SARPE Day & Morning One

SARPE Day

Even with leaving a few minutes late and traffic, we made it to the hospital at exactly 8:00.  Once checked in, we had a seat in the waiting room for a few minutes, and the nice, funny guy we met on Wednesday came up and said "Well, you still look like a girl!"

It wasn't too, too long before a nurse came to take me to the Pre-Op room. Sharon, my nurse was very kind and made me feel comfortable.  She left me in my curtain room to change into the smock.  I laughed imaging me flashing someone during the day. I even had a "Hey, it IS mardi gras!" ready to comeback with :P  As I was waiting in the room, after Sharon had gone over my health history with me, two family friends came to say hello. That was really nice :) Mom and dad came just a few minute after that. They kept me company while we waited for Dr. M and Chippy.  Once he touched base with us, he taped this towel wrap on my head and let us know we were waiting for the OR to turn over from the last surgery. 

Here he is taping the towel. 

Dad had us all laughing because it looks like a smurf hat in this picture!

The final result

When it was time to move, a doctor came in and did some final prepping with me before I moved to the OR. A nasal spray to constrict blood vessels, some antibiotic in my IV, and some liquid pain killers in my IV that the doctor introduced as "a little margarita".  Haha, and man, I wish all margaritas worked that fast. :P

The OR was a big cold room with a bunch of huge lights over the operation table.  Once I moved to the new table there were a lot of people working on me in unison. Someone replaced the blanket I had with two heated blankets. (Heaven!) The anesthesiologist was propping my head up under some pillow to make it better for her to intubate me. Some nurses were wrapping my legs up in these velcro wraps that would alternate constricting in order to prevent clotting. The last thing I remember was Chippy rubbing my head and arm as the anesthesia took affect.  

I don't remember moving from the OR table or room to the recovery room, but I have vague memories of coming out of the anesthesia. The anesthesiologist said I was feisty coming out of it. I believe it! I remember having my hands up on my face a little frantically saying I couldn't breathe through my nose. Little did I know I wasn't supposed to at the time because of a cotton ball taped under it. 

During this time, mom and dad said that Dr.M came to let them know that everything went beautifully, and it exactly what he had hoped for!  Woohoo!! 

Real cute picture of me in the recovery room

When I finally woke up, I vaguely remember whining and moaning a lot until my nurse came over.  He asked where my pain was on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (the worst).  I went with 7, so he put in some more painkillers in my IV. Thank god for that! It made me feel a lot better. Once he gave me an okay to get dressed and go to the bathroom, I stood up and was completely surprised at how tight my calf muscles were. Soon we were on the way home!

A few hours after surgery 

Yesterday consisted of a lot of sleeping! I slept on the way home from the hospital, fell asleep as soon as the TV was on, and completely slept through a family friend bringing dinner to us. (Thank you, Laurie!)

Sleeping Beauty

Sophie, protecting me with her laser eyes

Sophie snuggling

When I woke up, I tried to eat a tiny bit of the chicken and noodles in very small bites, so I didn't even have to chew. It works nicely though, since I have been using a baby spoon because it is easier to gt in my mouth right now. After I had a little of that, my dad made me a smoothie for me that I help create.  It had a ice, chocolate ensure shake, a scoop of vanilla whey protein, half a banana, and two PB oreos. It was delicious!!

Not too long after that Michelle, Sharon (who brought beautiful flowers!), Grant, and Jessie all stopped by for a brief visit. :) Seriously, I have the best friends!!

Friends! 

After what could only be a few minutes after they left, I fell back into another hard sleep until it was time to move to my bed.

Day 1

I woke up a few times this morning, but not due to pain. Luckily I got back to sleep for a while longer. When I actually got up, I could tell I was more swollen and really tender in the few places where numbness has worn off.  It is strange being partially numb still.  My lip will tingle when I slightly touch the bone right below my eye.

A little swollen

I look like the joker when I try to smile!

 The next thing I noticed was that I was hungry! Lol, I tried to make an oatmeal smoothie, and I think it was a success! It had about 1/2 of dry quick oats, a dash of vanilla, some cinnamon, about a 3rd of a banana, some vanilla whey protein, a little flax seed, some milk, and some ice.

Ever since, I've just set up camp in the living room with the essentials... laptop, blankets, pillows, soft snacks, water, all my medicine, etc.

The Living Room camp

I think that's about it for the moment. Mom and I just started a movie called Austenland, and I want to focus on that.  I will keep you updated through the recovery! 

Thank you all so, so much for the overwhelming love and support! I feel very blessed!  

Love you all!