pre op checklist:

----NPO (nothing by mouth) after midnight. abslolutely no eating or drinking after midnight. (yeah sure. i cheated, i stopped drinking water at 1:30 am).

----no jewelries, no money, no expensive essentials at all ( i forgot and brought everything i had on! felt bad for mom for carrying my stuff)

---- bring someone at the surgery who can drive you home and take care of you ( my ever so lovely momma took good really care of me including drilling the surgeon for any complications and other recovery concerns - i think she scared him off! hahah LOL).

--- pregnancy test (yeah, funny how the nurse asked me if i was pregnant and did a pregnancy test infront of my strict mom and i quickyly said, " oh no, i'm not pregnant. besides, i'm not sexually active. YES mom, you heard it right so don't give me a lecture before i go on surgery).

pre-op vitals signs:

temp: 97.0 - it was so cold in that room. i thought i was in a morgue!

pulse: i'm still doing ok. it was 85 beats per min.

respirations: 22 breaths per minute. no signs of distress at all.

blood pressure: 123/60 this is my normal range. never more than 130 over 70.

pain level : 2 out of 10. practically none yet. just a little ache.

preop meds:

NOTE: i'm not going to lie. i was making sure what medicines was injected on my body. funny how the nurse could not even see my veins to stick me with the IV needle and i was pointing it to her! i was that anxious i forgot she was actually putting me generouns dose of normal saline since i am so dehydrated. i even knew which medicines she was putting me on before she even put it there.i think at this point, she suspected i am a nurse. hahaha.

1.FENTANYL - it's an opiod analgesic 80 times stronger than morphine. it's also used as anesthesia. but the anesthesiologist gave it to me to calm me. yeah sure. who are you kidding? i was frantically anxious!

2. ANCEF - wait a minute. i thought they only give antibiotic after surgery? yes, i was one of those annoyingly inquisitive patients. surgeon said put it on me BEFORE because i will be in surgery the longest and the most high rick for infection. eeekkk..

3. GENERAL ANESTHESIA - loved it mainly for one reason. the anesthesiologist who put me to sleep was a six foot something, karate leaned and muscular, smelled so good, very good looking korean doctor who was nice and kept telling me to relax.

10, 9, 8 , 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

and ten breaths after, i was out of it and did no wake up until four hours after.

4 HOURS AFTER....

SURGERY IS DONE.

now comes the difficult part.

i wake up and damn! the pain FELT LIKE NO OTHER!!!! it felt like i have a gigantic truck laying on my left foot and i can't move it!

"i need pain medicine NOW!!!!!," i asked the nurse.

as in NOW.

her answer, " you're on dilaudid, ms. dela cruz and i just gave it to you"

(FYI - DILAUDID - Hydromorphone, a semi-synthetic ?-opioid agonist, is a hydrogenated ketone of morphine and shares the pharmacologic properties typical of opioid analgesics. Hydromorphone and related opioids produce their major effects on the central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract. These include analgesia, drowsiness, mental clouding, changes in mood, euphoria or dysphoria, respiratory depression, cough suppression, decreased gastrointestinal motility, nausea, vomiting, increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure, increased biliary pressure, pinpoint constriction of the pupils, increased parasympathetic activity and transient hyperglycemia. When injected, particularly intravenously, hydromorphone produces more intense contraction sensation in the muscles and a more powerful 'rush' than other opioids, even more so than heroin. )

in leyman's term -" damn, we're giving you the strongest meds we can give you miss!"

i had to wait couple hours and get some more.

out of all this painful post surgical misery i was in, i was so thankful my mom was patiently attending to me.

so when mom asked, " are you okay? do you want to stay overnight? you're vital signs are not stable."

not stable? are you serious? i was talking to myself because i did not want to worry her more.

post op vital signs:

temp: 101.5 --- ABNORMAL !freakin pain is causing it!

pulse: 110 --- ABNORMAL i was so anxious my pulse is goin up!

respiration: 14 and god am i dying? i think you guys gave me too much pain meds!

blood pressure: 150/106!!!! godd*mn...what the hell happened ?

pain level: 10 + out 10!!!! i am in PAIN and i don't care what you rate it!

My abrupt answer to my mother, " no, ma. i'm not okay.i'm in pain. no . i don't want to stay here. i want to go home na. as in NOWna.

nurse answers kindly, "well,that's not a problem, ms. dela cruz. you can go home once you vitals signs are okay. you're still drugged up so we can't let you go. plus doctor said you need to eat 75 % of your meal or something before you go. we have to make sure you can swallow your meds. the anesthesia numbs everything including your swallowing reflex so we have to really make sure your gag reflex is present."

yeah. gag reflex to me means the ability to eat everything and throw it all up after wards - and that's exactly what i did!

in my mind, i wanted to cust the nurse out and tell her, " look lady. i'm in so much pain. you think i am in even in the mood to eat? i'm so nauseated as it is and you want me to eat? you're kidding right? are you insane?"

oh. i forgot to tell you. i was at this high end surgery site in beverly hills and the nurse to patient ratio is 1:1.

this means means my kind nurse, who was super nice {reminder to self: send nurse thank you card for being nice] but i was stubborn and mean to her because i was in so much discomfort, was giving her 200 % attention on me.

she did. for 45 minutes, she had to watch me eat 75 % of my clear liquid diet and munch 75 % of a some kind of bear shaped miniature cookies. she made sure i swallowed everything i ate.

i was not kidding. she sat next to me and kept checking my plate and my drink and my cookie bag if i ate it. even instructed me to open my mouth so i can't hide anything. SERIOUSLY.

when she felt i ate 75% of eveyrthin she gave me, she finally gave me dilaudid! and i went into a nice REM sleep. i went to lalaland.

3 hours later my sleep.....

nice nurse finally told me i can go home. BUT....... before i can, i'd have to demonstrate to walk on my hand delivered new and shiny cruches to the surgery site.

my question was, "you're kidding, right? you gave me dilaudid. i'm still nauseated and drowsy from the fentanyl and the general anesthesia. in fact, i can't seriously think straight. you made and forced me to eat 75 % of food that i could not tolerate eating.....and now, i am throwing up everything i ate. thanks to the anesthesia and all the super generous dose of pain meds. and you just made swallow two tablets ot vicodin {"- so my trip home would be smooth"} and now what? you want me to hop on one foot with cruthes and not put weight onmy left foot?"

(well, i did not tell her that but i really wanted to !!! i'm just exaggerating).

the stubborn me took a back seat and i hopped three steps so i can go home.

the ride home was like riding a roller coaster. i had the urge to vomit and mom kept reminding me to hold it as we were almost there.

when we were door steps from the front door, i realized, "crap! why do we have to have a flight of stairs on our front porch?"

yes, while mom was instructing me to hop on one foot, i was swaying from side to side from left to right because i was so drowsy. and on my first step to the stairs, i almost fell on my face if it weren't for my mom's arms wrapped around me.

i swear, i didn't know what i was doing at this time. central nervous system is really out of it. thinking brain is not working at this point.

so i followed simple instructions and skippity hopped on my crutches until i reached inside the house......and straight to the comfort room throwing everything i ate!

yeah. that was some bathroom break, i tell ya!


frankly, the best part of this story is when i am finally in my bedroom in my bed. i don't know what happened then. my precious bed with 300 count egyptian cotton sheets was heaven.

my kind and super mom braced my foot with the ice pack machine delivered to me the medical eqipment company( It's a 24 hour ice pack on your foot you don't have to refill. the machine refills it for you. nice !) elevated my foot in two pillows. and tucked me in my bed.

i swear, for the first time, i really felt i was in my comfort zone.

next morning, no more food, i swear. up until today, i am still on gatorade and soup only, no solid in it diet. i can't tolerate solid foods. all my meals were delivered to my room. but did not touched anything but gatorade.

friends and family came. but i'm gonna have to apologize for the first few people who came...i was so drugged up that i didn't know what i was saying. REALLY!

i finally realized it was sunday when church people came.

i think, it was only today i realized, i am slowly going back to my sanity. but it goes out again after i take a dose of the pain medicines.

anyway, more stories to go. i guess, the moral of my story: nurses are the worst patients!!! hahaha. i was so stubborn! i just thought about how mean of a patient i was.

on the serious note, i am overwhelmed with the love and concern i received and still getting.but thank you for being patient with me through this ordeal. momma, 'my, you're the best! tony, thanks for being patient with me for being so bangag the first day. you were my 1st visitor. janet, thank you for the macaroons and for starting a flower shop in my room!kuya art, gratzi for the soup i begged for you to bring! people at church --thanks for the prayers and the cookies and the pho. for all the friends and family who called, visited, sent flowers, thank you for the concern! for all the outpouring of love and get well wishes ---- i love you! thank you.

last but foremost, Lord, you prove me over and over again that you will take good care of your people. you surely did not fail me and gave me more than i asked for. thanks for the miracle of life. use me father in ways i can inspire others of your glory and grace. i am nothing without you. i give the glory back to you. amen.

posted by pinay freestyle @ 1:02 AM

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