10/14/22 - Surgery day!
I did a lot of reading leading up to my surgery this morning 🌄
I finally got a tubal laparoscopy ("tubes tied").
I stopped eating the evening before, and had a cup of iced tea a few hours before my check in time the morning of my surgery.
I packed some stuff in my purse - contact lenses, paper work, etc.
Anyways, my friend picked me up and stayed with me until I was checked in to my room.
My eyes popped out of my head when I was shown an $4k itemized bill (should be $0 but insurance companies are shady so 😮💨). Worst case scenario, I do have enough covered in my HSA but I will hang on to my money as much as possible.
The nurse took my vitals, did a pregnancy test and then prepped my hand for the IV. She also warmed up my legs with this inflatable plastic blanket to keep blood circulation going.
Then someone else ran an EKG check on me. Shortly afterwards, I met my anesthesiologist team who were confused why I was given the EKG test done ($$$$) since my health/vitals etc are excellent minus being overweight. I signed another consent form.
My Dr popped in briefly to answer any last minute questions. I took out my contacts and then I was injected with a mild sedative. I was wheeled into the operating room.
I took a few deep breaths from the mask placed over my face and was out.
Woke up to a nurse waking me up in a different room. The staff put my contacts back in before I woke up but my eyesight was super blurry. Eventually the nurse took out my breathing tube and sat me up a bit in the hospital bed.
After a little while my vision adjusted. I gradually drank a lot of water and had a couple containers of apple sauce. I tried to eat saltine crackers but they dried out my mouth even worse. At least I knew I could stomach solid food though. My nurse also gave me a dose of stronger pain meds since I still had to go fill a prescription after leaving the hospital.
During my surgery, my doctor drained a cyst on my one of my ovaries and sent my removed fallopian tubes and cyst material to pathology.
She also removed my nexplanon (implant hormonal birth control). I think it was bandaged too tight during my surgery or something. I had numbness from my left hand down to my elbow. It most likely had been wrapped like that for at least a couple hours. The nurse quickly removed the bandage completely and when the numbness didn't change, she called my doctor but she didn't come over.
I changed back into my clothes and looked at my stitches. I had some bleeding. One incision is inside my belly button and 2 are on my lower stomach. Overall, I felt pretty good but I was on pain meds so 🤷
My friend arrived to pick me up and he went over the post op instructions with her. My friend drove the car around and my nurse wheeled me out to the curb. Walking was fine. Felt mostly normal besides the cotton mouth.
Got my prescription and stopped off at subway on the way home. I ate a lot and then had more food once home. No issues. I fed the pets and my friend walked my puppy for me since she pulls hard and likes to jump on me.
I started my cycle of Tylenol and ibuprofen and set alarms on my phone.
My friend left and I read a magazine on the couch for awhile. The numbness in my hand went away while at the pharmacy but I still feel numb from the middle of my inner forearm to my elbow. Maybe short term nerve damage?
Shuffled downstairs to pick up a package before crawling into bed 😴
I know from my wisdom teeth surgery that the pain gets worse as the days pass so we'll see how the rest of my recovery progresses!
Hopefully my details help others considering sterilization 😀
10/14/22