I'm home now!

[Guest guest]

Hi all-

Well, my surgery was on Friday and I made it through just fine. I

was released this morning and am feeling okay.

Here is how the ordeal went:

I showed up at the hospital just after 9am and check into ambulatory

care. They had me change into a gown and weighed me and took my

vital signs. After that they allowed my husband and daughter to join

me. Then they came to start an IV. Totally messed that up and had

to pull it out and put in another one in the other arm. My husband

left then and I started waiting and waiting. They moved me down the

hall to sit in a recliner with a bunch of folks who were getting

chemotherapy and blood transfusion. We sat and watch trash tv for a

couple hours. Finally at sometime after 12 a guy from the OR came

and got me. He took me into the OR area which was freezing cold and

had this big wind tunnel thing going on because of the negative

pressure system they use to keep germs out of the ORs. They put one

of those lovely blue shower cap thingies on my head and then sat me

down in a little waiting room. This really nice nurse who was once a

patient of Dr. Rabkin's came in to say hi and chat with me- just

because. Then the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me. He asked

me some questions and asked me if I had any concerns. I just

said, " 1. I don't want to not wake up when its over, and 2. I don't

want to wake up before it is over! " Finally the nurse came and got

me and walked me into the OR. They had me lie down on the table and

the anesthesiologist informed me that once I was out he would have to

put in a new IV as this one was no good! Anyhow, then he gave me

some sort of sedative or something and turned on the gas. I was out

like a light.

I woke in the recovery room in some pretty horrible pain. I kept

telling the nurse how bad I was hurting and she said, " Of course you

are, you just had surgery " . I tried to explain to her that she had

to give me drugs. I remember coughing painfully a couple of times

and everyone congratulating me. The next thing I remember was being

moved to my room and it was almost 8pm. I was still in a tremendous

amount of pain and the nurse kept telling me to push the button on my

PCA. Finally, and thank god, Dr. Rabkin came in and ordered a shot

for me. After that, it was smooth sailing. My husband came in and a

couple friends stopped in to visit but I just wanted to conk out.

The next morning I kept asking to get up, I wanted to walk and get my

catheter out. The nurses wouldn't let me. Finally Dr. Rabkin came

and sdaved my day again. He took out the catheter himself and helped

me sit up on the side of the bed. Getting out of bed that first time

was the hardest thing, but after that it just got easier.

The leak test was also a nightmare. The tech was in a very big hurry

and kept telling me to drink, drink! this really nasty, horrible

contrast stuff. EVery time I took a sip I would heave several

times. I nver threw it back up but it hurt my stomach badly. She

also kept ramming the x-ray films down my back and was jerking me

around alot. I was so glad when that was over. The reults came back

fine and so I was allowed to have a little ice water and some jellow

that night.

The rets of my stay was uneventuful. The nurses at CPMC were really

nice. My IV went bad again and was leaking into my arm. It swelled

up huge! So they took it out on Sunday and started a new one.

Sunday night I stopped using the PCA and went to taking oral

painkillers.

I'm feeling really great now and trying to drink my water. I am

going really slowly on the food front. I had only some jello today

and a couple bites of yogurt.

Oh, the other great thing! I gained something like 20 lbs in the

hospital. The nurse said it is from all the fluids they overloaded

me with, but still!!

Well, thats all for now. Take care!

Amy Y.

Fremont, CA

Post-OP!! July 6, 2001

Rabkin/Jossart

[Guest guest]

YAY, Amy!!

I'm glad you've come through with flying colors! Welcome to the other

side!

Hugs,

Liane =)

> Hi all-

>

> Well, my surgery was on Friday and I made it through just fine. I

> was released this morning and am feeling okay.

>

> Here is how the ordeal went:

>

> I showed up at the hospital just after 9am and check into ambulatory

> care. They had me change into a gown and weighed me and took my

> vital signs. After that they allowed my husband and daughter to

join

> me. Then they came to start an IV. Totally messed that up and had

> to pull it out and put in another one in the other arm. My husband

> left then and I started waiting and waiting. They moved me down the

> hall to sit in a recliner with a bunch of folks who were getting

> chemotherapy and blood transfusion. We sat and watch trash tv for a

> couple hours. Finally at sometime after 12 a guy from the OR came

> and got me. He took me into the OR area which was freezing cold and

> had this big wind tunnel thing going on because of the negative

> pressure system they use to keep germs out of the ORs. They put one

> of those lovely blue shower cap thingies on my head and then sat me

> down in a little waiting room. This really nice nurse who was once

a

> patient of Dr. Rabkin's came in to say hi and chat with me- just

> because. Then the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me. He asked

> me some questions and asked me if I had any concerns. I just

> said, " 1. I don't want to not wake up when its over, and 2. I don't

> want to wake up before it is over! " Finally the nurse came and got

> me and walked me into the OR. They had me lie down on the table and

> the anesthesiologist informed me that once I was out he would have

to

> put in a new IV as this one was no good! Anyhow, then he gave me

> some sort of sedative or something and turned on the gas. I was out

> like a light.

>

> I woke in the recovery room in some pretty horrible pain. I kept

> telling the nurse how bad I was hurting and she said, " Of course you

> are, you just had surgery " . I tried to explain to her that she had

> to give me drugs. I remember coughing painfully a couple of times

> and everyone congratulating me. The next thing I remember was being

> moved to my room and it was almost 8pm. I was still in a tremendous

> amount of pain and the nurse kept telling me to push the button on

my

> PCA. Finally, and thank god, Dr. Rabkin came in and ordered a shot

> for me. After that, it was smooth sailing. My husband came in and

a

> couple friends stopped in to visit but I just wanted to conk out.

>

> The next morning I kept asking to get up, I wanted to walk and get

my

> catheter out. The nurses wouldn't let me. Finally Dr. Rabkin came

> and sdaved my day again. He took out the catheter himself and

helped

> me sit up on the side of the bed. Getting out of bed that first

time

> was the hardest thing, but after that it just got easier.

>

> The leak test was also a nightmare. The tech was in a very big

hurry

> and kept telling me to drink, drink! this really nasty, horrible

> contrast stuff. EVery time I took a sip I would heave several

> times. I nver threw it back up but it hurt my stomach badly. She

> also kept ramming the x-ray films down my back and was jerking me

> around alot. I was so glad when that was over. The reults came

back

> fine and so I was allowed to have a little ice water and some jellow

> that night.

>

> The rets of my stay was uneventuful. The nurses at CPMC were really

> nice. My IV went bad again and was leaking into my arm. It swelled

> up huge! So they took it out on Sunday and started a new one.

> Sunday night I stopped using the PCA and went to taking oral

> painkillers.

>

> I'm feeling really great now and trying to drink my water. I am

> going really slowly on the food front. I had only some jello today

> and a couple bites of yogurt.

>

> Oh, the other great thing! I gained something like 20 lbs in the

> hospital. The nurse said it is from all the fluids they overloaded

> me with, but still!!

>

> Well, thats all for now. Take care!

>

> Amy Y.

> Fremont, CA

> Post-OP!! July 6, 2001

> Rabkin/Jossart