9/9/2016 0 Comments Lap DayToday was lap day! I was genuinely excited for the surgery. I felt like we were going to get some answers and boy did we. I should probably preface this blog entry by saying I took a Percocet an hour or so ago so it may be somewhat incoherent.
Where to start?! Yesterday, I got my pre surgery call. The lady was very helpful and answered questions I didn’t even know I had. She explained we would go in and sign some (more) papers and then pretty much be whisked away to start medicines. She told me not to shave anything with a razor because that can increase your risk for infection (who knew?!) She explained I would have a catheter and some other stuff. I could potentially have blue urine for a while if they had to use a dye to look inside my Fallopian tubes (Unfortunately, I didn't get blue pee..kind of looking forward to that.) She also explained that it wouldn't be unusual if my surgery was rescheduled at any moment (YIKES). There was a person on the schedule before me so if that surgery went over mine would be pushed back. If I had a fever or anything like that I would have to be rescheduled as well. It was really helpful knowing all this stuff ahead of time. So we show up a little before 8:00 for 9:30 surgery. I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight. I really thought the eating part would be the hardest, but I was so thirsty! We really didn’t have to wait too long before they whisked us away to get hooked up to an IV. She had no trouble finding my non-existent veins. The worst part was realizing I’ve gained around 20 pounds thanks to all those lovely meds since this whole infertility thing started. The first nurse was very lovely. She gave me some socks and a gown and told me to strip down because there would be no dignity today. They gave me a bag for my clothes and let us lock up my valuables. She was funny and nice and made a not so great experience pretty bearable. I sat in a recliner and she told me to relax and feel like I was having a spa day (HA. Never had an IV at the spa….well come to think of it I’ve never been to a spa so I don’t have anything to compare it to.) We sat there for a while with the saline IV. She brought me some anti-nausea and an antacid and let me have the tiniest sip of water. What a tease. Later she also put an anti-nausea patch of some kind behind my ear to help with the anesthesia. We sat there for over an hour so. We then met with the anesthesiologist who was also very kind and took his time explaining things. I have TMJ problems, a neck issue, and have had Bell’s palsy (it’s been a long hard road) and he made sure to accommodate those issues. Then we met with the surgeon again and he answered more questions. Finally, the OR nurse came in. She was extremely sweet and explained everything that I would experience in the operating room. She explained it was a very uninviting atmosphere, but not to fret. She told me they would put plastic wraps around my legs for circulation, I would have electrodes for monitoring, they would have to strap me to the gurney. They would also put warm blankets and a thing called a bear hug on me. I don’t really remember what that was… haha She walked me to the OR and pointed Matt out to the waiting room. She was right. It was very uninviting. The anesthesiologist made sure my head and neck was comfortable and put the mask on me. The crew was talking and making jokes and put the oxygen mask on me. I was about to make a joke and ask the doctor if he got a good night’s sleep the night before. I have no idea if I actually made this joke or not because I was pretty much out immediately. When I woke up I had absolutely no idea where I was. For a good 30 seconds I forgot I was in a hospital and thought I had taken a nap on the couch. The first thing I remember saying was something along the lines of “I thought I was taking a nap on the couch!” I was slightly panicked until I remembered what was going on. My new nurse came in and laughed and said, “You’re not on the couch yet but you will be soon.” He was extremely nice. I can’t believe how wonderful every single person was. He had great bedside manner and was asking me if I was from the area or if I had traveled. He said he is constantly shocked by how many people come from all over the place to come for laparoscopic surgery here. I really do feel so fortunate to be so close to a fertility clinic even though I don’t always have a good experience. He then explained that they found an ectopic pregnancy. This means technically I was pregnant, but the embryo implanted in my Fallopian tube instead of my uterus. These are not viable pregnancies and are extremely dangerous. It’s the leading cause of death in pregnant women. I immediately had so many questions he couldn’t answer. I got a little teary and started breathing heavy, but he calmed me down and reassured me it was the anesthesia. Those feelings passed quickly. A few minutes after I woke up the nurse gave me some water, Sprite, and a plate of animal crackers, graham crackers. I was totally shocked how dry my mouth was. I ate an animal cracker and it just stuck to my tongue and cheeks. It was so weird! I drank a bunch of water to try and wash it down and got a little queasy so the nurse gave me more anti-nausea meds. All I wanted was Matt. And the answers to my questions. I apparently came out of the anesthesia really well and seemed like I came out faster than they expected. Three different people came by to ask me if I move around in my sleep. I do move around in my sleep a lot. The anesthesiologist called me a “Wooley worm.” Apparently I was so fascinating to him, it made him want to do a study on people who move in their sleep and how they come out of anesthesia…. Haha! They brought Matt back in. He had pictures of all my insides. Matt explained the doctor had told him that I had an ectopic pregnancy in the tube that was messed up on the HSG. It was a naturally conceived “pregnancy.” So that is actually really optimistic news. It’s insane that after all this time of trying I had an ectopic pregnancy while on birth control. They said there was no way it was a result of the IUI because the IUI was too long ago. One of the nurses did ask if I wanted to take a pregnancy test prior to surgery. I “knew” for sure that I was not pregnant so I signed a waiver saying I didn’t want to take the pregnancy test. I’m kind of glad that I didn’t know I had the ectopic pregnancy. I think it would’ve been harder news to swallow if there had been a glimmer of hope that I was pregnant. Ectopic pregnancies are not viable so they would’ve done the same thing anyway. As a result of the ectopic pregnancy they did remove that Fallopian tube. That is pretty sad, but it seemed like they would’ve removed that tube with or without the ectopic pregnancy. I had been having some bad cramps over the last couple of weeks but I just thought it was the birth control. It wasn’t a constant pain my any means. At one point I even wondered if I was getting a kidney stone again, but never did I think I had an ectopic pregnancy. I had some break through bleeding too so I had called the doctor’s office. Ectopic pregnancy never crossed my mind. Part two of the results. I had stage 3 endometriosis. It was all over both ovaries and was even on my bladder and in other places. It is mind boggling that I really had no symptoms of endometriosis at all – other than the whole not being able to conceive thing. The doctor seemed very optimistic about our chances of getting pregnant now. He had previously explained that endometriosis will kill the sperm before it ever gets to where it needs to go. I didn’t know or understand that until he explained it in our pre op appointment. Also, janky tubes can decrease your likelihood of getting pregnant too. So by actually removing it, it can increase your chances of getting pregnant. Totally counter-intuitive to me. So as far as after surgery goes, I think I’m doing pretty well. I was so sleepy when I got home. I have pretty much been asleep all day. I slept on the couch. Our sweet little Maxwell came to check on me as soon as I got on the couch. He was sniffing my hair and patting my head with his little paw. He likes to sleep between my belly and the back of the couch. I invited him down, but he would put one paw down and then bring it back up. He did this a couple of times before he decided to sleep behind my knees. Matt had to go to the store to buy soup after he dropped me off at the house. I literally just bought a ton of groceries yesterday and it never occurred to me to buy soup. There’s something about being sick that brings out my inner poor kid. I wanted Campbell’s chicken and stars and chicken noodle soup. Nothing fancy…haha When I woke up I ate a whole can of soup! I was starving. Matt made me another can and I ate about half of that before I passed out again. Maxwell came and let me spoon him. Matt said Maxwell cuddled me for a good four hours. Cats are way too sweet. Some of the things I’ve been surprised by after surgery. I could not get over how dry my mouth was. It took a while for it to not be so dry. Another thing that shocked me was that my throat is SO sore from the breathing tube. I’m not lying when I say my throat hurts worse than the incisions (for now.) It almost feels like strep throat or something. I was a little worried at first with my bladder. It was so hard to use the bathroom. I felt like I needed to pee so badly, but could not push the pee out. It took me a three or four trips to the bathroom before I felt like I was peeing somewhat normally. I felt like my pee muscles were broken! It seems to be on the path of normalcy now. Hopefully that cures up soon. As far as my pain goes, I’m feeling pretty good. I’m supposed to take 800mg of Ibuprofen every 5 hours whether I feel like I need or not. I can take the Percocet every four hours. I’ve only needed one so far so I feel like that’s good. I’ve pretty much been asleep all day until a couple of hours ago and now I feel fine. Some other post op things I didn’t know about was that I can’t shower for 48 hours and I am covered in iodine cleaner. It feels pretty gross. I can’t take a bath or submerge myself in water “for a long time.” They didn’t really specify that. I also can’t drive a vehicle for a whole week because if I get into an accident the steering wheel airbag will do bad things to my guts. So I know that is going to drive me crazy. I’m also supposed to get up and move around as much as I can to get the gas out of my body and prevent blood clots. So, overall I think I’m doing pretty well!! I’m really shocked I haven’t fallen back asleep yet. I wanted to make sure to thank everyone for your prayers, good thoughts, text messages, Facebook messages, care packages, cards, and gorgeous flowers. I’m one lucky gal. If you’ve sent a card in the last little bit we haven’t checked our actual mailbox in a couple of days (we are lazy slackers.) We are going to have our post op appointment in a couple of weeks to talk about details of the surgery and next steps! I am looking forward to it!!
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Heather Joyce
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