OK so this was obviously not written on the day of the surgery but I have back dated it so it makes more sense in the flow of postings.
On the morning of the surgery we were awakened by an 8:00 am telephone call from the hospital. They had a cancellation and wanted to see if we could be there by 9:30. We confirmed we could do that and began scrambling to do everything that needed to be done before leaving at 8:30 to arrive on time. Luckily we had done all of our packing the night before so we didn’t have to worry about forgetting anything in the mayhem.
So I got to take my final shower with the “special soap” (anti-bacterial sponge). I tried to hurry but make sure I was thorough at the same time. Once showering was complete we all got on different phones and began maddly calling people to update them that the surgery time had changed.
We got in the car and began the trek to Duke in Durham. Luckily I was still trying to wake up so I didn’t have a chance to get nervous on the way over. Once we arrived serendipity kicked in as we were there just in time and got the last valet parking spot so we didn’t have to worry about being late. We made our way to the 3rd floor check-in with Matthew (our pastor) was waiting. I believe he was relieved to see us because I had called him letting him know my arrival time was now 9:30 am but when he asked about me at the check-in counter the nurse told him I was arriving later in the afternoon.
When I checked in with the nurse she just gave she gave me a pager and visitor stickers for friends and family. She told me to come see here when the pager went off. We all went to sit in the waiting area and get ready to talk when the pager went off. I got up and returned to the nurses desk and she said the nurse was on her way back to get me and told me to take the pager to my wife and it would go off when she could come see me. So I gave the pager to my wife and waited out front of the door waiting for the nurse while getting more and more nervous. The nurse arrived and told me to follow her.
My nervousness increased as I passed by various ER looking rooms with people hooked up getting ready for surgery. The first person I saw was awake with an IV in and one of those halos around his head. I reiterated my standard comment to the nurse that if I am awake for that we are going to have a problem. I said you all can do whatever you want once I am knocked out but if I have to deal with any of that mess when awake we might as well stop now. I was however amused to see that he was wearing the traditional blue gown but a red cap instead of a blue cap. I later learned the significance of this.
We arrived at my room and I was given my socks, gown, and red cap to change into while the nurse left drawing the curtains behind her to give me some privacy. I changed and got up in the bed trying to think happy thoughts to try and calm my nerves. Then began the long ordeal of preparations for surgery. I was asked the standard medical history and who are you and why are you here questions. I got hooked up to IV lines with some explanation that when I wake up from surgery I may have additional IV lines and not to be surprised if I had one in my neck. Then the waiting game began. The nurse left and for I waited for what seemed like an eternity before a different nurse came in to check my vitals. Once she was done she went back to the computer to type and a different nurse said my family was asking when they would get to see me and was informed that they were just called to come back. My wife later told me that she had gone up to the check in desk to ask how much longer it would be and just as the nurse called to ask her pager went off.
So my wife, sister-in-law, and pastor all came back to visit for a bit and say a quick pre-surgery prayer. Having them there helped a great deal with calming my nerves. At around 11:45 the anasthesiologist came in introduce himself and ask his round of questions. Around 12:00 they said the surgeons were ready, handed me the blue cap to put on to replace my red cap, told my wife that she had to leave now but they would come get her to let her know how the surgery went, and administered the cocktails in my IV. Apparently I heard all of this along with how they were going to take me to another waiting area and administer some more medicine before getting me in the halo and beginning. The part I failed to hear was that I would already be asleep before I got to that other waiting area. I was already gone before the even rolled me out of that room. In some ways I suppose the sneak attack was appreciated because I didn’t have to worry about when they were going to put me to sleep, I just went out unexpectedly and woke later after everything was done.
Supposedly they woke me that evening in the ICU when my wife and sister-in-law were there visiting but I don’t really remember much at this point. The only things I remember are the nurse helping me to sit up a little saying she would fluff my pillow to make me more comfortable (later my wife informed me it was because I had so much blood draining out of my head that it had soaked the pillow … I am very appreciate I did not know about this at the time) and also visiting hours being over and my wife having to leave for the night. Then I was
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