Ponder this:

Monday, May 10, 2010

Counting down

Image from  from I LOVE TYPOGRAPHY

I have two and one-half hours to eat, drink beverages, smoke, chew gum, before I shall sew my lips closed until after surgery. It's a wonder I'm using my fingers to type; I should have rigged up a bungee cord around my neck with a plate suspended at my chin. Or a feedbag.


In twelve hours I will be approaching the La-La Land of general anesthesia. I am promised an aperitif of Versed if I am nervous. The nurse warned me that it might make me "a little woozy."  
"Woozy's good," I told her. (Listen: I stopped drinkin', but I can still enjoy a little justified, supervised woozy when the occasion warrants.)


I gather I'll be under for less than an hour, and then comes that waking up process with the nurse urging me to take ever-deeper breaths when all I'll want to do swat her out of my way so I can go back to sleep. I'm not looking forward to that but I won't remember much of it anyway. 


And then home with Husband, who will be close at hand until he has to travel on Wednesday.
...at which time I will have a friend come to babysit me. 
I have made her promise to sit next to my bed and read fairytales to me should I request it.

20 comments:

Von said...

Good wishes and hope you enjoy the woozy.I always do, such a relief sometimes!

Hilary said...

Thinking best thoughts for you. Enjoy the wooze!

the7msn said...

I love woozy. We're sending good thoughts your way. Hugs from all of us at the 7MSN.

rachel said...

We'll be with you in thoughts and warm wishes, if not actually there at your bedside, clutching our bedtime story books! Hope all goes perfectly smoothly.

VioletSky said...

Woozy AND fairy tales!
Hope all went trouble free.

word verification is addlqued.
is that how you feel, now?

Friko said...

You'll be fine. It'll all be over in no time.
Let a veteran of many major and minor ops tell you this; I'm still here, very much so!
But do make a meal of the recovery period, make it last. You'll never get that much attention again.

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

By now you should be awake again and ready to be nursed back to health .
Being read to sounds lovely . Much more comforting than pillow fluffing and grapes .
Get better soon , but don't feel rushed . Take your time and only do what you feel ready for .

Linda Myers said...

Great to have a good excuse to be woozy!

Carolynn Anctil said...

Good luck, June. I hope you get through the surgery without a hitch and recover quickly.

Big Hug!
Carolynn

Frank Baron said...

I trust all will be well. Enjoy the woozin' and snoozin'. :)

June said...

10AM arrived at hospital and checked in.
10:15AM nurse told me I'd been moved from #3 to #2 in the surgery lineup, said she didn't want me to feel as if they were giving me the bum's rush but they wanted me to be ready.
10:30AM I was in my lovely blue paper gown on under a pre-warmed blanket.
11AM still waiting. Requests for Demerol unfulfilled. No pain, just requesting for the woozy factor.
11:30AM still waiting. Getting a little bored. And a little HOT. Still no Woozy Medication.
Patient #1 was having a gall bladder removed....that apparently should have been removed ten years ago. Sixty or more stones in it. (Listening through curtains to the next cubby is a useful skill.)
NOON still waiting.
Sometime in the morning Dr. S. came by and asked if I had any questions, and I asked him if I would have a dent. He said that was a good way to describe it. "But that'll change."
"Yeah, fat moves around," I said. "I'm familiar with that."
12:25 Nurse said, "Soon now."
12:38 Into the OR. Anesthesiologist said "Okay, here it comes."
"Daytie-day," I said. "What time is it?"

1:20PM My eyes popped open. "Wow, that was quick!"

I stayed there, with Husband sitting at my bedside until ....Oh I don't know....2PM? Later? Time is very elastic this afternoon. I have no idea how it got to be 6:15PM already.
Doctor S. came by, I told him he was my favorite person. He said, smiling, "You've had a lot of drugs."
I asked him how big the thing was and he said, "The size of a squash ball...and perfectly round." (I've Googled that because I don't know metric; it's about 1-1/2", a little teeny bit smaller than a golf ball.)
"Did it bounce?" I asked.
"I didn't check," he responded, with appropriate dry humor.

IT has gone off to the lab, I'll see the doctor on Tuesday.
I'm home until Monday (got my NOTE!), and I have my favorite prescription pain med).
Poor Husband's sleeping. I think the waiting person has a harder time than the patient. He's driving seven hours away tomorrow. Caregiver friend coming at 10AM tomorrow.

It's chilly. I wish it were warmer so I could sit on the patio, but whaddayagonnado?

Anonymous said...

We're all wishing the very best for you and will be looking forward to your return.

bluebethley said...

Now the recovery begins . . . May there be a "happily ever after" for you and Husband.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

June, My love and prayers are with you... I'm just SO glad that the lump is benign. Glad the surgery went well. You'll be back to your normal routine before too long. In the meantime though, let those around you SPOIL you rotten!!!! You deserve it!!!!

Keep us posted...
Hugs and Good Thoughts,
Betsy

#1Nana said...

Aren't those heated blankets the best part of surgery? I don't enjoy the woozy part. I hope you emerge from the wooze to sunshine and the knowledge that all is well in your world.

Joe Todd said...

I am a woozy expert LOL.. Glad you are doing well. I never was able to take those pain meds "as directed"

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Again, Just stopping by to tell you that I am thinking about you and hoping that you are feeling good today... Take care of yourself and as I said, let your loved ones spoil you!!!!

Hugs,
Betsy

Fran Hill said...

Have a quick recovery. How are the fairy tales going?

Vicki Lane said...

All the best to you. (I remember the wonderful feeling of those heated blankets -- like a grandmother's love.)

Inay said...

I know am late for the post
but a back track led me through
now i know you are recovering
so i stop to drop a pin

Wish you luck for all your days
start counting all the sheep
herds are on their way
to put off the lights away

lullabies from yester years
hope to keep the memory full
pains of glory, stud of good will
its just a needle away from the bow

so dream away and enjoy the ride
the woozy deezy dangling dingling
its nice to know and really know
it is just a needle away...