Atilla the hun

Hello all, the way i feel right now it could be raining cats and dogs and frankly I don't care. Yesterday , Thursday 11/6 was .....let's say....not one of my more memorable days of my life. It was a gorgeous day don't get me wrong. Got to the James at 12:30 for admissions . The hospitals tend to run like the airlines, uh.....not on time. No worries, where was I going? So we sat and sat and sat. I started to get a really bad headache since it was about 1:30 and I hadn't eaten since 6:30pm the night before. Of course reading magazines with recipes in them didn't help!

Finally, hear my name paged and up to the 4th floor pre-op we go. Got into my designer gown, my ghetto hair net and sexy booties. Next comes the IV.I met with my anesthesiologist, and since I had some problems getting the tube down my throat from some previous surgeries, I wanted to make sure he was advised of my throat/breathing problems. Nice guy, took the time to check my mouth out and hear what I had to say. I heard him on the phone ordering a few pieces of some equipment apparently in a different size to suit my needs.

It's now past 3pm and I was originally supposed to have surgery at 1:30pm , the nurse comes in and introduces herself to me, I kiss Dan goodbye and away we go to the O/R.

I slip over onto the popsicle stick of a table. They prop me upwards instead of laying down. I'm thinking, "ok, this is new". The anesthesiologist comes over with this huge needle (now mind you I am fully awake, no happy juice of any kind) he first squirts a lidocaine up my nose, then puts this needle up my nostril and out gushes this gel which is a lidocaine type glob. He tells me to snort it up so it can run down my throat and numb me. I ask why is this being done and he tells me he wants to see how I handle this like laproscopic like breathing tube he's about to put down my throat.

I get this oxygen type like mask put on me next about 1 inch from my face with is spitting clear liquid, which I'm told I need to inhale so my esophagus goes numb. (it was kinda like breathing in the shower under the shower head while it's running....not fun!) Ok!, I'm thinking ok mind over matter I can handle this (again...no happy juice I was fully alert) he puts in a 4 inch tube into my mouth, "great" I'm thinking this is a breeze!...then comes the 'good part'.....the ole laproscopic tube. This thing was about the size of a TV cable and about 10 inches long. I shot him a 'George' look, like..."you're not gonna put this where I think you're gonna put this"...sure enough....down the hatch. In any event, I learned that my gag reflex was NOT numb. I gagged so hard and was gasping for air, I thought I was a gonner, as if I were to be breathing thru a coffee stir stick. They must have inserted the anesthesia at that point because I don't even remember going under.

The surgery went well, it took about 90 min for surgery, I had alot of drugs in me when I was in post op/recovery, so I was in there for 2 1/2 hours give or take a few. I could tell coming 'out' that I was going to be in some pain. I am so swollen on my right side, which, hey,is fine, as long as she got all the cancer cells and I come back with a clear margin. I have some percocet here to help me.

We got home from the hospital last night around 9pm. I slept good till 2am and I have been tossing and turning ever since. But thats ok.....as long as Dr. Yee got all the cells. I can deal with the 'other stuff". Since it's cold and rainy today, I've labeled myself as Atilla, and will soon be going back up to my cave. I would love to write more but I feel the percocet is kicking in. Figaro is taking care of me today. He doesn't understand that he can't take a nap on 'Mom's chest" for a while .Anyhow, I'm feeling drowsier, gotta go. Have a nice weekend. I'll write when I can. T