The Surgery

Here is a rundown of how the surgery went. We were supposed to get there at about 8:30 am but we got there at about 8:00 am. We went in and went to the registration desk, they got us all signed in and had us go into the Ambulatory Surgery area, there we gave them my paperwork and they had us go into a room where I was told to take off all my clothes and put on a hospital gown. Then I needed to lie down on a hospital bed. The nurse came in after I was done and explained things, and made sure that I had not eaten and wasn't wearing any jewelry. She put bracelets on Kevin and on me. She got stuff to put an IV on me and tried to put it in my right hand. After getting the IV in she started the drip and my hand and my hand started to swell up. So she freaked out and called in another nurse, they took the IV out and started to get me ready to receive an IV in my left hand. The anesthesiologist came in and they had her try to put the IV in my left hand, she started to put it in and suddenly said, "Hmm, I don't like this, I don't like this." Turns out my left hand was doing the same thing my right hand had done. So she took the IV out of my left hand, at this point they start trying to figure out a new place to put the IV in, I finally tell them that I always give blood from my right arm and that it would probably present a good vein. So they tried that and sure enough it worked. They started me on a drip and the anesthesiologist talked to me about how the anesthesia would work during the surgery. She said, "You will be on a light anesthesia before the surgery and then right before we start we will give you a kick of it which will make you not remember the surgery and not feel it. You will wake up right after the surgery." She then left.

Between that time and when they took me for surgery I ended up having to use the restroom, it is strange going to the bathroom when you are hooked up to an IV. Not long after I got back a male nurse came and took me up to the operating room. When I got there I was met by a female nurse named Maria (out of everyone there I only really remember her name) she told me that they were going to have me scoot from my bed onto the operating table. As she began to help me over to the operating table I began to feel dizzy. I asked, "Am I getting drugs?" and the anesthesiologist said, "Yes, we have just started the anesthesia." After that point I remember what people said sort of echoing, and I remember them putting my legs into these stirrups that strapped my legs in. Then I remember them putting in a speculum and putting in what felt like a catheter. Then I pretty much passed out.

I woke up to the sound of people saying, "Rachel, it is time to wake up." and I felt sightly guilty as if I had just woken up from a nap at work or something. But I really wanted to continue that nap. I opened my eyes as they wheeled my hospital bed into the room I had started in. Kevin was there waiting for me. They had Kevin come out to talk to the doctor over the phone, I guess she told him that the number of eggs we had gotten from the procedure was written on my palm. There is a 5 there circled. Five eggs, I had expected more, but five is a good enough number. They gave me crackers and water and had me wait until I was more awake and steady on my feet before they let me leave.

The nurse walked us to the door. When we got to the car someone who had come out at the same time, he looked like he might have been a young doctor or something, asked us to jump start his car. The trip home made me nauseous, but thankfully I did not throw up. Got home and went right to sleep. Just woke up from my nap and wanted to get this down while it is fresh in my head. My hands hurt from the failed IVs, and my ovaries hurt, and I still feel groggy, but otherwise I am fine.