Surgery

Today was my surgery for the fascia release for my compartment syndrome.  I was a bit nervous I admit--it is just not fun to have to go under anesthesia and go through recovery, etc.  Plus, there are always chances of things going awry.  Anyway, I had to be at Evergreen Surgical Center in Kirkland at 11:45 am.  (Note to self:  seeing a specialist on the eastside is going to mean lots of driving to other eastside doctors!). I got up this morning and kept myself busy with some cleaning, etc.  We set out for Kirkland around 10:45 am and we got there in no time.   

Somehow they had my birthday wrong and all of the paperwork said I was 64 years old!  So, new paperwork, lots of consent, etc.  I talked to the anesthesiologist and the surgeon and got in the OR around 12:45.  I don't remember much...just the doc putting in my IV, the nurse giving me O2 an telling me to just relax and let myself go to sleep, etc.

The next thing I know, I am awake in recovery.  Surprisingly I didn't really feel any pain.  The nurse gave me some apple juice and let me wake up some more.  I noticed that my IV was done and blood was starting to back up, so I let the nurse know and she removed my IV and said that I was doing so well she would send me into the next step of recovery.  I got dressed (note to readers, if you are having surgery, bring baggy easy to put on clothes.  For me, it was a pair of basketball shorts and a tshirt).  We moved to me to second recovery and put me a reclining chair.  The nurse couldn't immediately find Gess in the waiting room and he didn't answer his phone. Of course, he was on a work phone call :)  Luckily he was wearing an easily describable shirt and she was able to locate him quickly.  He came and she went over the discharge instructions.  We had to wait for awhile for the pharmacist to bring up my drugs, but as soon as she did, we were able to leave.

I was still feeling pretty good--not much pain at all.  I had to ride in the backseat with my legs elevated on pillows on the way home.  Got home and got all settled.  It did hurt a little to go up the stairs to my house, but it wasn't too bad.  Gess parked me in bed and got everything that I needed set up.  I feel asleep for a bit.  I keep getting hot flashes, which I suppose is caused by the pain meds.  It is annoying, but could be so much worse so I am not going to complain!

Chinese food for dinner and a chai latte (which during prep Gess burned himself :( ).  Now I am watching old episodes of the Closer (from my blockbuster mail order), "window shopping" on the net, and blogging :)

The doc says that the pain will be the worst tomorrow evening...so not looking forward to that, but also glad that the "worst" will be here soon and then on to recovery!  He said that I could swim and even bike (stationary) soon, earlier than I thought.  So, I am going to use this opportunity to get back into swimming.  Who knows, maybe I will even figure out how to breathe when I swim!!! :)