Had my second surgery yesterday (a Tuesday). I went to work, like normal (on Monday). Only, I was pretty distracted about having surgery in a facility that I didn’t know anyone. That has NEVER happened to me before. I have had my gallbladder out and had two ERCPs. All at facilities that I worked and knew the people well. My husband stated to me yesterday or the day before, that I like to have control over all situations. Of course I told him that can’t possibly to be true, insert eye roll (all FACTS! All of it!!!). The facility where I was having this done is about 2 1/2 hours away from my home. At this facility they have a place where people can stay if coming from out of town. We had booked a room there the week prior, not sure if we would need it or not. Surgery time are not given out until the day before and that would have been too late to reserve a room. On Monday when I received the phone call informing me that my arrival time would be for 9:30am. We could have stayed home and left early in the morning. I decided that I would feel less anxious if we heading out that night. So we hit the road around 6pm. We got there, checked in, got something to eat and settled in for the night watching some TV. The room reminded me a lot from my Army days, but met our need for a bed for the night. The next day, we got up ready. We are both pretty early raisers, so we had to entertain ourself for a couple of hours. We headed over the surgery center a little early. But looking for a change of scenery. I got checked in and we headed into the waiting room for short time. They took me back to the pre-op bay. I put on my grown and settled into the stretcher. And than the feels came. I didn’t want to be there. I was worried about having another complication. I was feeling very over whelmed about being at this facility to have yet another surgery. My very intuitive husband asked me what was I thinking about at that moment. I told him I didn’t want to be there and proceeded to start to cry. Which of course made him jump up and come give me a hug. I cried for a short time and told him that I was just having a moment. Which he said I was allowed to moments. Than we heard a kid screaming down the hall and I said that he was having a moment as well. Than the nurse came in and got me all ready to go. I had told the nurse that I wanted to go to the bathroom before heading back to the OR. My OR nursing friends know that a code yellow (peeping on the OR table) is no fun for anyone involved and I wanted to prevent that. She said she could make that happen. So around 11 when I was to go in, I told my husband that I was going to go to the bathroom and to help me get the warmer off and unplug my IV pole. Disclaimer!!!! I don’t recommend anyone doing what I did next. I stood by the door of the pre-op bay for a moment to see if one of the nurses would come by. They were very busy. So I put my call light on. Waited probably 1.7 seconds and told my husband that if someone came to the room to just let them know I went to the bathroom. I knew where the bathroom was because I had to use it on arrival for the old pregnancy test (negative of course). So I covered my bum and went to the bathroom. I came back to my room, the call light was still on. I turned it off and got back on the stretcher like nothing every happened (I don’t not recommend doing that. Nurses can get pretty mad if patient do that kind of stuff). About 45 minutes later, they came and brought me into the OR. Going a side tangent again. I have worked in ORs for a long time. I have always been so impressed when the surgeons would be in the room at the head of the bed when the patient was going off to sleep. Not all surgeons do this. Mine did. I will be forever grateful for that.

Let’s take a moment and talk about subconscious stress. I remember being wheeled to the recovery area and saying, ” I need a DNP project. If you guys have anything, let me know.” Do you think I’m stressing about my project or what!!! The next thing I remember is that my husband was at my side, and the nurse told me to take a deep breath. Shortly after, the surgeon told me she had taken two lymph nodes, and the preliminary results looked promising. Soon after, the nurse told me I could if I felt like getting up and dressed and getting out of there. I feel good enough to do that. So the hubs and I left and went to get something to eat. I had been hungry since before we left our room. The nurse had said to try lighter foods to start off with. I wasn’t having it. We started out for Buffalo Wild Wings. On the way there, we passed a Mexican restaurant. I said I was always up for Mexican. So we turned around and went there. I got a plate of nachos and a virgin margarita and enjoyed all of it!!! I had no issues, and it was delicious. Got a refill of ice for my ice pack and hit the road home. We got home, and I settled on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and a fancy drink (sprinkling cherry water, cherry juice, and cherries added in. I needed some cherries in my life). Then the hubs and I watched a movie, and I went to bed. Next on the list is the oncologist appointment at the end of next week to finally get a treatment plan.