I'm On the Other Side !

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone !!!

I'm happy to report that I am now officially on the other side !

I had my surgery on Wednesday 9/13, I was Dr. Rutledge's first case.

Peggy J. from Tallahassee was right behind me ! Let me first

say that Dr. Rutledge was WONDERFUL ! He was so funny in clinic and

very informative ! I had to laugh when he came over to me right

before surgery and said.. " Good Morning Sunshine ! " and then

squeezed my big toe..LOL...I suddenly got flash backs of all of you

that said that is what he said.

Thanks to 's website and the pictorial tour I was recognizing

things in NC and helped me find my way ! I thought that NC was

absolutely beautiful.

I had the surgery at 8:30 and I belive my surgery was under 30

minutes, not sure of exactly how long. My husband said that Dr.

Rutledge came out after surgery and told him all of my vitals were

steady during the surgery and my insides looked really good, so I was

sent to recovery.

I dont remember being in recovery, but they said I woke up just fine

and they brought me to my room. I had a private perfect size room,

and I only remember waking up in there and being EXTREMLY thirsty.

The nurse (and just to tell you EVERYONE at Durham Regional was

WONDERFUL...I had the BEST care there. My every need was attended to

right away) Ok...back to my story...

So I only remember waking up in my room. The nurse said it was ok to

start on some ice chips, so my husband gave me a few. Now to go back

a step.... My IV was put in my left wrist, which was not a problem

during surgery because I was strapped down like a " T " , but once I

got to recovery, it became a problem because when I sleep, I turn my

wrists " in " ..which ended up pinching the IV and caused the fluides to

not go thru.

When I started eating ice chips I began to " heave " . It was very

hard, very violent, and very unproductive...it was " dry " which was

very frustrating for me. After doing this for about 10 min, I

finally got down some water...thinking it would help...NOT. I then

vomited really hard and some blood came out.. NOW>...this is normal

from what I was told...sometimes during the operation a bit of blood

might collect in the stomach, and I guess your body does not like old

blood...so it will do what it can to get it out...either UP or

DOWN...Well not much was going down...so it came up. My husband got

really worried and was pressing the nurses button at about 100 times

a second...they said.. " can I help you? " My husband, in his calmest

voice said..My wife is throwing up blood....I need you NOW!!!

~smile~ He was sooo wonderful throughout this whole surgery. They

all came in very quickly and realized that I was not getting any

fluids in my IV because I was pinching it shut. So they immediately

put it in my forearm and I instantly stopped vomiting. I was up

walking a few hours from then and got better every second. I was

released on Thursday at 10:00am, and went back to the hotel. I was

so very happy to meet Peggy ...what an absolute doll baby !! She is

a beautiful..on the inside and the outside !

As of now I am still feeling a bit queasy every now and again. I

noticed the more I keep busy, the less I notice it. I am hoping that

it does not last very long, and I will be better soon. I am having

a hard time knowing when Im hungry and when i'm full ...so I am

afraid to eat anything. I'm kinda souped out but I am making myself

eat. I had 1 saltine cracker and two teaspoons of soup all day

yesterday.

I was hoping that some of you post ops would be able to give me some

ideas of things to have during this first 2 weeks.

Well anyway...its not the most eventful story...but thanks to God and

to Dr. Rutledge, I am ok.

To all of you Post-Ops...I am sure I will be asking advice from you

periodically...

To all of you pre-ops, especially Cathy in Lenoir (sp?) I will

continue to pray for you to have your dance with Dr. Rutledge.!

Thanks for listening to this long winded story !

Sincerely,

in Fl.