Surgery Recap

That was interesting. As mentioned before, I had surgery on Wednesday to excise a mass from my right leg. The surgery was scheduled for 11:15AM, with the prep supposedly starting at 8:15AM. Naturally, we left all sorts of time to allow for traffic, so we actually ended up getting to the hospital at about 7:45. And boy howdy, was I hungry. I tell ya, I understand the need for the fasting before surgery, but I sure don't like it!

The hospital staff was fairly quick at getting me checked in and into the prep room, where I ditched my lovely duds for a stylish hospital gown. And though it wasn't my best look, I still think I made it work. And then they left us alone. For a while. And we watched Spongebob. Finally, at about 9:00, my wife had to go to work (at which point, still nobody had come to talk to us). And then I was left alone. For a while. And I watched Spongebob. And I laughed...

Finally, the nurse came and gave me the IV. Now, having never had an IV before, this was kinda cool. I'm one of those folks who gets some weird sort of kick out of watching needles going into my skin. And for the last few weeks, I've had plenty of opportunity to see it. I think I'm over it now. But they got me going on the drip, and then took me to the holding pen.

This was definitely a new experience for me... beds lined up in many rows, all waiting for surgeries. Most everyone had a visitor or four with them. The group next to me was taking cell phone calls (not so much allowed), and trying to get even more people back there! That would have been ugly. Luckily, I wasn't there for long. Just long enough to verify what I was there for (and emphasize RIGHT leg), talk to the doc (who noticed that said mass seemed smaller than before), and talk to the anesthesiologist (who had done some work in Maryland before, and offered good advice on where to get good crabs in Jacksonville). They took me to the O.R., strapped me down, and the anesthesiologist knocked me ri...

... I awoke as I was being wheeled into another room for recovery. Another large holding pen. And I was still feeling goofy. I looked at the clock on the wall -- it was 11:15! Hey -- I'm supposed to be having surgery now! Get me in there! Oh, wait... they were too efficient. I'm OK with that. My leg was wrapped up, and I was feeling *no* pain. At all. They told me that I was going to get a visit from the rehab folks to teach me how to walk on crutches. And then they took me to the next room -- which was my final recovery room. I called my lovely bride and let her know I was OK. I guess I was still loopy, since she said something along the lines of "That's great, honey... why don't you call me back when you make sense?" Note: we're still waiting on this to occur.

Finally, the crutch guy comes in and attempts to teach me how to walk with them. I pick it up quickly, but my dressing falls off and I'm finally allowed to see what the doc did to me. Nine staples in my leg. I look like frickin' Frankenstein. Wanna see a picture? It's cool!

(Not for the sqeamish)

After that, my lovely bride came and took me home. And I laid on the couch. And I took hydrocodone. And I slept. And I woke up, ate some soup, took some hydrocodone, watched Lost, and went back to sleep. The next morning, I woke up, took some hydrocodone, and went back to sleep. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Finally, this morning (Friday), I was able to take a shower. And I had to change my dressing. This is actually the point where I took the picture. It really doesn't look that bad, but it's neat. And things are looking better. I'm able to put weight on it at this point. I was able to drive myself to work today (although I won't be going on any long road trips this weekend). I'm still using the crutches for some support, and to be able to move around faster, but I won't be needing them all that much longer. So, I have high hopes that this won't last that long.

Also, I was supposed to go on a business trip next week, and I was able to get out of that. So, hopefully, I can move my post-op up a little bit and I can finally find out what the hell it was they took out of me and I can move on and get back to hobbling/walking/running (in that order). I got things to do and races to see!

On on to recovery!!!