I went from the age of 7 until I was 45 without having surgery again. I used to get tubes put in my ears a lot, and my tonsils of course had to grow back, so I had to have them out again. I came to visit my friend two years ago and after a few days, I woke up with a big dark area at the bottom of my left eye. It got worse and worse, like someone was holding a black paper or coin in front of my face. I ended up going to the e.r. on Saturday night. The doctor confirmed what I suspected, a torn or detached retina. He called around to ophthalmologists around the town (small town) and they called him back.
Long story short, I needed eye surgery asap. I was scared to death! I didn't know what to expect. Like I said, I hadn't had surgery since I was a little kid. I am scared of needles too (well, not so much now), and I knew I was getting at least an i.v. and blood work done. I had to go in through the e.r. (was the only way my out of state insurance would pay). I was to be there at 7:30 a.m. I ended up not getting the surgery until like 12:00 (there was a time difference of 2 hours and they were trying to contact my insurance company). They gave up. They took blood, did an ekg, did an ultrasound of my eyeball and started the damn i.v..
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but my hand ached from it. Then the guy came down from the O.R. with a gurney draped in all that ugly green stuff. I was scared. He made sure I didn't have any jewelry on. He didn't want my glasses on and he made me take out my hearing aids too. So now I was going up there blind in one eye (the retina was nearly all the way detached) and I can't see without glasses anyways, and since he made me take out my "ears" I was deaf as well, and scared! I got wheeled up to a waiting/holding area. I can't remember being there long. I remember I had to pee again really bad.
I was already hooked up to the i.v. She helped me up and to my dismay,,, walked me to the bathroom, holding the i.v. pole and held the back of my gown. I know I was barefoot, and I decided that I didn't care (I am a borderline germaphobe). There were no seat covers in the bathroom, and I sat on the toilet seat. Hello, California girl here, you don't set on an uncovered seat! I could imagine all sorts of germs crawling onto my personal parts, but I didn't give a damn. It turns out they gave me something in the i.v. I don't know what it was, but I call it "Don't Giveadamn". I didn't care much at all about things and I wasn't so scared.
Back on the gurney, the anesthesiologist came and talked to me. He stood at the end of the bed asking me questions that I couldn't hear. I told him over and over I couldn't hear or see him well enough to see what he was saying (I rely on lipreading) . I guess he got enough answers for what he wanted because he left. Then my eye doctor came, a very nice, older man. He petted me on the head to reassure me. A little bit later, I was wheeled into the o.r. I was trying to remember every detail of things, because it's been a long time since I have had surgery, and hopefully it would be a long time from this time! I was wheeled under a bunch of big, white equipment. I remember a lot of people around, and them trying to talk to me but I couldn't hear them hardly at all
I remember them having me sit up and they put an EKG thing on my back. It was like a big stiff sticker (it didn't exactly tickle either when they pulled it off later!) and something I had never heard of before. They positioned a pillow under my neck and put oxygen on me. I remember the anaesthesiologist was not the same one that talked to me out in the other room. This guy was young. I couldn't see all of his face, of course, but damn! Those EYES!! I could see just enough to tell he was buff too. WOW!!
He came down close so I could hear and told me he was going to put me to sleep now. I remember wondering how long it would take. I tried to count the seconds, but just as fast everything swirled around, kind of like they make it swirl in the movies. I couldn't even fight it. It swirled and then I was waking up to nurses shouting at me to take deep breaths. I remember I was kind of dreaming something about trees. I could see a bunch of trees, like just the bark, no leaves. My chest felt so heavy and it was hard to breath.
The nurse was still yelling at me (my hearing aids were down where ever my friend was) to take deep breaths. I remember telling her it hurt, but hurt wasn't what I meant. I meant that it was hard to breath. I managed to get out the word "asthma". The air was just dragging into my lungs and I had an oxygen mask on. There little O2 alarm was just beeping away like crazy. She stuck a nebulizer mouth piece up under the mask and that helped a whole lot. I kept going back to sleep. All I wanted was to sleep. I have a feeling I was up there for a long time. They wouldn't let me sleep, lol. They kept yelling at me to "Take deep breaths" and I would and the alarm would shut up until I dozed off again. My mouth was so dry.
The nurse was feeding me ice chips, but didn't keep up enough with it to get my mouth moist again. I would doze, she would wake me up. I remember her saying something about she had never had someone that was so hard to wake up before. Finally, I guess I was awake enough to be taken to the other part of recovery and my friend was waiting there with hearing aids in hand. I got them in, still kept dozing and now I had this new nurse AND my friend telling me to breathe and wake up. I was given some sprite to sip (that sure tasted GOOD) and the nurse told me I could get dressed. I was still to groggy to do it myself, and the "Don't Giveadamn" was still in full force and I let this strange woman dress me like a child!
She even had to put my shoes on me. I think she helped me to the bathroom door too. Somehow, the two of them got me into the car where I guess I slept most of the way home. I remember my friend talking on the phone to my mom and now ex husband. She was told by the eye doctor that with this particular surgery, uncontrolled vomiting could occur. She was thrilled with that news!! NOT! There was nothing that could be done for it. She stopped off at her ex husbands house to beg him for help to get me in the house. She stopped at Walmart to get Gator-aid and Tylenol for me.
Her ex met us at the house, and half carried me have dragged me into the house. His girlfriend (whom I had never met before) helped me to get into pajama's and comfortable. Again, "Thanks Don't Giveadamn!" Somewhere in the middle of all of that, my friend popped one of her Zofran in my mouth. I ended up sleeping in the recliner (I had to lay a certain way for what amounted to a month and a half in the recliner with my head tilted to the left) in the living room for 4 days straight until the what ever they put me to sleep with wore off. I wasn't awake very much at all that week.
Long enough to eat, go to the restroom, drink a little, try to watch a movie, but mostly slept through everything. The last time I had surgery, my friend practically YELLED at the poor nurse "YES" she is sensitive to medications you put her to sleep with! I did much better that time. It was for a cataract that I developed because of the gas bubble they put into my eye to keep the retina in place. I had the detached retina and 8 tears in it, so it was a doozy. Took the doctor about 45 minutes to fix it all. It sure was an experience, that's for sure!!