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July 11, 2007
Recovering from double surgery
I'm at my mother's house, outside of Reno. It's quiet out here, especially at night. She has horses and cats and chickens, and every day there are tons of rabbits and quails in her yard.
So i had my surgery yesterday. I must say, i felt very calm going into it, even though i didn't have any family waiting with me before the operation. I sat in the pre-op room and waited, listening the the different anesthesiologists talking to their patients about how they were going to put them under, and for how long. One woman was a Jehovah's witness, and needed reassuring from the doctor that they wouldn't give her any blood transfusions, even if she needed them. It seemed to contradict the fact that she was about to be put under sedation and operated on, but i'm sure there are rationalizations for everything.
As i was sitting there, i remembered how as a child, my father would take me on his rounds to visit patients. I can still see the green walls of the VA and recall clearly the smells of chemical cleaners and urine. That must be why i am so comfortable in hospital settings.
It's such a strange moment, knowing that your breathing will soon be under someone else's complete control. I felt very confident in my doctors, and the last thing i remember is them connecting an IV to my forarm, injecting in a precursor to the main general anasthetic. I was out before they even wheeled me all the way into the Operating Room.
I awoke an hour and a half later, in the recovery room. there was a large bandage on my shoulder, and an Ace bandage wrap around my swollen up right knee. I felt so much bettter then the last time i came out of surgery, so much more lucid and not so despistado as we say in spanish. They wheeled me out to the waiting room, and after picking up my prescription for Vicodin, my mom and I headed out to her car, and out here to Washoe Valley.
I stayed up late last night, watching the Tour de France and feeling the effects of the novacaine that they "packed" into my wounds wearing off. The medical adage is to "stay ahead of the pain," and i did just that, taking several vicodin before falling off to sleep. I have bad memories from after my last surgery, memories of a dull aching pain in my shoulder and of the vicodin haze i had to stay in enough so that i could sleep. This time I am already planning to tail off on the pills as soon as possible.
One of the cool things about the surgery is that they gave me the hardware that had been in my shoulder from last September. Since i broke my digital camera last time i was in reno, i can't take a photo of it, but as soon as i get the camera repaired i will do so. it looks really cool, and it's weird to think that it was in my shoulder for so long, holding my bones together.
Today i awoke early and watched the Tour live, and they hung out with my mom and her cats for most of the day. Every time the pain started to spike i swallowed a pill, but i'm taking them far enough apart that I don't feel so dulled by them. I read a bunch of internet news and worked a little on the abbreviated film i will make with the small amount of footage i managed to take from my bike trip before i bailed out. looking over the footage and the photos made me sad, thinking about how only 3 weeks ago i was in high spirits, powering myself across the country. oh well, maybe next summer.
alright, gonna listen to this American Life on the Ipod and play solitaire. hope all are well.
Posted by bendan at July 11, 2007 10:23 PM
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