PART 4 . . . SURGERIES continued

The day has finally arrived for the complete hysterectomy. My daughter and 10 year old twins came the night before, and my other daughter arrived about 45 minutes before we had to leave for the hospital.

SMALL WORLD
The man at the admitting desk had lived in the same town I had lived in for awhile. And the gal that took my insurance cards and other admitting detail used to work in my local hospital several years ago. Do you find that no matter where you go or how far from home you are, there are always people you have some connection to?

A volunteer came with a wheelchair and wheeled me to the pre-op area and I got the 'lovely' paper surgery gown on, then had a line of several people come in to prep me. Would you believe we all had a hilarious time? We did! My daughter's were in with me, and one is a medical assistant and had the same procedure done that I was going to have, so she asked questions. We all joked around a bit with each person that came in and several said we made their day!

One especially funny incident was when a nurse was listening to my heart and all of a sudden this loud, weird voice said something like, "Help. I am stuck in your pocket and can't get out." and it kept repeating. It was my daughter's cell phone letting her know someone had texted her. It set us all to laughing and the nurse said she thought my heart was speaking to her, which has never happened before. More laughter! We definitely made her day!

When my surgeon came in to see me before surgery, he went to sit down on the rolling stool, his feet slipped out and he fell onto the seat, making it go down to a lower level. More laughter. He said he was always afraid he would slip one day, so he got that out of the way. I am sure glad that happened before surgery! I told him now that we got the jitters out of the way, we should be all set to go.

Soon I was rolled down the halls to OR, asleep soon after, and then woke up in the recovery room. After some time I was taken to my room and all but the healing was finished. I was there overnight and left to go home by 2:30 or so the next day. I don't remember the exact time as I was more than ready to get home.

I am fortunate that I did not have much pain the day after the surgery, or since getting home. I was issued some narcotic pain med but only took the prescription ibuprofen, and that was more for my knees and other aches and pains than anything else. I told my daughter I was a little disappointed that I never took a narcotic and was tempted to take one a few days after surgery, just to see how it felt. But she said NO.

Since I had what is called the da vinci surgery, which is a robotic assist laperoscopic surgery, my recovery was very quick. There were only a few small, 1" incisions instead of one large scar. I highly recommend it if you ever need a hysterectomy, and any laperoscopic surgery for any other kind of surgery. If you wonder what the da vinci surgery is like, you can find information online by searching.

I must tell you that through this whole ordeal, I have had a sense of peace. I am not sure if I was in denial, or the anti-depressant I always take, but I prefer (and believe) that it is a peace only God can give. I don't really think I was in denial. God has blessed me in so many ways for years, and I know I can count on Him.