Surgery Day

  The day finally arrived! March 2021, I was finally on my way for surgery. In preparation I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink. I didn’t care, it was finally happening! 

My husband dropped me off at the hospital, he wasn’t allowed to come in yet due to Covid and hospital regulations. I went upstairs and checked myself in. The nurse was so kind as she explained the process. I changed into my gown and waited my turn. 

There were some other patients in the waiting room. We all sat around bored staring at each other or the tv. Occasionally I would make small talk with someone, but we all just prayed our names were the next ones called. 

After a few hours, it was my turn! I made my way to the operation room, my surgeon greeted me and introduced me to all the nurses. Everyone was friendly. I was very fortunate to have an amazing team looking after me. I settled onto the operation table and checked out the room. It was a lot smaller than I imagined. It was different then the room I had my colonoscopy in. A lot more machines, a lot more people. Suddenly I was shy. I felt very exposed. One of the nurses seemed to realize this and she covered me with a warm blanket. This helped with my anxiety. 

My surgeon came over and asked if I had any questions. I said no. Only that I was nervous. She quickly went over what was going to happen again for me and asked if I was ready to start. I nodded my head. You know the scenes in the tv show and movies when they put the mask over and you just fall asleep, it’s exactly like that. One minute I was looking at the nurse, the next I heard an annoying beep and was trying to find the source. 

Someone was talking to me and holding me on a bed. I became lucid and realized it was a nurse. She told me everything went smoothly and asked how I was feeling. That’s when I realized the world felt like the ocean. She gave me something for nausea and told me to relax and my husband would be there to get me soon. 

I waited 15 minutes or so. Watching as the nurses brought new patients in to recovery and others left. My surgeon came over to check on me and seemed very happy. She told me that they successfully removed the cyst and explored, searching for endometriosis. They had found some, exactly where I said my pain was. I was right! The validation of not being crazy was so much I started crying. Of course my surgeon was worried I was upset but I explained I was so happy I wasn’t crazy. The pain wasn’t in my head. I wasn’t making it up. I wasn’t dramatic. She has no idea how important it was to have my answer! There was a small amount on a ligament. She explained she had removed as much as she could at that point in time and I would have a follow up phone appointment in a few days once I was rested and we would move forward. I wish my husband or someone was present for this conversation. I remembered a bit, but I wasn’t fully lucid and I was so happy about having my answer I sort of stopped listening. This made it so I missed important information about my specific condition, I honestly have no recollection of this part of the conversation, it had slipped to the back of my mind. She left me lots of paperwork on what to do to take care of my incisions etc and left me saying we would talk soon. 

I remember as they brought me into the waiting/other recovery room how relieved I felt. Sure my stomach was sore from surgery and I wanted to puke, but I finally had my answers. 

My husband came up, he looked so cute in his mask, and helped me walk to our vehicle. The car ride home I was super nauseous I won’t lie. That was a long drive. Once home, I passed out on the couch for about 12 hours. Only waking up for medication and some food. 

In  a few days, I would do a phone appointment about treatment and moving forward. At this point in time, I thought my life was going do a 180 in a few weeks once I was healed up from surgery. I didn’t realize, this was a lifelong illness….I knew it was one. I just didn’t realize it was for me. I was in some form of denial. Thinking surgery was the miracle and that after surgery, I would be like everyone else and that was the end of it. How naive I was.