Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Surgery Day!

Wow. So I did it! And I look pretty much like I got punched in the face.... :P In the morning I got up bright and early and aside from feeling tired from not sleeping much, I look pretty good.

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Feeling pretty jazzed


My Daddy woke up too to drive me to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation surgery center and we got there in plenty of time and checked in no problem. Then the staff called me to come get ready and it felt like it took forever to triple check all my paperwork. Bleh.

They had to try the IV twice because the veins on my left arm kept moving. I was like "I don't like the idea of my veins moving around of their own volition! I want them to stay put in my arm!" And the nurses told me, no, that's usually a good thing that they move around. Eventually they stuck the catheter in my right hand. Usually I can't even look at a needle poking into my skin, but I was kind of curious what it would look like. It wasn't icky but it pulled at the skin a lot and kind of pinched. Yuck.

They also said my heart rate was high, and said, "Yeah...that happens." I'm having surgery for the first time--go figure! 

While I was waiting for the doctor the nurses asked if I wanted my dad to come sit with me, and I said sure why not. But Dad was like, "Nah, I got all my stuff set up. I'm good." And that just cracked me up. Because I was doing pretty okay and all. The staff was really nice, and I knew I was going to be fine. But when your own daughter asks you to sit with her a few minutes before she goes into surgery, you'd think the obvious answer would be yes?

Eventually I got all prepped and put on the gown and they wheeled me into the operating room. It looked pretty weird with all the big lights and beeping machines. I was still wide awake at this point, even though they had started pain meds. They gave me lots of blankets because It was pretty cool in the operating room. Including this blanket that inflated and was heated. They kept calling it the "poofy blanket."

Then they gave me more pain meds in the operating room that were supposed to make me sleepy, and I remember them asking me once when I first got situated on the table if I was sleepy yet, and I was like "Nah...still awake..." but I don't remember them asking me again so I guess I dropped off after that.

Don't remember too much about waking up. But I did take a selfie while still on the bed in the operating gown.

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But first, let me take a selfie!


I remember I used the restroom before we drove back because I had been really trying hard to remember to go just in case. They wheeled me out in a wheelchair. On the way back we stopped at Mcdonalds and I got a milkshake. Dad got flavored french fries, which I didn't know they had in American. In fact, I had to check my texts to Mom later to see if Dad had really bought french fries or if I had misremembered.

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It was very necessary to have my store of Japanese face masks.


I had the milkshake at the table while everyone else ate lunch, but I didn't the french fries. Guess I was really out of it. Then I sat on the backyard swing for a bit and then lay down and slept for a bit.

In the afternoon, I began to notice some bruising under my eyes. The doctor and nurses said that was totally normal.

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Kawaii!

Later today I went for a walk. Even though the bruise is still darkening, I look pretty normal with a face mask on. I can't drive until tomorrow, and any cardio activity is a no-no, but it was nice to get outside for just a bit. Hopefully I'll sleep okay tonight, and we'll see how the face looks tomorrow.

I'm genki!


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