I was so surprised when the surgeon told me what the surgery would entail. The plan was to wrap the top part of my stomach around my esophagus to prevent the valve from opening. Food would fall by gravity. No acid reflux or fumes could flow back into my lungs causing the disease to flair.
It was to be done laparoscopicly. Five punctures wounds were to be cut in a circular fashion around the belly from just under the breast to the belly button. Air would be pumped in so the organs would be assessable. The stomach would be wrapped around the esophagus. The end.
Well, not quite. I was very nervous to have general anesthesia and was to be on a ventilator during the surgery, the doctor told me that I would spend some time in ICU afterwards as well. This was major surgery.
I went for the pre-op the day before the surgery. The woman collecting the information found my case interesting and took her time with me. She actually heard how nervous I was and brought an anesthesiologist to speak with me. She said that she would note that this was a difficult case and that would kick in a notice to assign a seasoned anesthesiologist. THANK YOU!
The day arrived. They were running late. The IV was started. We waited. The anesthesiologist arrived and was perfect for me. He really read my history, asked me many questions and reminded me that I would wake up intubated, as it would take more time than the surgery for the anesthesia to clear my blood. The hope was to transfer me to ICU with enough drugs on board so I wouldn’t remember being intubated.
That didn’t work. ICU was booked so I woke up in the pre-op room still intubated. They untied my hands. Lying in bed with a tube down my throat felt like I was being suffocated. Awful feeling. He said that they were going to remove the tube in a few minutes and knocked me out. I remember violently gagging as it was removed.
Later, he asked me questions and said, “Damn, I didn’t give you enough drugs. You shouldn’t remember that.” As they went to move me to ICU many hours later, the moving of the bed caused me to be nauseous. No way was I allowed to retch, as it would pull the new stitches. IV meds helped within minutes.
If you have never spent some time in ICU, let me share that it is not a place for rest. I never slept. The ratio is one nurse to one patient and I was monitored constantly. I was in quite a bit of pain and the night male nurse and I bonded. He was marvelous and we hugged goodbye after his 12-hour shift.
The new nurse arrived and asked if I could get out of bed into a chair. Thanks to the muscles I have developed in rehab, I hopped out of bed. My stomach muscles were really tender so I had to use just my arm and leg muscles. “That’s it! You are too well to stay in ICU,” she said. It took ten hours before they had a room for me.
They almost let me go home from ICU after the first day until they realized that I had not had water or food. They needed to check the plumbing before I was allowed to leave.
The nurse took Michael aside and asked that he get some dinner then gave him my new room number. This would allow the new nurse on the floor to get me settled in.
As they wheeled me into the new room, my eyes grew wide. The bathroom looked like a spa, the window from the 13th floor look out on a world famous view but the real kicker grabbed my attention immediately.
I started to laugh! I told the intake nurse, “When my husband sees that 42” HD TV, he is never going home!” It was magnificent.
Michael walked into the room, took one look at the TV then noticed that the chair pulled out into a bed. “Hmmm, I could stay all night!” He stayed until around 10:00 then headed home so he could head back to spring me from the place in the morning.
One thing that Michael has always done on every discharge day is to bring fresh bakery cookies to the nurse’s station and personally thanks them for taking care of me. I love that he does that.
Next: Trouble with the Surgery
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