Wednesday, April 19th/ 2006 – Surgery Day!!
We woke up chipper around 5:45am….got dressed and loaded the car and took off to take Isabella to my friend Kathryn’s house. She didn’t live far from the hospital, so it was great to have her go there. Then… Mom, Russ, and I went to Vista Surgery Center of Dallas. We arrived about 20 minutes to 8am so we were early…and we just went to fill out all the necessary paperwork .
We didn’t wait long before they took me to the room I’d come to after I got out of recovery…we took all my things there, & I changed into a hospital gown. My friends Karen and Martha Anne came to be at the hospital and just sit, pray and be with Russ and Mom. Shortly after the five of us settle and started talking in the hospital room the entourage of technicians came to start poking and prodding…I had blood drawn, and EKG…and pregnancy test…and then I was taken down to the place where they get you situated b/f surgery. I had my EGD done at Vista hospital…so I was 
familiar with the nurses…and the area – there they inserted my IV tubes and started me on saline and an antibiotic….Russ was able to come in there with me.
My doctor, Dr. Barker had one surgery before mine…which took some extra time…so my surgery which was originally scheduled for 9:30am….was pushed back. I think my doctor came in around 11am and then Russ had to go to the waiting room to join Mom, Karen and Martha Anne. Dr. Wu, was my anesthesiologist…as soon as he got there…he had 2 syringes…and he said one was my ‘margarita’…and the other was to prevent me from having a hangover or getting sick. Because I was having the gastric bypass…they do all they can to keep you from getting sick or having nausea…vomiting in the first days isn’t the greatest idea when they’ve just operated in that vicinity.
Shortly after that…nothing….I don’t even remember leaving that little cubby. The next thing I remember is a nurse lightly slapping my face…and saying, “Deborah, wake up…your surgery is over….can you wake up for me?”
My whole recovery room memory is in pieces…and as I think about it…it’s strangely disturbing, and definitely the worst I’ve felt since the surgery. I recall, Cold… cold…. Muffled talking…..cold. A nurse with short hair is standing to my right…talking to someone across the room while she is writing. My eyes…. open…. closed…. open…. ”Deborah, are you waking up?” All I can muster is, “ugggh.” When I open my eyes I see the top of Dr. Barkers head sitting at a desk working across the room from where I am…:::blink:::….he’s not there. I felt like all I did was blink, but I was probably not completely coherent or conscience. It is soooo cold in this place…and I feel like a BLOB…I feel like my stomach has a soccer ball in it…or just a big ball of pressure. I’m not hurting – I just feel like crap. As I am coming around and can keep my eyes open longer and longer I am more aware of the nurses around me…one of them is Rochelle…the nurse that came and got me from my room and took me down to pre-op, and the other is a nurse I recognize from when I had my EGD. My mouth is sooo dry…my lips feel chapped, or the whole area is like sandpaper especially way back in my mouth close to my throat. There is some mention of a cathater…and then there is pressure…then release….then the nurses broke out in laughter. Rochelle tells the short haired nurse says, “oops! Happens to everyone once in a while…” and then I hear that she spilled my pee. I mumbled something to her about not blaming that on me…and they started laughing and said they thought I was alert enough to go to my room if I was cracking jokes. I tried to focus on the clock and all I could see was it was sometime in the one o’clock hour.
Once I was moved from the recovery room we wheeled past the waiting room where I saw Karen…but not Russ & Mom. Karen said they went to eat some lunch…but that she’d find them and meet me in my room. Around this time…I became very aware of the pain in my abdomen… and was told it would be a bit of time until they could get me some pain medication. The seams in the doorway floors and the grates going in and out of the elevator caused me to catch my breath. At this point I started focusing and visualizing the pain…it’s shape…and color. I became very subdued and focused on being patient for the pain. The ‘Disappearing Technique’ got me thru however many minutes I waited for the pain pump. Honestly…I adjusted…I decided to be honest and open with myself about what degree of pain I was in…no more, no less. This got me thru and gave me the courage to jump out of bed when my nurse came in to ask me if I wanted to try the “Barium Swallow” now, or in the morning. I flung the sheets back and pulled my self up to get into her wheelchair as quickly as possible, as if I didn’t grab the offer it might retract at any moment.
I was motivated by the sandpaper mouth and throat I was experiencing. All I wanted was a simple sip of water…I’d do anything for it at that moment…and being brave and going immediately for testing was the way I was going to solve the dryness.
The barium was not a problem…in fact I welcomed the thick potent taste – all I could think was it could alleviate some of the dryness and pain. Thankfully I followed the instruction to a “T” and Dr. Barker was there to praise me for jumping into this so quickly and to congratulate me on my soon-to-sip
liquids!
As soon as I returned to the room, I received my first sips of water…we commemorated that moment with my sweet friend Karen giving it to me before she left for the day. AHHH, that was heaven!! I don’t think a sip of water ever in my life tasted soooo wonderful, wet and wanted. At that moment everything shifted for me…my pain shifted…my consciousnesses shifted…I was committed to my possibility of
“Authenticity and Openness.”
We woke up chipper around 5:45am….got dressed and loaded the car and took off to take Isabella to my friend Kathryn’s house. She didn’t live far from the hospital, so it was great to have her go there. Then… Mom, Russ, and I went to Vista Surgery Center of Dallas. We arrived about 20 minutes to 8am so we were early…and we just went to fill out all the necessary paperwork .
We didn’t wait long before they took me to the room I’d come to after I got out of recovery…we took all my things there, & I changed into a hospital gown. My friends Karen and Martha Anne came to be at the hospital and just sit, pray and be with Russ and Mom. Shortly after the five of us settle and started talking in the hospital room the entourage of technicians came to start poking and prodding…I had blood drawn, and EKG…and pregnancy test…and then I was taken down to the place where they get you situated b/f surgery. I had my EGD done at Vista hospital…so I was 
familiar with the nurses…and the area – there they inserted my IV tubes and started me on saline and an antibiotic….Russ was able to come in there with me.My doctor, Dr. Barker had one surgery before mine…which took some extra time…so my surgery which was originally scheduled for 9:30am….was pushed back. I think my doctor came in around 11am and then Russ had to go to the waiting room to join Mom, Karen and Martha Anne. Dr. Wu, was my anesthesiologist…as soon as he got there…he had 2 syringes…and he said one was my ‘margarita’…and the other was to prevent me from having a hangover or getting sick. Because I was having the gastric bypass…they do all they can to keep you from getting sick or having nausea…vomiting in the first days isn’t the greatest idea when they’ve just operated in that vicinity.
Shortly after that…nothing….I don’t even remember leaving that little cubby. The next thing I remember is a nurse lightly slapping my face…and saying, “Deborah, wake up…your surgery is over….can you wake up for me?”
My whole recovery room memory is in pieces…and as I think about it…it’s strangely disturbing, and definitely the worst I’ve felt since the surgery. I recall, Cold… cold…. Muffled talking…..cold. A nurse with short hair is standing to my right…talking to someone across the room while she is writing. My eyes…. open…. closed…. open…. ”Deborah, are you waking up?” All I can muster is, “ugggh.” When I open my eyes I see the top of Dr. Barkers head sitting at a desk working across the room from where I am…:::blink:::….he’s not there. I felt like all I did was blink, but I was probably not completely coherent or conscience. It is soooo cold in this place…and I feel like a BLOB…I feel like my stomach has a soccer ball in it…or just a big ball of pressure. I’m not hurting – I just feel like crap. As I am coming around and can keep my eyes open longer and longer I am more aware of the nurses around me…one of them is Rochelle…the nurse that came and got me from my room and took me down to pre-op, and the other is a nurse I recognize from when I had my EGD. My mouth is sooo dry…my lips feel chapped, or the whole area is like sandpaper especially way back in my mouth close to my throat. There is some mention of a cathater…and then there is pressure…then release….then the nurses broke out in laughter. Rochelle tells the short haired nurse says, “oops! Happens to everyone once in a while…” and then I hear that she spilled my pee. I mumbled something to her about not blaming that on me…and they started laughing and said they thought I was alert enough to go to my room if I was cracking jokes. I tried to focus on the clock and all I could see was it was sometime in the one o’clock hour.
Once I was moved from the recovery room we wheeled past the waiting room where I saw Karen…but not Russ & Mom. Karen said they went to eat some lunch…but that she’d find them and meet me in my room. Around this time…I became very aware of the pain in my abdomen… and was told it would be a bit of time until they could get me some pain medication. The seams in the doorway floors and the grates going in and out of the elevator caused me to catch my breath. At this point I started focusing and visualizing the pain…it’s shape…and color. I became very subdued and focused on being patient for the pain. The ‘Disappearing Technique’ got me thru however many minutes I waited for the pain pump. Honestly…I adjusted…I decided to be honest and open with myself about what degree of pain I was in…no more, no less. This got me thru and gave me the courage to jump out of bed when my nurse came in to ask me if I wanted to try the “Barium Swallow” now, or in the morning. I flung the sheets back and pulled my self up to get into her wheelchair as quickly as possible, as if I didn’t grab the offer it might retract at any moment.I was motivated by the sandpaper mouth and throat I was experiencing. All I wanted was a simple sip of water…I’d do anything for it at that moment…and being brave and going immediately for testing was the way I was going to solve the dryness.
The barium was not a problem…in fact I welcomed the thick potent taste – all I could think was it could alleviate some of the dryness and pain. Thankfully I followed the instruction to a “T” and Dr. Barker was there to praise me for jumping into this so quickly and to congratulate me on my soon-to-sip
liquids!As soon as I returned to the room, I received my first sips of water…we commemorated that moment with my sweet friend Karen giving it to me before she left for the day. AHHH, that was heaven!! I don’t think a sip of water ever in my life tasted soooo wonderful, wet and wanted. At that moment everything shifted for me…my pain shifted…my consciousnesses shifted…I was committed to my possibility of
“Authenticity and Openness.”
TO BE CONTINUED....
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