Recon Part 1

Bright and early check in at the hospital - 6:15am arrival, blah.  Did not get much sleep last night, so I am very tired.  It takes about an hour to check in, then up to the third floor where the nurse takes me to get ready.

About 7:30am, the anesthesiologist comes and sets up the IV.  He first gives me a small shot to numb the area.  Small shot, still has big ouch!  Then he places the IV, which I'm not sure why I got the numbing shot because it hurt a bunch.  And, South Paw wasn't in the room with me this time.  Boo!!  Next, the doctor comes in to confirm the procedure.  He marks the left side of my chest with a purple marker, "Yes."  And we are ready to go.

At 8:15am they wheel me into the operating room.  The nurse introduces me to the rest of the staff in the room.  There is a large table on one side stacked high with implants of all sizes.  They have me move from the gurney to the operating table and hook me up to a bunch of monitors.  And, then I am out.

At 10am, I am back in the post-op room and they are waking me up.  I am in a bunch of pain so the nurse starts giving me morphine in my IV.  My left arm is aching a bunch.  My mom puts on my compression sleeve and gauntlet.  My mouth is super dry.  I am very tired still, so I fall back asleep.  The nurse wakes me up every ten minutes to check my pain level.  It is still at a 10 so she gives me some more morphine.  By the time they are ready to move me, she has given me all the allotted morphine and I'm still in a bunch of pain.  Blah!!

At 11:30am they move me to the recovery room for observation.  It is a very crowded ward and noisy, not much privacy at all.  There is lots of pain still.  I am super thirsty.  They give me water and ice chips.  The water makes me nauseous so I move to the ice chips.  I am super tired still, so I fall asleep again.

About 1pm, I have had enough of the ward and I want to go home.  The ward is very noisy, I cannot rest comfortably.  And someone keeps knocking into my bed.  I buzz the nurse to see what I have to do to go home.  They take me to the bathroom first.  The walk there is dizzying and nauseating.  I get back to my bed and try to eat a little.  Apple sauce, saltines, and water go in and after a couple of minutes comes out.  Argh!!  I am very miserable and just want to go home.

At 2:30pm they discharge me and I'm on my way home.  Yay!!  Home safe, and it is quiet!!  Sleep time.

The operating staff took a picture of the expander that was in my chest.  This was filled with 550ml of saline.  It is not very flexible.

Expander 

The silicone implant they put in.

Implant