I survived!...but my bum hurts
Well, it's been over 24 hours since my surgery and everything seems to have gone really well. Better than I expected in fact. My arse is pretty sore, but that's what the Percocet is for...hehe...pretty colors...
So I showed up at the Hershey Med Center yesterday morning and answered all these questions about my insurance, then I got my lovely hospital armband, and then they took me to my little outpatient room so that I could change into my oh-so-stylish hospital gown. Then my parents were allowed to come into the room with me as the anesthesiologist, the nurse, and one of my doctors asked me the same set of questions over and over again! I got so sick of telling them I don't have any medical conditions, I don't smoke, I'm not allergic to any medications, and there's NO chance I could be pregnant.
Anyway, I looooved my anesthesiologist. First off, his name was Dr. Dye, but it sounds like "Doctor Die" which was kinda creepy, but he was reaaaaaaally nice and cute, too. So I didn't mind talking to him. He told me that I had a choice of what kind of anesthesia I could have, which was odd because my surgeon had told me beforehand that it would be performed under general anesthesia. But he recommended this thing called a saddle block, which is basically a spinal block or epidural, because it had the least amount of side effects. He told me I'd also be heavily sedated, so I decided to go for the saddle block. Well, after they got the IV started (because I hadn't ate or drank for 12+ hours) they wheeled me out and down the hall on my bed/cart thing. I was joking with the nurse, like, "Hey, I'm on parade! Maybe I should be waving!" and she was like, "Yeah, you could do the princess wave the whole way to the OR." lol. So I said goodbye to my parents and I started to get a little teary-eyed and scared then, but Dr. Dye, the cute anesthesiologist was waiting for me, so I immediately felt better. He was talking to me to calm me down, and since he was still a resident, another anesthesiologist was there with him while he did the saddle block. I was expecting it to hurt, but it didn't! They stuck a big ol' needle in my back and it didn't hurt at all! It just felt...I dunno..weird, I guess. It didn't really bother me at all. So they basically used the needle to drip the anesthetic onto my spinal cord and then it spread downward with gravity to my other nerves in my pelvis. The only bad thing was that it numbed my legs and feet!
When they wheeled me into the OR, there were, like, 4 or 5 people there already waiting for me! My surgeon, Dr. Poritz, came in and was like, "Wait, you gave her a spinal? Who decided to give her a spinal?" and she got kinda mad and the anesthesiologists. She was like, "She was supposed to be under general. This isn't going to work." So she came over and started poking random parts of my butt, asking if I could feel it. And I could feel her at the top of my buttocks, so she said that I had to be put under general anesthesia as well!!! The last thing I remember was Dr. Dye saying that he was going to add some antibiotics to my IV and BOOM! I was completely out.
Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the recovery room. The first thing I noticed was that my throat was sore, which they had told me it would be because of the breathing tube they have to insert when they do general anesthesia. They had also warned me beforehand that it is possible to chip or crack a tooth when they insert the breathing tube, so what was the first thing I did after waking up? I checked all my teeth with my tongue to make sure they weren't cracked! lol. You know what? I spent 8 years of orthodontic work, including 3 oral surgeries and thousands of dollars worth of braces, a palatal expander, and retainers to get my teeth straight. I do NOT need any damage to my smile, thank you very much. Anyway, I woke up and my throat was sore, so I coughed a few times to clear my throat, so my nurse came over to check my vitals and see that I was okay and then she wheeled me back to my room. She went to go get my parents and they told them I was in room 22 because there was another Amanda in room 22 (ha, mistaken for another Amanda - story of my life!) but I was in room 19, so they walked right past me. I was like "Mommy!" I tried to call out to them, "I'm in here!" but my voice was kinda hoarse. They came back a minute later because the nurse realized she had told them the wrong room number. The nurse brought me some ginger ale and graham crackers, but I really wasn't hungry (the anesthesia zaps your appetite and makes you kinda woozy afterwards). So I watched some tv. I was happy because I got to watch a Wedding Story, lol. I had to wait around for like, almost 5 hours for the spinal block to wear off, though! They tried to stand me up and have me walk before then, but I was too numb! I was freaking out because I could wiggle the toes on my right foot but not my left! And the nurse said I had to pee before they'd discharge me, but my entire pelvic are was numb so I couldn't feel if I had to pee, and I couldn't control or even feel my bladder to make myself pee! So they had to bring the anesthesiologist down and he said that that numbness was just taking a long time to wear off, and that I should be able to go in another hour or so. So by the end of the hour, my abdomen started to hurt, and I realized it was my bladder feeling full! So I paged my nurse and she and my dad helped me walk to the bathroom and my mom went in with my and helped hold my gown up and hold my IV bag so I could pee. It was soooo weird. I like, had so little control over my bladder! I couldn't empty my bladder because the muscles and nerves were still numb so I wound up peeing like 5 times last night after I went home! That was probably the worst part of the entire surgery process. My bladder just went back to normal functioning this morning.
The other bad part was the IV. Now my hand is sore and the area around the vein is all sore and bluish-looking. As soon as she took the needle out my hand, it kept bleeding like mad, so they put a pressure bandage on it for a whihle. She let me get dressed in my hoodie and Eeyore pajama pants while she got my papers and things ready. Then she had me sign my discharge paper and gave me some instructions on how to care for the wound and myself. I'm not allowed to take a shower until tomorrow morning, and I have to leave me lovely diaper-esque butt bandage on until then, too. The doctor said she's confident that she removed all of the cyst and the surrounding tissue, so I shouldn't have any more problems or infections with it. And it's closed and stitched up, so I don't have to pack it. I was so relieved to hear that. But I have an appointmet to see Dr. Poritz in 2 weeks, and if the wound has openings in it, she might have to open it up more and have me pack it. Hopefully that won't be necessary.
So now I'm just resting at home on the couch, watching movies, working on my fanfic, doing random crap on my laptop, and napping. My kitty is laying with me, too ^__^ My arse is definitely sore, but it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be...probably because of the Percocet ^_____^
So, yeah, I survived, and I'm doing pretty well, but I think I'm going to take a nap, because I kept dozing off or, like, losing the ability to type while I was writing this....so yeah. I'll give you all an update later.