Happy Tuesday! I have something fun planned here for later in the week, but I thought I would do a heart update since some of you may wonder if I lived through it.
I did.
My husband and I exchanged gifts before leaving (it was our anniversary, remember?) and I smooched my babies and hugged them goodbye. We met my mom at the hospital and when then called me back to prep, I had to go alone. Two IV’s and no hand to hold=tears. Yes, you did read that correct, an IV for each arm. And one extra poke for good measure, because getting them both on the first try would be too much to ask.
They told me my husband could come back for a quick minute before I went in but that was all. I cried and then cried more through all the vein digging so they aloud him to come sit with me. Lesson: tears work, use them to your advantage.
He came back and held my hand until it was time to go back to the OR. As nervous as I was the days leading up to it, I was fine walking into the room and climbing up onto the table. As the nurses surrounded me peeling stickers off a sheet and placing them on my body, I looked to a blank spot in the room and pictured Jesus there. I pictured him as overseeing the procedure and standing next to me holding my hand. It was very calming to have that picture in my head.
The nurse anesthetist told me that I was going to feel funny for a minute and then it would go away and she was right. I felt weird by the time she got half-way through her sentence and that was that. Lights out.
I think it took about four hours, and the OR nurse called Guy every hour to let him know it was going well and they were still proceeding. I didn’t end up getting out of recovery and into a room until almost 8pm. I was exhausted and drugged and slept like a rock, barely opening my eyes when nurses interrupted my sleep for blood pressure checks.
I planned on leaving first thing the next morning but of course it couldn’t be that easy. I was short of breath and the doctor confirmed with an xray that I had fluid in my lungs. They gave me lasix which pulls out extra fluid and then you pee it out. Sounds fun, right? By the time the nurse was finished giving me the medicine through my IV I was headed to the bathroom. I peed and peed and peed for the next 4 hours until it finally slowed down. All in all, it was close to 3,000 cc. Um, yea.
Finally I got discharged and made it home just in time to tune into the VMA’s and snuggle up with my babies.
My SVT is completely taken care of but I still have an arrhythmia which is something I’ll be stuck with and there’s nothing to be done for now.
If you’ve made it this far in the post, I’m also including a link to my donation page for the American Heart Association Heart Walk. I signed up for it with my work and would love to be able to help in some way. If you donate $5, I would so appreciate it.
Sher Bailey is a writer in the Midwest who believes the power of humor, Mod Podge, and grandkids can fix most problems in life. You can find her at SherBailey.com.
Ashley says
Glad your surgery went well! That’s A LOT of pee! haha