Part 1: http://teresakgoodwin.tumblr.com/post/6080151259/scrubs-part-1-saturday-night
Part 2: http://teresakgoodwin.tumblr.com/post/6084863890/er-where-is-george-clooney-part-2
Part 3: http://teresakgoodwin.tumblr.com/post/6096883174/you-have-an-appendicitis-part-3
Ok, so The Yeller. This was not the best way for me to prepare to go into surgery. They wheeled me in from the ambulance direct to surgery prep which apparently on the weekends is also shared with surgery recovery. I moved beds, thanked the guys for the ride and met my new nurses. As I lay there I listened to this woman I couldn’t see, about a few bays down, I am pretty sure it was only her and I there. I later learned she was recovering from hip surgery and she appeared to be an elderly woman. She kept asking for Michael, just saying his name over and over again. Then she would say, “Michael, please help me, please get me out of here.” The nurses explained over and over again that they were there to help, that she had had surgery and was recovering. That didn’t seem to help, this woman was not happy. At one point she yelled for her mom, which I could understand, even though Elliott was doing an amazing job being there for me I really wanted my mom too.
When the nurse came over to check my vitals I asked if everyone yells after surgery. She said no people respond all differently, they have yellers, criers and sleepers. She said I looked like a sleeper and smiled, that made me feel better, although deep down I thought there was a chance I would be a crier. I asked the nurse if my husband would be able to see me before surgery. She said yes and she called directly to his cell phone as I gave her the number to tell him where to go. I told Elliott if I yelled anyone else’s name afterwards that I apologized in advance, he gave me a pass.
They eventually wheeled me into surgery and it was a bit busy in there. There were at least 4 nurses, the anesthesiologist and the surgeon I presume although I don’t recall seeing him. I remember mostly the anesthesiologist, a classic doctor type, tall, good looking, and with a comforting demeanor. He had explained the process to me before and he slowly checked down the list. They would be giving me general anesthesia and I would be asleep for the surgery. As one nurse tended to each leg putting a stocking on of some sort he put oxygen over my nose and mouth which he said would smell of orange but I didn’t notice it. He then asked one of the nurses to push on my throat, I didn’t really like this much but I just reminded my myself that I would be out soon and it would all be ok. He then said he gave me something that would make my vision blurry, I thought this was funny as by this point I had my eyes closed so I didn’t have to see the bustle of the nurses and overhead devises.
At some point a cell phone rang and the anesthesiologist was not happy. He asked everyone to turn their phones off and he asked if he could get someone to assist him who was focused. I appreciated his seriousness. I heard the nurse answer the phone and it sounded hospital related but none the less no cell phones during surgery seems like a reasonable rule. The anesthesiologist then started talking about my trip to Hawaii and how he would see me in a little bit. I tried to picture blue clear water and palm trees but it didn’t really work, I knew I wasn’t going to Hawaii although I appreciated the gesture. I was eventually asleep. And I remember that it did seem like time passed, like it does at night when you go to bed.
They woke me up in the recovery room although I thought I was still in the surgery room for awhile. They were listening to the baby’s heart beat through the Doppler and I am pretty sure I muttered, thank god. They told me everything went well. My appendix did need to come out and the surgery was successful. Elliott wasn’t there and I didn’t see him until they moved me to the room we would stay in that night. They said the surgeon was down telling my husband that everything went well and I would see him soon.
I recovered and stayed the night in a labor and delivery room so that the nurses there would be familiar with taking care of pregnant ladies. I think my first nurse was named Joy and she was pregnant. She had also been a nurse for a surgery unit so she seemed very comfortable with me, I really liked her. I could often hear her breathing a bit labored as she moved around, I am sure limited by her growing baby. I appreciated being cared for by a pregnant woman.
The first discussion I remember was about what pain medication to have. A nurse at the first hospital had a made a comment about she wouldn’t take morphine if she was pregnant so I immediately refused the morphine for my recovery. My opinion changed after the anesthesia wore off, the pain set in, and several people including the doctor who will deliver our baby said it was ok, I think it is not ideal but it is ok so I agreed to take it.
Our doctor had been in the hospital preparing for a delivery so she actually got to watch my surgery and she said my internal organs looked beautiful! I asked her why my ribs hurt and she explained that they blew my abdomen up with air so they could see and work in there, oh my.
The surgeon eventually came by too and he shared the below picture with me. The first picture is my uterus, and I think the thumb looking thing in the picture on the right in about the middle is my appendix. He seemed proud to have almost gotten all of my uterus into the picture. The second picture is my swollen appendix. It is about 2 times larger than it supposed to be and the white and orange coloring is also indicative of appendicitis.
The nurse installed the wraps on my legs that would keep the circulation up so I wouldn’t get a blood clot, you can see those in my hospital picture Elliott took: http://babygoodwin.com/post/6042392359/teresa-and-the-baby-are-fine-but-we-spent-the#disqus_thread. I also opted to have a catheter put in, something I think few people will understand but when you are in as much pain as I was with an IV of liquid being pumped into you the last thing I wanted was to push the call button for the nurse to help me to the bathroom in the middle of the night. By this time it was late 9 or 10pm, Elliott set up his bed beside me on the couch and we tried to get some sleep.
