Once they are ready, the waiting room attendant gets a phone call. Everyone looks over when the phone rings. Yes. It’s your turn.
The one nice thing about hospitals is that it’s easy to get lost. There are so many hallways and thousands of doors that go to thousands of rooms. You begin to realize that you are not the only thing happening here. The long walk through convoluted hallways ends up in a what I think is the prep room. It has a long hallway with a bunch of stalls. They land you into this big cumfy chair in one of the stalls.
This is where a bunch of people start approaching you as if you’re the victim in that Zombies movie. But really, these people are the nicest people on Mother Earth. They introduce themselves and always make sure that they are talking to the correct patient, then, they thoroughly explain what they are about to do and will do.
It being a teaching hospital, it adds another layer of fun. Teaching hospitals aren’t bad and if you really think about it, a necessity. I don’t mind teaching hospitals as long as the teacher is right there most all the time. That’s very important to us patients. That’s why Dr. Carol Shores is an angel from heaven. She plays the script well.
Sock up! They give you a bag with surgery clothing. Your clothes go into the surgery bag. When you go for surgery, go lean. Don’t wear much. You pull a curtain for privacy then start stripping. My wife helped and my daughter waited outside of the curtain.
The first thing I tackled were the socks. They’re designed to push the blood back up towards your head. So, they are tight and extend up to your knees. It seemed like a half hour before I got the first one on. I yelled out to my daughter (she’s a MD PhD as well) that it took all this time to get on one sock! The second one fitted in seconds.
Of course, there is the gown, of course. The gown. How many decades has the gown been around and it’s still, the gown?
Once re-garbbed, they setup the I.V.’s and tell you to go pee.
This is when the next wave hits you, the anethesiologists. For the umpteenth time, they pull out their copy of your file and review your information. It’s going to happen, so get used to it and make the best of it. Once you suck down the Pina Colota through the I.V., it’s sweet dreams.
Thirty seconds later, you’re awake once again but this time in the recovery room. Actually, several hours have passed. Mine was a 5-hour surgery with 2-hours in recovery.
February 7, 2007 – Pina Colata
Once they are ready, the waiting room attendant gets a phone call. Everyone looks over when the phone rings. Yes. It’s your turn.
The one nice thing about hospitals is that it’s easy to get lost. There are so many hallways and thousands of doors that go to thousands of rooms. You begin to realize that are not the only thing happening here. The long walk through convoluted hallways ends up in a what I think is the prep room. It has a long hallway with a bunch of stalls. They land you into this big cumfy chair in one of the stalls.
This is where a bunch of people start approaching you as if you’re the victim in that Zombies movie. But really, these people are the nicest people on Mother Earth. They introduce themselves and always make sure that they are talking to the correct patient, then, they thoroughly explain what they are about to do and will do.
Sock up! They give you a bag with surgery clothing. Your clothes go into the surgery bag. When you go for surgery, go lean. Don’t wear much. You pull a curtain for privacy then start stripping. My wife helped and my daughter waited outside of the curtain.
The first thing I tackled were the socks. They’re designed to push the blood back up towards your head. So, they are tight and extend up to your knees. It seemed like a half hour before I got the first one on. I yelled out to my daughter (she’s a MD PhD as well) that it took all this time to get on one sock! The second one fitted in seconds.
Of course, there is the gown, of course. The gown. How many decades has the gown been around and it’s still, the gown?
Once re-garbbed, they setup the I.V.’s and tell you to go pee.
This is when the next wave hits you, the anethesiologists. For the umpteenth time, they pull out their copy of your file and review your information. It’s going to happen, so get used to it and make the best of it. Once you suck down the Pina Colota through the I.V., it’s sweet dreams.
Thirty seconds later, you’re awake once again but this time in the recovery room. Actually, several hours have passed. Mine was a 5-hour surgery with 2-hours in recovery.