Thursday, June 19, 2014

06-19-2014 The Day Of Surgery.

   We left at 4:15am, got there before 5:30am, and all was well. Got checked in and headed upstairs where we got signed in, and all was still well. I met the Anesthesiologist, nice guy, seemed to be completely with everything, very methodical. The 2 RNs, extremely nice and knowledgeable. So we have an EKG ran, they let Denise see it and she saw it looked good to her too, still that marker that you always have compliments of a past heart attack. All was well.

   They brought the Peace Pipe through, actually something that you take a breathing treatment with to open you up or something, I have COPD and Emphysema (thank God I also have spell check). It opens but then leaves me sort of nervous and agitated, not to worry though, they have more. Then came an injection of Prednisone in my IV, guess I forgot to mention that part. They took samples of my blood then left the thing in, think it was hooked to a bag of IV fluids, that is also what they inject in. Then they said they had something to relax me. The Peace Pipe or extra Prednisone or something had me agitated and restless, sounded like a plan to me. That was about all the memory I had that stayed in tact, lol.  All was better than well, because I had no clue.

   I remember the ladies telling us I was about to head for surgery, took my belongings to the recovery room. We were waiting on Dr Rathfoot to come in, they said he would speak to us before I left for surgery. He came in and for the first time ever I saw him in a not so good mood. Most doctors can have attitudes, but not him or Dr Schindler for that matter, these are great guys who seem to have no button to push. Seems Tennova 2 had forgotten to get the tool he needed to do the surgery! How does one forget that? I remember bits and pieces of Rathfoot and Denise talking, and caught the main parts of his anger, which by the way was very much a gentlemen, but once again it confirmed that I had the best doctor there was. His anger was to me an outpouring of his compassion and care.

  Soooo, tomorrow we do it all again, except at the old Tennova, (aka old St Mary's) in Knoxville. I've had the other throat surgeries done there along with a shoulder surgery. I slept coming home, fell asleep and slept most of the day. Denise said I wasn't allowed to drive for 2 days and that kinda comes under the duh category. That "relaxing stuff" is more a knock out stuff for me, which ain't bad I guess since I'm headed for surgery. It was the 1st time since leaving off the arthritis medication that I actually don't hurt, and as great as that is, I'll deal with some pain as opposed to feeling like that. Still, it was and still is like a vacation.

  Tomorrow we try this again. I don't think I'll have to do anther EKG or blood work, and know I'm not paying another copay. We were all ready, all that is except the hospital person who orders the equipment. Denise said it is a tool that is about 1 1/2 feet long, I could have probably been fine without that added bit of information, lol. I got a little more with it this evening and grilled us steak, onions, potatoes, and squash. Now it is bedtime again, try this one more time.