The adventure actually started on Friday, the day of my pre-op appointment. I assumed it would be a quick one - signing consent forms, maybe bloodwork. I was wrong. After well over an hour in the doctor's office because of a long wait and lots of paperwork to sign, he told me that I had to go downstairs to Northside's outpatient surgery registration to fill out MORE paperwork and have blood work done there. Mind you, Emma's at my parents' house and I'm on a ticking clock (she's needing to nurse every 2-3 hours or so during the day). I FINALLY get called back and do my paperwork. However, the VERY lovely (can you sense my sarcasm?) woman behind the desk informs me that they are very backed up and I'll have to go to the HOSPITAL to have the blood drawn! I told her there was no way. I didn't have that much time. She had no sympathy for me, but told me I could come back on Monday for the blood work, which I did. Not the most convenient thing in the world - it's a good 30 minute trip from our house.
Anyway, that happened. Yesterday morning we had to wake up at 6:00 to get ourselves and Emma ready. Mom got to our house at 7:00 and we ran through the basics of her schedule. Emma had her first bottle with Brad the night before, just to make sure she would take it. A lot of babies won't once they've gotten very well established with breast feeding. Luckily, she was a champ. So the bottles are defrosted and made, we're packed up and ready and out the house at 7:15.
We got to the hospital just after 8:00 and checked in. We were sent to the surgery floor and I was hooked up to the IV. To be honest, it was the only part I was dreading. It was my second (first was when I had Emma - I was stuck a few times and the floor supervising nurse had to be called to do it!). Luckily, the nurse was nice and only had to stick me once. This was after she told me about a diabetic patient who was currently being knocked out so that they could try to get an IV started - IN HER NECK! Scary. The IV wasn't bad at all and they also gave me a shot of versed and something by mouth to make me really relaxed. We waited for quite some time. Naturally, after over an hour of laying down hooked up to IV fluids, I had to pee. Great timing! Brad had to go with me, which was great. He felt special carrying my IV bag! As soon as we got back in the bed, my doctor came in. Apparently, the surgery before me was in overtime and they were trying to find another operating room. My versed wore off, so they gave me more. That made the waiting a little more fun. :)
They finally came back to take me to the OR around 11:45. Brad headed down to have lunch with his handy dandy hospital pager while I was in surgery. I remember the OR being VERY cold and I remember my doctor rubbing my arm while he leaned up against me in the bed talking to me. I was really calm about the whole thing, which really surprised me. They gave me some gas through a mask and something in my IV and I was out.
The next thing I remember was asking my doctor whether or not I had to lose my ovary. He said yes. I didn't see him because I wasn't NEARLY awake, but I remember that conversation. I was in recovery for about 3 hours. It was hard to wake up - the nurse kept telling me to take deep breaths, which was hard to remember to do! My eyes eventually cleared up and I woke up enough to move to another room with a chair. That's right, a chair. I had to go straight from the bed to a chair, which was hard without my sea legs under me. After awhile Brad showed up. We sat for a few minutes, I had some percocet to top off the 2 doses of morphine I had already had. The pain wasn't bad at all....yet. Brad got me dressed and we were able to leave. We were home by 4:30.
I was able to sit up in bed to pump breastmilk which had to be thrown out because of the anesthesia. That's when Brad handed me the pictures that the doctor gave him of my ovary. Wow. All this time, through countless ultrasounds, we had all been under the impression that the cyst was ON my ovary, which was why we couldn't see the ovary itself. Check out the picture - the cyst was IN the ovary. Looking at the picture, it's obvious why I had to have it removed. The doctor told Brad it was approximately 11 cm in diameter. Had I not gotten pregnant with Emma, we would never have known I had it because I've had no symptoms whatsoever.
As soon as I was able, I got mom to hand Emma to me. I had missed my girl! She looked in my eyes for a couple of seconds and started to cry. It was SO sad. I'm guessing that she could tell that things just weren't right. So naturally, mom and I both started crying with her. I think we all needed the emotional release. She did great with mom. Mom left after we ate dinner and Brad was on call all night. She had another bottle just before bed, which I gave her. Because Emma sleeps next to me, I was able to hear her waking up (turning over to look at her was too painful) and wake Brad up to come get her. The anesthesia was out of my system and I was able to breastfeed her at 1:00 AM. He would wake up and give her to me to nurse, I'd nurse her, and hand her back for him to put back in the bed. It worked well.
Unfortunately, it was overnight that my pain really started to get bad. I'm pretty sore. I have 3 incisions - one in my belly button (the largest) and one on either side. I'm taking my pain pills, which are also the ones that I took when I had Emma, so they're safe for her. Unfortunately, this hurts a lot worse than the pain I had then. The pills take the edge off, but that's all. I'm hoping that this is as bad as it will get. It's manageable. I'm walking a little doubled over. Mom came over today and spent the day with us to take care of Emma. It was so nice. I feel rested. Sore, but rested. We're on our own tomorrow, but we'll be fine. I can feed her and burp her, but it's still painful to walk with her, much less to walk without her! Having her has really made the whole experience a lot more pleasant than it could've been. I have her to hold and snuggle and kiss on. It keeps me from focusing on the pain too much, which is really great.
I'm SO glad to have this all over with. It's out of my life. Fred has left the building. On the plus side, it's not supposed to affect my chances for getting pregnant again at all. The other ovary works overtime to ovulate each month. AND, the one that's left is the one that I ovulated from when I got pregnant with Emma, so we know it works.
Sorry that was such a long and detailed story. I write these blog posts mostly as a journal for Emma when she grows up. I plan to have them made into a book for her eventually and want to have as much detail as possible. Hope you are entertained as well! Be glad you didn't have to live it - just read about it!
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