Day 3, and PIC warning

First off, there are some pics of me in a not-so pretty-state (no makeup!) AND a couple of photos of my incision. So you have been warned...

I am sitting here with a heating pad on my tummy and some hydromorphone in my system, feeling mellow... So I am feeling well enough to let you all know about my experience so far... Let's start from the beginning...

I didn't need to take anything or do anything other than not eat past midnight on Tuesday. No diuretics yay! Wednesday I woke up, took a shower, and packed my small bag. We got to the hospital where I signed my admittance papers and gave $100 copay. Then I waited for about 15 minutes to go into pre-op. I got my ID bracelet on too.

When we got there I was asked to change into a hospital gown and waited for the nurse. She then came in and gave me my IV, which kind of hurt.

Then my anesthesiologist Dr. Ford came in and explained what he was going to do, which was give me a relaxer, then wheel me in and get the tubes in my throat and put my catheter in. Then Dr. Bankowski came in and said there was a little bit of a wait but I would get into surgery soon enough. Josh and mom were with me the whole time and keeping me at ease.

They had me use an antiseptic wash on my incision area and my, ahem, area. Washing my groin in front of my mom.. good times, good times...

At around 2pm Dr. Ford came back in and gave me a shot through my IV. He said "this will make you feel..." and that was it. I was gone. Josh and mom said I asked them to take pictures for my blog, which I don't remember. The next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery, thinking I had to get up to go to work. I had an oxygen tube in my nose and a bandage on my tummy. I had no nausea at all, but I did get the shivers. My throat hurt from the breathing tube. My catheter was out so I didn't have to deal with that at all. I felt like I had bad cramps for a better part of the day too. I also cried just a little but I didn't feel sad. I guess it was part of the anesthesia side effects.

Then they wheeled me into my room (private room!) and I wondered where Josh and mom were. I was feeling quite woozy. But happy it was done.

Then mom and Josh came in and told me that everything went very well. My fibroid was about 1/3 the size of my uterus. they only found the one and I only lost 20cc's of blood. Dr. Bankowski didn't have to cut through my endometrium, just the top 2 layers of my uterus. I had a morphine drip and was alert but a little loopy. Oh, and I got flowers.

And my new best friend - the water bottle.

Then I slept. A lot. Except for when the nurse would come in to wake me up to take my vitals and give me drugs every 4 hours. I was also insanely hungry when I was awake but the nurse wouldn't let me have anything except jello. Josh snuck starburst in for me and rationed it out every so often.. I got up to use the bathroom for the first time after the surgery. It hurt, but not as bad as I thought it would. I think a lot of that had to do with the Morphine and the anesthesia still in my system.

The next day I was feeling better. My Dr. came in around 7:30 and said the same thing my mom and Josh said - all went well, I'm doing great, etc. I got my IV out but the tube stayed in. The best part was being able to eat! This may as well have been a 5 star meal to me:

I did try to walk a little too. I started feeling very light-headed and went back to my room. My nurse said that was very common. I mostly ate and slept until I was able to go home Friday morning.

I also got my bandage taken off...

Thursday evening and Friday were definitely the worst days of this whole ordeal so far, but still not as bad as I was anticipating. Now all I need to do is relax and get well.. I don't know if it's the Motrin and painkiller cocktail I take every 6 hours, but I have been exhausted since the day of the surgery...