Getting Ready for the SurgeryNotice with the nurses how yellow I am.
This was the day of the surgery. And I'm writing so long after the fact, so my memory may be a little fuzzy. It sure will be fuzzy for the next several days, but I'll give it a try.
The time we were to be there was about 8:30. I had to fast and not have anything to drink after midnight. We got to the right area and there was a room all waiting for me. Changed into a gown and my clothes were spirited away in a red plastic U of U travel bag. I talked to more people and filled out more paperwork. An IV was started into my hand and pretty soon a couple of men came in to insert an epidural into my spine for the pain meds. It went in between the vertebrae. There was some waiting for the operating room to be made ready, as this was surgery day and I suppose they were scheduled just one after another. When it was my turn, maybe about 11 a.m. or so, the started something in the IV to make me sleepy and I can remember being pushed down the hall, but not ever seeing the operating room.
I woke up "later" in the special care area of the 5th floor and pretty soon learned that they had not done the expected Whipple procedure. When Dr. Mulvihill got inside, he found that the tumor on the pancreas had spread some small spots onto my liver so it would not have been the right surgery to do. Instead they took out my gall bladder and did a biliary bypass to correct the obstruction of the bile duct and sewed me back up. This was much less radical that the original planned surgery and only took a couple of hours instead of the 5 or 6 that they said in the beginning.
Besides the epidural and IV, I had a tube inserted into the artery in my neck that must have gone nearly to my heart, in case they needed to draw blood, or give me medicine that way in a hurry. And a catheter. There was also a drainage tube in my stomach with a plastic pouch to collect the stuff. That was drained several times a day.
Beverly and Brent, Curtis and Debbie and Betty were all there when I woke up. Although I have no real recollection of conversations, I know there were. The surgeon came in with several other doctors and explained what they had done. From then on there were nurses and doctors coming in nearly continually for one thing or another it seemed and it was really hard to get any rest. I would no sooner doze off and there was someone else there wanting blood or temperature or something. They had me get up pretty soon, whether today or tomorrow I'm not sure now.
The time we were to be there was about 8:30. I had to fast and not have anything to drink after midnight. We got to the right area and there was a room all waiting for me. Changed into a gown and my clothes were spirited away in a red plastic U of U travel bag. I talked to more people and filled out more paperwork. An IV was started into my hand and pretty soon a couple of men came in to insert an epidural into my spine for the pain meds. It went in between the vertebrae. There was some waiting for the operating room to be made ready, as this was surgery day and I suppose they were scheduled just one after another. When it was my turn, maybe about 11 a.m. or so, the started something in the IV to make me sleepy and I can remember being pushed down the hall, but not ever seeing the operating room.
I woke up "later" in the special care area of the 5th floor and pretty soon learned that they had not done the expected Whipple procedure. When Dr. Mulvihill got inside, he found that the tumor on the pancreas had spread some small spots onto my liver so it would not have been the right surgery to do. Instead they took out my gall bladder and did a biliary bypass to correct the obstruction of the bile duct and sewed me back up. This was much less radical that the original planned surgery and only took a couple of hours instead of the 5 or 6 that they said in the beginning.
Besides the epidural and IV, I had a tube inserted into the artery in my neck that must have gone nearly to my heart, in case they needed to draw blood, or give me medicine that way in a hurry. And a catheter. There was also a drainage tube in my stomach with a plastic pouch to collect the stuff. That was drained several times a day.
Beverly and Brent, Curtis and Debbie and Betty were all there when I woke up. Although I have no real recollection of conversations, I know there were. The surgeon came in with several other doctors and explained what they had done. From then on there were nurses and doctors coming in nearly continually for one thing or another it seemed and it was really hard to get any rest. I would no sooner doze off and there was someone else there wanting blood or temperature or something. They had me get up pretty soon, whether today or tomorrow I'm not sure now.
