It always amazes me that a 75 minute operation to remove a breast happens in the blink of an eye for the patient. I closed my eyes looking forward to a peaceful sleep and was immediately awakened by a gorgeous male nurse in the recovery room. Since the start of my surgery was an hour later than scheduled, I was seriously dehydrated and my sugar levels were dropping. I am not diabetic but I am very sensitive to sugar levels in my blood stream. My nurse washed my face and then offered me a drink of water using a straw. So here was the issue. I had had a tube stuck down my throat to aid in breathing so I had not swallowed for over an hour. I took a sip of water. I cannot imagine an iceberg being any colder than the water, and with the shock of the water temperature and the blockage in my throat, back up came the water like a new born babe spitting up a spoonful of pablum. I felt like an idiot but he was lovely and washed me down. Finally I persuaded him to give me some ice chips as I was so dehydrated. That seemed to help as I was able to swallow very small amounts of fluid to open up my throat. When I next took a sip of water, I held it in my mouth to warm it up and swallowed small amounts very slowly. I was back in the land of the living!
I looked around recovery and most patients were wakened and then dozed off. I was wide awake and alert immediately. I had all the nurses laughing about what we should name Prince Harry's child. We settled on Victor, the name of my nurse. It made sense. An homage to Queen Victoria, right?
My anesthesiologist dropped by to see me three or four times, and finally he leaned over, pulled my gown off my shoulder and asked what was this mark on my shoulder. I said, You tell me, I can't see that far. It said Its a smiley face. Awesome! So then I had to explain that I wanted a smiley face scar but the surgeon could not do that so instead she drew a smiley face on my shoulder to indicate the side for the operation. He just shook his head and walked away smiling. I later heard that they normally draw a frowny face to represent cancer.
At this point I was feeling no pain and was alert so I was wheeled back into the final room waiting for discharge. I was put back in the recliner and my post recovery nurse asked about my pain level. I said it was a 2 and that the site was burning. She said that is a level 4 and you need more meds. So she proceeded to prepare two T3's. I said I would not take them and she would need to look at my red wrist band alerting all staff to a Tylenol sensitivity. She then asked what pain meds she could give me. Really??? So we settled on Naproxen. I don't know what she gave me but I imagine it might have been an opioid. I felt really good. Time to go home.
I looked around recovery and most patients were wakened and then dozed off. I was wide awake and alert immediately. I had all the nurses laughing about what we should name Prince Harry's child. We settled on Victor, the name of my nurse. It made sense. An homage to Queen Victoria, right?
My anesthesiologist dropped by to see me three or four times, and finally he leaned over, pulled my gown off my shoulder and asked what was this mark on my shoulder. I said, You tell me, I can't see that far. It said Its a smiley face. Awesome! So then I had to explain that I wanted a smiley face scar but the surgeon could not do that so instead she drew a smiley face on my shoulder to indicate the side for the operation. He just shook his head and walked away smiling. I later heard that they normally draw a frowny face to represent cancer.
At this point I was feeling no pain and was alert so I was wheeled back into the final room waiting for discharge. I was put back in the recliner and my post recovery nurse asked about my pain level. I said it was a 2 and that the site was burning. She said that is a level 4 and you need more meds. So she proceeded to prepare two T3's. I said I would not take them and she would need to look at my red wrist band alerting all staff to a Tylenol sensitivity. She then asked what pain meds she could give me. Really??? So we settled on Naproxen. I don't know what she gave me but I imagine it might have been an opioid. I felt really good. Time to go home.
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