Being a Patient

I had surgery yesterday.  It had been 3 months since I started the hormonal therapy so it was time to get an update on whether we were making any progress with beating this cancer.  I was nervous all week, not about the surgery (well a little about the surgery) but mostly about having surgery done in my hospital where I know all of the staff in the operating rooms – the nurses, anesthesia residents, nurse anesthetists, attending anesthesiologists, etc.  We had planned for the surgery to be in the outpatient operating rooms which are smaller with less staff and I thought they would be a little more private.  I picked which of my attendings I wanted to be my anesthesiologist and she had agreed.  

The surgical procedure – a hysteroscopy (they put saline into the uterus and look with a camera) and dilation and curettage (D&C, they scrape the lining of the uterus) really isn’t that big of a deal as far as surgeries go.  But when it is you, of course it is a big deal.  It only takes about 30-45 minutes but the surgery is scheduled for longer to include anesthesia time.  Sometimes this can be done under heavy sedation but sometimes general anesthesia.  I had been instructed to stop the megace one week before the procedure.  

Three days before the surgery, I received an email from my doctor’s surgical scheduler that my surgery had been moved to one of the main operating room suites.  I was totally upset and frustrated.  Three months before we had planned for the outpatient operating rooms and I had just gotten used to that idea.  I asked her if it would be possible to move it back to the outpatient ORs but ultimately that wasn’t possible.  Also, because they moved me from an early morning case to a late morning case, the anesthesiologist I had chosen was not able to do my anesthesia.  She had offered to come in on her nonclinical day just to do my case but had an appointment in the early afternoon that she couldn’t cancel.  I understood, but this was just more frustrations to deal with the day before surgery.  

My middle sister had been planning to visit for the weekend and when she found out that my surgery was Friday, she came on Thursday night instead so that she could support us and help out if we needed anything.  

Friday morning I think my hubby was more nervous than I was.  I am sure I would freak out if he was having surgery also.  We had to be at the hospital at 9:30.  He went out and bought me People and US Weekly so that I could read all the newest gossip and distract myself while we waited for the procedure.  We parked in my parking garage and checked in on the patient side of the ORs.  I had been on the other side hundreds of times but didn’t even know where to check in as a patient!  

First, they took me back to the prep area by myself.  They took vital signs, had me provide a urine sample to make sure I wasn’t pregnant (sigh…), and had me change into the super cute gown with compression stockings (prevent blood clots) and footie socks.  Then they put a big (!) IV into my left arm and finally let my hubby and sister come back.  Thank goodness for gossip magazines because it had probably been an hour before they were allowed back. People I knew were walking by so I kept requesting that they close curtain for a little more privacy.  We spoke with the anesthesia team (another attending who I felt very comfortable with and a nice female nurse anesthetist), the surgeons, and the nurse from the OR.  About another hour after my hubby and sister had come back (I had been through US Weekly, People, and a lot of games of solitaire on my phone by then), they wheeled me back to the OR, after giving me medicine to make me less anxious and a little loopy.  I remember moving onto the OR table but that’s about it until I woke up in the recovery room, after general anesthesia.

I had a nice nurse in the recovery room.  I woke up with some crampy pain but he gave me pain meds that helped quickly.  No nausea though!  He brought my husband back pretty soon after I had woken up.  Apparently my hubby explained everything the surgeon had told him but I don’t remember much of it at that point.  He stayed for a little while, and then left to let my sister come back.  I moved out of the stretcher into a recliner and they let me have apple juice and crackers.  

My sister and my hubby switched again.  The anesthesiologist and the nurse anesthetist both came to check on me.  The surgeon came to tell me about the procedure also.  About an hour later, I had peed (required before I could leave), drank 2 cups of apple juice, and ate a whole bunch of crackers.  I wasn’t bleeding too much and was only a little groggy.  One of my co-residents came to sign me out of the recovery room and my hubby went to get the car while I got changed.  I was annoyed that it is a requirement that post-surgical patients leave in a wheelchair (I didn’t want to wheel by people I knew down in the lobby!) but I got through it without passing too many familiar faces and hubby was waiting in the car.  

The surgeon told us that everything went really well.  There was some large polypoid tissue that she expects in patients who have been on progesterone (my megace).  She showed us pictures.  There was some bleeding but it stopped easily.  She told me to restart the megace the next morning.  She would get the results in the next week and they would discuss my case at their next tumor board conference the following Friday.  I should schedule an appointment for the following Wednesday or Thursday to get the results and the plan.  

So we have to wait a week and half for the results…  I am tempted to peek on our electronic patient record system before then but I will hold myself back.  I will keep you posted!