Recovery

It's an odd experience waking up from surgery. When I went under, they didn't have me count backwards from 100 (my brother and Dad both did this with their surgeries). The anethesiologist just said I might feel some stinging around my IV (I never did) - the next thing I remember is someone saying my name and telling me that the surgery was over. And I could feel I had a bandage over my tummy. I was thinking yay - it's over - I've gotten it done.

Then, my next memory is a nurse telling me that my hair looked great even after being under the surgery cap. Talk about a good hair day! Gee whiz. It looked good even after surgery! OK, maybe she says that to everyone.

I remember looking at the clock and seeing it was 10:30. So I'd only been out for about an hour and a half. I must have fallen back to sleep because the next time I remember looking at the clock it was 11:00. The nurse was raising up my bed so I was more upright. She asked if I was ready for a snack and I told her not yet. I coughed some and that hurt. She asked me if I wanted some pain medication and I said yes. She gave it to me through the IV and told me that I needed to have a snack and then they would give me something more long-lasting.

I had a nice little snack of some saltines and Sprite. Just what mom would have given me when I was little and wanted to start me back on food after being sick.

At about 11:30 they asked if I was ready to move to the chair. I was! Slowly I sat up and then they very slowly walked me over to the lounge chair. They asked if they could get someone from the waiting room. Yes - Drake!

By noon I was dressed, seated in a wheelchair and being whisked out to our car in the garage. All and all pretty amazing. They did want me to go to bed right when I got home to take at least a 2-hour nap. That was no problem at all.

It felt great today to be back to work. All things considered, I'm very happy with my recovery. And it feels great to have the surgery done, the hernia fixed.