So in the midst of preparing for surgery, another incredible thing happened in my life-- I got a promotion at work that was also a work from home management job, which meant we were moving home at the beginning of April. It's like everything aligned perfectly and what normally would be three very stressful events-- surgery, moving and new job-- to happen at one time for a person, were actually the complete opposite-- they were the greatest things to happen. Ever!
The Saturday before my surgery was the first day of the dreaded ten-day clear liquid diet. It was also the day before we came home to my parents' house since my medical leave was taking effect that week. I couldn't believe it at first, but I was given over two weeks of short term disability at work for me to have my surgery and recover-- I'm so grateful for those two weeks!
With a clear liquid diet, I could have a handful of not very tasty things-- whey protein shakes with WATER(Yuck!), chicken broth or bouillon cubes, sugar free popscicles and suger free Jello. I followed that diet Saturday through Monday and then arrived at Des Peres Hospital around 6a Tuesday morning to prep for surgery.
They took me back in the room, got me in a gown and gave me a slightly painful shot of blood thinners in the side of my stomach. One of the side effects/issues seen with the surgery is blood clots so they were taking precautions and I had to wear these leg compression pads during my surgery, too. I peed in a cup to verify I wasn't pregnant(yay) and waited for Spike and my mom to come back to see me off to surgery.
Then something happened I was not expecting-- the woman from admissions came back with my family and told me that I needed to pay my deductible and 20% before I went back for surgery. WHAT?!?! I thought they just billed that shit, but apparently not. Luckily I was able to hurry up and move funds over from savings to cover it before they ran my card, but I thought it was so crazy that they didn't give us any warning we would need to pay for it that day.
We are fortunate that we were able to afford my surgery and that my insurance covered most of it. Most people are not so lucky and it is not a cheap procedure. The hospital submitted over $25,000 to insurance to cover my surgery so we had to pay over $6,100 for our part. I've heard that some people actually have taken out loans to have the surgery. There is one thing I know... the hospital/surgeons are making bank.
So we got the billing all taken care of and they took me back where I was laying in bed waiting to be pushed into surgery. They put in the IV, I talked to the anesthesiologist and then I waited.... for an hour... while all the patients around me went back for their surgeries and new ones came in. Apparently my surgeon had a surgery prior to mine that I had to wait to finish up.
All I know is that as soon as they did take me back and put the mask on my face, I was out! When I came to I was sitting in a chair and just remember all I wanted to do was lay down and go back to sleep. But this lady told me I had to drink water before they would take me up to meet my family in the recovery room. They had blown my stomach up with gas so they could maneuver around in there easier and the only way to get rid of that very painful gas was to cough and to walk around. So the woman had me practice my coughing and when she finally was satisfied they took me to see Spike and Mom.
I wasn't a very happy patient, still delirious from anesthesia and high on liquid pain medication, when another nurse came in to talk to me about what I needed to do next. I couldn't pay attention and all I could think about was coughing like that lady told me to. I guess my coughing wasn't up to my new nurse's standards because she asked me if I had a tickle in my throat. When I told her that the previous woman told me I needed to cough to release the gas, she informed me that I was doing it wrong and needed to take deeper breathes and cough heavier. I was pissed. I'm sure the pain medication had something to do with it but apparently after the nurse left, I let my family know how much I disliked that nurse. And based on the text messages from my phone, I let some other people know about it, too.
They made me get up and walk to the bathroom and make sure I could go pee before they released me from the hospital. I couldn't wait to get in the car so I could sleep on the hour drive home.
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