Post Op Vettie

Post Op Vettie

Well folks this one went off much better than the first back surgery I had. I had heard rumours and I guess it true that most folks who have one back surgery end up having more than one.

I didn’t really have time to get nervous or anxious. They told me to report to the hospital at 8.30a and that by 10.30a they would be working on me. I showed up at 8.15a to get the “I’m here” paperwork started. The pre-registration room was packed and Ms. Vettie and I had to share a love seat. By 8.40a I had my little arm band on and was looking for the bar. They gave me one of those little buzzer things like you get when you go to your favourite restaurant at 7.00p on a Friday night. I was wondering around the gift shop, starving, and drooling over the fresh doughnuts when I asked the cashier where the bar was.

She looked at me like I was a dumbass. Huh? She said. I said, I’m old enough, they even gave me an arm band in there (as I pointed to the registration office). She snickered and explained that the arm band wasn’t for drinks, but that’s how they would identify me. I said, well I would hope that the surgeon that was gonna operate on me, that he would at least know me by sight and if not, then at least by my checkbook. She agreed, but said it was their policy.

I went out for a smoke and the buzzer went off. I put out my smoke and wandered back in where this pretty little nurse was waiting on me with a handful of papers. She told my wife that they would just take me for now and ‘prep’ me. Once that was done, they would come get her.

This is probably a good time to mention Ol Vettie has an aversion to needles and talk of blood. The actual ‘stick’ doesn’t bother me as much as talking about it does. I told the nurse that I was a ‘hard stick’ and not to tell me what she was doing, but rather just do it and be done with it. I mentioned too much conversation about it and she would need some help getting me off the floor. So she did her business and I didn’t pass out.

The nurse sent for my wife and just about the time she showed up the anesthesiologist showed up. We went over all the questions and I told him that the last time I went ‘under’ I was very sick when they brought me around. He said they could give me something for that and hopefully it would not be as bad or I wouldn’t be sick at all.

Turns out, this guy is best friends with my wife’s boss. She is an office manager for a plastic surgeon. Her boss and the ‘sleepy time’ doctor race motorcycles for fun. And I am talking about those ‘ninja’ type cycles that go way too fast and you have to lean way over when taking a curve. So I asked the guy what I thought was a reasonable question. I said, would you let someone that did that for fun put you to sleep? He said why. I said, well if you have no more regard for yourself than that and you are willing to take that much risk with yourself, why wouldn’t you do the same with a patient? He snickered some and then he realized I wasn’t kidding. A few minutes later a different anesthesiologist showed up. This guy was real nice and calm, he didn’t ride motorcycles and I felt better.

Moments later my surgeon showed up to go over what they were going to do and roughly how long it would take. From there they wheeled my bed in to the ops room and told me to just relax. 10.44a and I was hungry. (no feeding the animal from midnight the night before, not even any water). Boy was I hungry.

They told me to count, but usually they save count down from 100 backwards. This time they just said count. I remember saying 17, 32, 44, 11 and then I woke up. I was in the recovery room. I had a nice nurse sitting beside me asking me questions.

Are you awake? I think I am. Do you know your name? I think I do. Do you know where you are? Maybe. Do you have any pain? Yes. Where is your pain? My back and my throat and my stomach. Are you sick? No just hungry. Heres some Ice Chips, maybe that will help. Thanx.

She ran a few tests and checked my blood pressure. All was well. I was completely awake now and talking without being a dumbass. She said I couldn’t have any chips and cheese dip nor a margarita, or at least I couldn’t have them right now. I said please, but she said no. She got up and went to check on my ‘transport’ to a room. Several people walked by and a few stopped to check on me, I asked each one in turn for something to eat, chips and dip or something, tacos, a subway sandwich, anything. They laughed and said no.

My nurse comes back and she had some large fellow with her. Down the halls and off to the elevator we go. Next stop, my room. My wife was already in there and she came over to give me a hug. As she bent down to hug me, I whispered chips and cheese dip and 2 tacos please. As with everyone else, she laughed and said no.

I had a nice room with a flat screen TV. I had my own nurse and a tech. They had to keep an eye on my vitals and blood pressure. My nurse administered my meds and got my bed set to where I was comfortable. After all that was done, I asked her if I could have something to eat. I explained that I had not eaten since the night before and that it was going on 2.00p and I was starving. I have to tell you, I never thought graham crackers and peanut butter we so good. She also brought me a popsicle, grape flavoured, and a big ol’ hospital cup of water. She told me I could order my dinner by calling some extension number.

I called the number and ordered chips and cheese dip with 2 tacos and Spanish rice. I love that stuff. When m dinner arrived I was pretty excited. When they uncovered it, I was pretty disappointed, but I was really hungry so I figured WTH. Baked chicken with a bed of rice pilaf and some carrots and broccoli. Well it was food and I was hungry so I ate it.

I didn’t sleep much that night, not because I was in too much pain (I was but not too bad) but simply because I had been out most of the day. I have to tell you there is not much on TV at 2 to 4a on a Monday night / Tuesday morning. TNT is your best bet because they run shows all night long. It also seemed like when I finally did dose off that the tech would come in and take my blood pressure or the nurse would come in and check stuff or give me a shot of some kind.

Morning rolled around and my wifey came back around 6.30a. She brought me some home made biscuits filled with bacon. I love bacon. Bacon is great. I scarfed ‘em down pretty quick because I was still very hungry. Around 7 or so the Physical Torture lady showed up to get me up to walk. 2 laps she said. 4 is what we did, but I told her I wanted more food. She said breakfast was on the way.

I got to go home around 10.30ish and I feel pretty good. Yes I am sore and yes I have some difficulty in moving about. Once I get up and get going, things aren’t so bad. It’s the getting up and going part or the stopping and setting down or laying down part that gives me the most trouble. Doctor says that should pass within a few days.

So, Ol Vettie is more or less back and I will be posting to my blog every now and then. I have several reviews already done. I just need to look them over before publishing them and I need to get some screenies of them.

Thanx for the support folks.