| My Surgery� Sunday, March 3, 2002 James, Brittany, Brianna, Shelia & Aunt Peggy are going with me to Nashville for my surgery. We met at my Grandparents house before the big trip. We left on Sunday and spent the night in a hotel because I had to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. Monday morning. It's about a 3hour drive. I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight, so we went to O'Charley's (one of my favorites) for dinner that night. When we got back to the hotel, I colored my hair. Seriously�I did! I knew it would be awhile before I could color it because of my incision and I had to cover that gray! It was hard to sleep that night because I was very nervous about my surgery. |
| Monday, March 4, 2002 I had to go back to the Outpatient area by myself. They told me that James could come back after they gave me my I.V. That was kind of scary, being nervous already and having to be alone. One doctor who is in with Dr. Haynes came to talk to me. I told him my biggest concern�PLEASE DON'T SHAVE MUCH OF MY HAIR! He told me that he and Dr. Haynes would be the ones who would shave it and it wouldn't be much at all. He even showed me how much they would shave. I felt a little bit more at ease after that. They finally gave me my I.V. and let James and the girls come back to see me before I went into the Operating room. This all happened so quickly that I didn't have much time to get scared. A nurse introduced herself to me as one who would be in the Operating room with me. After that, the Anesthesiologist came and introduced himself and told me they were ready to take me back. I don't know what happened next�no warning of being put to sleep�I was just "out!" The next thing I know�I am waking up in recovery! |
| In the recovery room, my nurse explained to me that I couldn't see my family until I went to Phase II recovery. I was determined to wake up and get to the next phase. I really wanted to be with my family. My pain wasn't so bad at first, but it started to intensify. The nurse was giving me morphine in my I.V. but it wasn't helping. I was in tears and feeling very sick. I ask if I could see my husband, but she said not until I was better. I asked her to call the waiting room and ask my family to pray for the pain to cease. She took my hand and started praying right there in the recovery area with all the other nurses, doctors and patients around. She was very sweet. Later, she told me that she had called the waiting room and told my family to pray as well. Finally, the pain started to go down and I was ready to go to Phase II. I made sure I took her hand and thanked her. I wish I could have gotten her name and a picture to add to my web page. Even though I was still pretty much "out of it" I made one more request�I wanted a mirror to see what I looked like. |
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