My younger sister and I reported to the hospital at 10:00 AM yesterday. I was pretty calm. My sister kept asking me if I was okay, and each time I reassured her I was. We went through the preoperative administrative procedures.
My sister told me that I would be in the preoperating room by myself for about 30-40 minutes. She griped that the Momma in her didn't want me being in there by myself. I chuckled. A nurse named Loretta came and got me. I followed her instructions and got undressed and gowned. I took off my glasses and hearing aids. Loretta gave me a shot of buffered Lidocaine in my left hand before inserting the IV in my left hand. It was pretty painless. After the prepping, they brought my younger sister in and we went through the preoperative medical questions. I met the medical team - two of the doctors I had met before, a man and a woman. My anesthesiologist was also a woman, a delightful, very capable doctor. She explained the anesthesia to my younger sister and me.
I signed all the necessary forms, and my younger sister, who has durable power of attorney, did so as well. Just before I left for the operating room, I gave my sister a big hug, and said, "See you later, kiddo!"
I was escorted into the operating room suite, IV bag and all, which is kept at a chilly 65 degrees and it was very brightly lit. I was helped onto the operating room table, tucked in, and the anesthesiologist started administrating the mask. Within seconds I felt as if I was drunk. My surgeon came in, unmasked, smiled, stroked my forehead, and said,"Hello." I replied, "Hello, I feel drunk." He smiled again, said, "That's good, have a nice nap." The anesthesiologist readministered the mask, and I closed my eyes. As I dritfted off, I thought of a fairy godmother waving a magic wand of fairy dust, lulling me into delicious, blissful, uninterrupted sleep. I remember absolutely nothing from the actual surgery.The next thing I knew, nurses were shaking me awake, and I really hated to wake up, but I did.
I had no nausea or vomiting from the surgery, nor did I experience any afterwards. I spent a long time in recovery because the medical team wanted my oxygen saturation levels above 70. I coughed up some mucus, and kept clearing my throat to clear my lungs. I was placed on oxygen, given a nebulizer treatment. They brought my younger sister in. She was glad to see me doing well. I did have some oozing and bleeding post surgery, but that was to be expected. I was really glad to see my surgically implanted ear completely covered by gauze, and a hard plastic contraption that looks like a cup bandaged to my head. I typically sleep on my left side, with my left hand covering my left side of my face.
I got dressed, and was wheeled upstairs. As the elevator doors opened, I saw my surgeon who waved at me, I waved back and he gave me a thumbs up gesture. I said thank you and waved back.
My sister met me with her car and helped me get in. I was a little woozy, had very mild vertigo. We went back to the hotel. I slept a lot, on my back, propped up by lots of foam pillows, and drank some cold water. Later, we decided to order room service because I was hungry. We had this delicious seafood soup in a sourdough bowl, some cocktail shrimp. My younger sister also had the seafood soup, and some seafood pasta, which I sampled. My biggest indulgence was this delicious, decadent Italian Cannoli which I shared with my sister.
I felt a lot more human after eating, in spite of a sore jaw, some pain on eating, and yes, I kept everything down. My surgically implanted ear felt no worse than a bad toothache. I took one pain tablet and pretty much slept through until around two in the morning. I had to pee and I was thirsty. After using the bathroom, I got a cold water bottle out of the minibar refrigerator, took some sips, drank about half, and then went back to bed.
This morning my sister and I got up, got dressed, checked out of the hotel, had breakfast. We stopped by a Starbucks and I got my beloved venti skim latte drink to go in the car. My sister drove me home. She still wasn't too happy about going home and leaving me by myself, until she saw I had prepared the sofa bed, made it up, put paper plates, plasticware out, cups, soup, drinks, out on the kitchen counter and I said I would stay on the first floor of my townhouse and not go up stairs.
She texted me earlier this evening after getting home. I took another nap, ate some soup, and had some iced tea. I get to take a shower tomorrow and clean my ear. I will see how much hair is cut away from my surgically implanted ear and it will feel good to be clean again!
I am blessed in that I have had little side effects from the surgery so far. It went smoother than I thought it would!
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