For those who didn’t know, the last two months or so marked the beginning of preparations for my surgery. This long process was to remove an annoying lump that started growing somewhere on my body. I’ll spare you the details of where it was, I don’t think you’re that interested in my personal life. :happy: The first two visits to the hospital mainly consisted of a lot of probing from various doctors and nurses who had extremely cold hands. It was only my visits on Thursday and Friday of this week that things started to get interesting. Thursday was the pre-surgical examination, and because I got to leave school around 1:00pm, a little bit too early, I got to go to various stores to buy yummies. I believe that food is the best way to heal the soul after trauma. The only other thing worth mentioning about the examination is this very interesting list I received of what I could and could not do on the day before the surgery.

Which included,

1. Evening prior to surgery: Feed your child regular food for the evening meal and a nighttime snack. Do not feed fried, greasy, or spicy foods as these take longer to digest and can cuase nausea and vomiting during surgery.
2. Clothing: Your child should wear loose, comfortable clothing or pajamas and robe with low heel shoes. Please bring a favorite stuffed animal, toy or blanket. Hospital pajamas will be provided for use during surgery.

Sadly, I’m not sure if I followed these directions too well. If I recall, I had a sweet onion chicken terryiaki sandwich from Subway, some buffalo chicken wings and half a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. Although, I am proud to say that I walked into Children’s Medical Center on the bleary morning of Friday, November 30th in my stripy pajama pants and pink sleep shirt that complimented my fluffy bunny slippers. I had to leave Mr. Wuffles at home however, yes I know I’m so creative when it comes to naming my stuffed animals, because I didn’t want the hospital smell on him. I don’t remember much of what happened or how I got to the waiting room, since I was forced to wake up around 5:20am for the hour drive to Children’s. Basically, I stumbled around following Mum like I was 6 years old again.

After waiting on the wheely bed and changing into my hospital pajamas, I talked to 3 nurses, the anesthesiologist and my surgeon- who had to initial me on the correct side of my body so there wouldn’t be any mistakes. You may think its ridiculous, but mistakes do and will happen in the operating room. I just feel sorry for the poor bloke who wakes up and finds himself sliced open in two places instead of one.

I’m sorry admit that everything else passed in a blur after I was given a pink, bitter, liquid medicine to help with the anxiety. The oh so funny nurse, who gave this to me, kept on rambling that I shouldn’t open my mouth, since all the deep dark secrets I had, HA!, would come spilling out. She then slapped on a heart monitor on my thumb and I was left alone in the room with Mum who started to question me about things that she was curious about. Because I didn’t want to say anything that I’d regret in the morning, I started playing with the monitor, trying to see if I could make my heart rate faster. Too bad I didn’t have a chance to play around too much before another nurse came in and snapped the rails on the bed. The last thing I remember was being pushed out into the hallway.

When I finally woke up again, I was forced to drink a bit of water, which had a difficult time going down. Apparently, a tube had been stuck down my throat that was used for the anesthesia. I suppose this explains the flabby piece of skin that moves up and down whenever I swallow. The next thing I noticed was the IV that was sticking out of my left hand. This was the point where I broke down into baby sobs, according to Mum. But in my defense, I was at a very weak and delusional stage when I woke up. After a few minutes, the monitors on my back and legs (I assume these were placed on my during surgery) were removed and I was free to go home. A wheelchair was brought and a nice lady pushed me down to the valet parking where someone said to me, “I will pray for you!” before we drove off. I’m sure he or she was just trying to be supportive, but that little act of kindness just left me with the feeling that I was going to die. But all worries put aside, I’m sure I’ll be back to my cheery self in a few days with the help of sleep and the hot and sour soup Mum has been buying me. I’m still having troubles swallowing solids, since the flab is preventing me from enjoying them fully.

I think I’ve learned a lot from this experience. Here are some tips for you if you ever have to go through a process similar to mine,

1. Don’t eat too much on the day before, trust me, it’s not worth it.
2. Don’t watch anything too bloody right before bed on the night of surgery, for instance, Heroes. It won’t do you any good to stay up all night thinking of hospital scenes, and ironically, there are a lot of them in the first 2 episodes.
3. The operating bed is actually pretty comfortable. Not like the cold, metal beds that dead people rest on in the morgues. (Much to my surprise.)
4. Don’t worry too much about what goes on in the operating room. Chances are, you won’t even remember anything that happened. It’s just like someone took an eraser and rubbed away those 2 hours of your life. I am pretty disappointed that I don’t remember anything however, since I know that you readers would want to hear all the gruesome details.

Site wise
Most of you might have seen that I have added a small myspace section to the site! Right now, it’s mostly contact tables and comment boxes. But I promise, I do have 2-3 myspace layouts in progress. Please drop me a comment of what you think of the content so far? That would be much appreciated.