But I decided to have Tumor Ted removed as I had a significant break between my summer course and the start of my fall semester and I was developing knee pain due to the tumor (hoorah for throwing off my entire gait!). So I celebrated finishing (and surviving) my summer anatomy course by getting surgery the next day (it's what the cool kids do).
Since I've been watching all sorts of Grey's Anatomy episodes, I was fully prepared (aka semi/not really prepared) for surgery (I had the freaking out part down). Little did I know I would be fully naked under my hospital "gown" (it's a piece of fancy paper, c'mon now) and I wouldn't be allowed to wear my glasses or contacts (I'm not super blind, but it would be nice to make out details instead of blobs). If someone wanted to take advantage of me, now was their chance.
Everyone was really great, and I think my normally-snotty-not-comforting-bedside-manner doc actually showed he was a person. Right before I went under, he was making jokes about Patron tequila. Maybe he becomes alive knowing he gets to cut. Hey, at least it's all in the manner of saving lives, right?
I don't really remember anything beyond the jokes about Tequila and laying down on the OR table until I woke up, or tried to wake up, in the recovery area. I still felt anesthesia-drunk for probably five hours after surgery. They gave me crutches to try (non-weight-bearing for two weeks, yay!) and I must've been weaving in and out or going rather far because the nurse made some comments about me trying to do a crutch marathon, ha. (And all I could think about, learning all that I did in anatomy, was that I was going to develop crutch palsy, where you damage/impinge parts of your brachial plexus from leaning on your crutches or improperly fitted crutches. I think I've been pretty good thus far...) I definitely did not feel ready to leave the hospital (so.sleepy.so.groggy.), but alas, they kicked me out, drunken state and all. (The guy who wheeled me outside to the car thought I was six years younger than I actually am, so that was a plus for the day. Score.)
I had to call my boyfriend out of work earlier than we had discussed, and I think he was a little pissed about that. He seemed distracted the whole time we were filling my prescriptions, which were pretty extensive, in my opinion: oxycotin, percacet, 800 mg ibuprofen, baby aspirin, and miralax (apparently all of these drugs make you constipated, go team). I rarely take meds, am healthy, and short - if I took ALL of these at once, I might not wake up for a few days. This must be tricky - trying to write prescriptions so a patient isn't in pain, but not going over the line that they get hooked on pain meds...
It's definitely been a challenge - I don't think I've been without function in all of my limbs in a rather long time, and being alone (my boyfriend had an overnight camping trip last eve and hasn't been back yet today, eek!) has made it "solve the problem" days. Showering is overrated, right?
cinderellamulanbellecourtierqueenkingpudding