A Thought About The Indignity of Surgery

This week, after a two month wait, I had a Cholesystectomy (gallbladder removed). I was up at 4am after an already sleepless night; stressed to the max over everything and wanting to be sure that I did everything properly to get ready.....and most of all not to be late. I wasn't allowed to wear makeup and I so desperately didn't want to scare everyone to death, especially the Dr and staff. Hopefully he slept better than I did.
Dragging my kid out of bed at 6am when she had only just got home from work a few hours before was no easy task. Finally it's her turn to be the taxi driver for me! All things considered she got up like a trouper and was a real support for me all day.
Fortunately the hospital is only two minutes away from my house.  First stop,  admissions department, and then off to the day surgery unit to get changed into the most lovely paper slippers and gown, good thing I shaved my legs....there is also something less than human about not being able to wear panties in a full waiting room  So many people just mozying around that early in the morning as if nothing out of the ordinary was about to happen. I met some very, well let's just say, interesting people at the hospital.
My heart beat is naturally very fast (90 beats a minute) so I can't imagine how fast it was during my stay in the waiting room assembly line. I think there were only two of us there who weren't covered in tattoos. Didn't realize it was such a popular thing. I did feel quite lucky though because I also seemed to be the only one there who had teeth......
Once I got to the operating room I was fine.....couldn't help but feel surrounded by everyone's prayers.
I've been told many times that I am a variation of normal in so many ways.  I've been able to marvel many doctors in my day.  So quite frankly I was expecting many more complications than I actually had. Apparently I had a couple of surprise hernias too that had to be fixed before he could get in to rip out my gallbladder.  So it really ended up being a two for one operation.  No more heavy lifting for me I guess.
When I woke up from my surgery (felt like 2 minutes after being put out) I had a hard time staying awake (but gravol does that to me).  I'm a bleeder as well so I got lots of special attention.  The staff at Ajax/Pickering Hospital were amazing.  Everyone who had surgery after me came and went. I was the first to be done and the last to go home.  I did ask the nurse why they were keeping me so long but she just said I would have to talk to the Dr. I guess I'll find all that out in 4-6 weeks when I go for my follow-up.   I didn't really care that much about it at the time because I was enjoying all the wonderful pampering and sleep (since I'm up all night every night, I covet any sleep I can get).  And of course with all the morphine I didn't really care about anything!
Once released I put on my lovely stretchy pants and over sized T-shirt and runners.  I don't have a clue what happened to my hair but I can tell you I sure didn't arrive with it looking like that! What a sight I was! I don't know what they were doing to me while I was under but it sure wasn't pretty. When I got home I slept the rest of the night. The morphine, gravol and percocet helped with that! Dreaming of cheese cake the whole time. 
Now that it's all over I have 4 more tiny scars added to my already imperfect body and my skin is so dry I'm actually flaking.  My tan is finally disappearing.  I told my kids that if they ever come home and find a big pile of dust on the floor not to kick it because it's probably me.
Really hurts to cough and my throat is very sore because of the tube they had to put down it.  Sneezing is NOT fun either. Haven't been able to see what the scars are like yet because although the bandages can be changed, the steri-strips have to stay on for an entire week.  I think they are the only things keeping my guts from falling out all over the place.  Day one seemed like a piece of cake but by day two everything was getting progressively worse because the morphine had wore off.  Every muscle in my stomach was aching and because of my bleeding problem I wasn't able to take any anti-inflammatory meds. The percocets are always nice though and I have lots of them! I guess as undignified as any surgery could ever be, I hate to think of the alternative and I'm very grateful for the advances of modern medicine.
My mom has called me a hundred times to tell me how much she loves me and of course she was the first one to come and see me (of course she's the only one who would be allowed....... no matter how bad I look it never seems to bother her). I am so blessed to still have her.  No one will ever love you like your mom does, imperfections and all. I need to remember to tell her that I love her too, everyday. Thanks also to my wonderful friends who held  my hand from afar, I so appreciate you!
I hope I never have to have another operation and that's about all I want to say about that......forever