Surgery Details

Thursday Nov. 20-My check in time was 830am. I signed in at 8:34am, the Center actually called me to see if I was still coming in (as I was pulling up to the door!). They were all rush rush, as if I had been 15 minutes late or something. Geesh...
Only one person could go back with me, so immediately after signing in, I had to say goodbye to David and the kids. I walked in with nothing but PJs on and my glasses, so they had nothing to misplace. When David has his shoulder surgery, it took them an hour to locate his glasses!!!!!!!!!!!! I am blind, I couldn't have that!
Surgery was scheduled for 930am. I did not get back there til noon!!!!!!! Talk about mental anguish. The anticipation and stark cold waiting area was so mentally depleting and torture. They couldn't give me a sedative or anything like they normally do while"waiting" because I had to stand up to have the DR "mark" me! So he knew what he was doing in surgery.
I finally got taken back about noon and into recovery about 6pm and to my room about 8pm. The kids were with my friend, Lea, and David was at work. The DR. personally called David to tell him about the surgery. Everything went very well, he was very pleased. For the first night, I was hooked up to a catheter and IV meds...Morphine-NICE!
Friday at 6am the Dr. came in and said that I could be discharged if I wanted or I could choose to stay another night. They'd have to take me off the IV and get me up and walking pretty quick. I had prepaid for a 2nd night (on the nurse's advise "just in case" cause it's cheaper if you prepay, so I told him that and he was relieved...they didn't have to rush me. Turns out they didn't have the oral pain medicine there-Dilaudid. So the DR. wrote a script and David had to go to Walgreens to fill it and bring it to the Center (my friend Jennie watched the kids so David could do that). I was taken off the catheter and was up a few times on Friday. They started the Dilaudid about 6pm and took me off the Morphine about 11pm. Saturday, I took a shower at the center and David came and got me. We got home probably about 130pm if I remember correctly (not sure). Again, Jennie watched the kids for him to come get me and we picked them up on the way home. I came home and took my place in bed...my new home! LOL.
For being day two, things aren't too bad. I'm pretty drugged and not in much pain. Things went better then I thought. I have 4 drains sticking out of me. They are tubes that empty into a bulb and we have to empty them every 8 hours and measure thier contents, as well as pull on the plastic tubing (strip them) to prevent any clotting and keep good suction. Since they are on the side of me...one in each hip and one in each upper thigh, David has this task. The boys are handling being around me well, slow, gentle...Christianna, not so much...she's being kept away from me...she's been "too rough".
David is on day shift Mon-Wed. Stephanie will come over about 9am Monday and get the kids and she'll watch the kids Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night the kids will sleep over at Diana's. David will have off Thanksgiving, Friday and the weekend, then his leave will start.
I go to the DR. Wednesday-stay tuned for updates.