SURGERY DAY!!!

Feb 18, 2011

Surgery Completed I had my surgery yesterday, the final days leading up to the surgery had me going through many feelings that I really didn't think would come up. There is the normal anxiety and want to just get it over, but then I realized this is a major surgery with a potential (very small) of something very bad happening, it had me scrambling at the last minute to make sure all life business was in order in case something did happen so the family would be protected. After all that was taken care of it was just time to go and get it done. I was lucky to have my wife by my side the whole day as it all started by going to the hospital at 5AM, by 5:15 they had me in a prep room gowned up going over all the good old medical records and getting fully singed in. Got the IV in and got to spend some time with the wife before they moved me into the pre-stage room for surgery. When they moved me into the Pre-stage room, they again reviewed what would happen in the procedure, My Doctor Dr. Ki H O came by to check everything he's not much of a talker but he is one of the best Bariatric surgeons around based on feedback and results. I'd rather have a thinker then a talker do the surgery. Then the Assisting Surgeon Dr. Thomas Hirair came by to run through the surgery much more of a talker and explained what I would be going through.. The two doctors make a great team from this patients perspective. finally the anesthesiologist Dr. Dan came by and reviewed what my allergies are assuring me I'd be out pretty quick once I got in the surgical room. Great doctor very comforting in letting me know this "wasn't his first rodeo and I'd be just fine" Always good to be reassured.... And of course all the nurses at St. Francis medical center in Federal Way WA were also awesome.... by 7:15 they were pushing me in the surgical room, it was pretty interesting very high tech from anything I had seen before, they wheeled me in and had me move onto the surgical table, I could see the table holding all the tools they were going to use, wish I could have got a picture because there were some wild looking things. Once I was settled on the table Dr. Dan appeared and said he was going to give me something to relax... In less than 3 seconds I was "OUT, GONE, GOODBY" All I remember... The next thing that I remember was slowly waking up at 10:08 seeing a clock on the wall with a nurse saying my name saying "you need to wake up and focus on your breathing, they next 30 or 50 minutes were just that where I was dozing in and out being told to come to and focus on my breathing... Being a CPAP guy, my oxygen levels drop quickly if I am not awake or on my CPAP.. Once I was steady and breathing on my own well, they transferred me to the recovery room where I spend the rest of the day and night with my family around me the most all day. I was shocked to not have had much pain at all, I have seven holes in my stomach that cause great pain in certain positions but other than that I don't feel any pain inside of me which is a great surprise.  I was very focused to make sure I did everything I had read about before surgery day, to make sure as soon as they asked me to get out of bed I did and walked every two house during the hospital stay, drank my 80 ounces of liquids via one ounce cups at three sips each. I spent most of the time dosing in and out of sleep and was ready to go home by 10AM Friday (Today), got home and have felt really good, taking it easy and continuing to stay focused on the breathing and drinking the 80 oz's three small sips at a time out of 1 oz cups....  That has been my experience so fare... I am so very thankful for the support of my wife and kids... They have been awesome....

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