Slicing and dicing

On the day of the operation I was picked up from my room shortly before eight in the morning. I had had nothing to eat since midnight, a paracetamol and a shower and was ready. Well, as ready as you can be for something that is completely new and quite scary. 

I was wheeled down to the lift and went down to the first floor where the operation would take place. Everybody introduced themselves, but in the end all the names just became one blur. But, there would be two surgeons, two anesthesists and several nurses. I got needles in both hands and they set to work to give me an epidural. First he started tickling me (I couldn't help it, I am ticklish), but soon he thought he had found the perfect spot for the needle to go in. 

Other things were stuck on me for monitoring purposes, several patches on my chest, a rubber thingy on my finger and a blood pressure band on my arm. By the time the epidural started to work it was about 8.25am and I was starting to feel the effect somewhat. By the time my first leg was hoisted in position, the anesthesia had started to work and I was under.

When they sliced me open, they quickly realised I didn't have cancer. There was however another fairly big problem. One that would cause that two hour operation to last nearly five! Because the uterus and the ovaries and the ovarian tubes had basically become one big organ, also incorporating the bladder, urine ducts and intestines! In other words: Endometriosis (like my clever friend Pepperfly already said back in September). They took a small sample of my right ovary and had that checked out for cancer but found nothing (final results due in two weeks) and then had to start to carefully cut out the organs that were due to come out. At the same time of course they didn't want to damage any of the remaining organs either. It took some time...

When I woke up again I had just been wheeled into the recovery room (just before 2.30pm). I stayed there until 6am the next morning when I was kicked out due to a few new arrivals and me being in the best shape. I was quite weak, mainly because of the bloodloss. Due to the long duration of the operation and the severe slicing and dicing they had to do, I had lost about 1,3 liters of blood. Out of about 5 liters that is a fair bit. I did however get two transfusions later that day that helped me recover most of my strength. It certainly helped me from a sickly pale colour to my more normal pale colour!!

To be continued...