR.

I was switched over onto the operating table. I glanced at the instruments and probably shouldn't have. One of the nurses asked what kind of music I like and I told them "Top 40 hits type of stuff". Someone made a joke about "Music from the 40's?" I talked to the nurse about the tracks on the ceiling, which apparently brings in the portable MRI machine. They put the oxygen mask over my mouth and said to breathe deeply, which was pretty hard knowing what was coming next. Then I was out. I actually remember waking up in the OR and gagging, probably as they were taking out the intubation tube.

I woke up in the NCCU (neosurgical critical care unit). I hit the nurse button because I was getting sick. Man, that anesthesia is no joke. The nurses change my gown and gave me a bin to throw up into next time. I was only able to have a stick with a sponge on the end that I could dip in water. I used it to keep my face cold and my lips wet. My throat was sore from the intubation tube and I wanted to take a sip of water so badly, so even though the nurse said I couldn't have any water, I took a sip of the water from the "sponge cup" and was immediately sick. Eventually I was allowed to have ice chips, which I ended up having a lot of. I had machine operated air cuffs around my legs to prevent blood clots and that was blowing itself up every few minutes.

My family came to see me. My dad got me a new sponge popsicle since the previous one had gotten marker on it from behind my right ear. He gave me cold, wet paper towels to put on my face which felt really nice. The nurse came in to clean up dry blood from behind my ears. My parents left and I remember saying to them on their way out "I'm glad I remember you!" And one of them said back "Us too!"

Charles stayed with me that night. I had 3 IVs and one of them was a blood pressure monitor in my left wrist in a main artery. Every time I bent my left wrist it set the alarm off. I remember Charles moving my hand several times throughout the night to make the alarm stop. They came in every few hours to do neurological checks and to change my IV meds. I was getting a lot of fluids and antibiotics. They gave me pain medicine and anti-nausea meds though the IV.

The next morning, the surgeon came in bright and early to talk about the surgery. He was very optimistic about how much he got out and that it was "likely low grade." That's about all I remember from that conversation, although I did write about it in a blog entry from just after the surgery. I had the nurse help me flip over since I hadn't moved all night and my hips were sore.

Later that morning, I was moved to the regular neurosurgery inpatient floor. I had a wonderful nurse tech that helped me move, despite some embarrassing moments. I got set up in the regular room and started walking around. I was unsteady at first, of course, but it got easier and by the next day, I was even going to the bathroom by myself. They decreased the frequency of my neuro checks and I was able to sleep a bit more.

Now I think the rest has been documented in posts that I made in the few days after.