Preparing for removing a major part of your body is sort of like relocating to another state. Every little part of my life was effected by this decision, which is probably why people where questioning me. We even got a new couch which needed anyway so that when I wanted to watch television I had somewhere to stretch out and not be couped up in my bedroom. My mother, sister and one of best friends took off of work to be there at the surgery. I didn't see the need for a audience, but after seeing their side of why, I let them come and was glad I did. I made sure I had plenty of groceries, ginger ale, gossip magazines, taped my soap operas and movies. I even had an outfit picked out to wear, a gray/red DKNY sweat suit outfit that was light and easy to put on. There would be an overnight stay so I made sure I packed a bag. The bag never left my husband's side, I will explain later. The night before, I couldn't eat anything after midnight, so I made just about everything I could to stuff myself so I wouldn't be hungry later. It was a food celebration and I ate every bit of it! I washed it down with a glass of wine. Yes I was allowed and as long as I didn't get drunk.
June 29, 2008 I didn't sleep a lot, I was so excited to rid of my lopsided boobies I was crawling the walls! I had to be at the hospital at 5:30am, so that I could be checked in and taken back by at least 6:30am. I slept maybe 4 hours, but I figured I would be doing a lot of sleeping all day so it didn't matter. I got up at 4:30am, washed my face, got dressed and looked down my shirt and said "goodbye bad boobies!"
The waiting room of the surgery center at the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic is a very organized zoo! They have beepers, people with pagers, television screens that lists the patients names so that their loved ones can follow their progress and know where they are at all times. I was especially impressed how awake the assistant's were at that hour of the morning. I checked in and hung out with my family and husband for about a half hour. My name was called and my husband was able to go with me to sit for a bit until I was wheeled out in the bed. The doors where you go in are all assigned and remind me of the game show 'Let's Make a Deal'. I walked in the door, there is a chair, a bed, a cabinet, computer and there is no door just the nurses station that you are facing. There was more room in a studio apartment then this space but since a person doesn't stay very long it really didn't matter.
I was advised that my friend Don, who was a surgical nurse at the Clinic, arranged to have the top people assist on my surgery. This eased the mind not only of myself, but that of my family and husband. I was also advised that the orderly who would be wheeling me to the operating area, was not able to make it due to laryngitis. Why is that so important? Well, this orderly is known for singing to patients before they go into surgery to sooth nerves. The gentleman I had was just fine, he was polite and gave me warm blankets so that is all that mattered. I said goodbye to my husband, we exchanged how much we loved each other and I was off.
Being wheeled back to the operating area can be a bit intimidating. Sort of remind me of the Willy Wonka Factory only without the sweets. I met all the assistants that Don sent and my cool doctors' meet me with hugs. They all told me how brave I was in what I was doing and that I was in good hands. I don't remember much else as once I was hooked up to the meds, things got blurry. Per my husband it was an 8 hour surgery. The next thing I remember was waking up to a noisy recovery room, wherein my friend Don who was preparing to be in surgery himself, greeted me with a smile. I heard daughter's of the woman next to me tell her she was ok and was wishing someone would say the same to me. I was in pain and began to cry not because of what I did, but because it was noisy and I had so much hooked up to me I looked like I was a science experiment. I looked down at my chest, I had to look, I was patched up really good I could barely see anything but what I did see looked like I had the Alien and the Predator in my chest. Don asked me if I wanted my husband to come back, I told him no as I would meet him my room. For some reason I wanted to be in a dark room when he saw me. Sounds silly but true.
Tomorrow: Recovering from Divorcing My Boobs
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