Gutpatch and Scooter Girl: surgeon

This is part II of the day I actually got my gutpatch inserted. If you missed part I you can read it here.

Here I am at out-patient admittance dressed in my prescribed loose fitting sweatpants, baggy button up shirt and jacket. My wife is dropping me off and helping make sure the payment agreement all makes sense. Basically, the hospital made me a deal that if I pay my deductible the day of surgery, they will only charge me that much no matter what.

Hopefully this includes the nurse anesthetist and all the other stuff that gets tacked on. It's only been 5 weeks since surgery and you can never be sure for a few months how it will all work out.

So, they tell me right away that the surgeon is running late because of some emergency that morning. I ask about coming back in a couple hours and they don't want to let me go. Vee Dont Vant To Let You Go. OK - I'll stay.

Most important takeaways:

If the nurse getting the IV into your arm misses twice you can ask for a different nurse. I should have done this before she missed five times and I told her she was making me feel sick, didn't want to look like a heroin addict, and could not take her missing again. She cheerfully got another nurse who got it on #2.
Take care of things that require clear thinking before they get the IV in you because there are drugs to "help you relax".
It's not that hard to get up and go to the bathroom carrying your IV bag.

Plus the bathroom has a place to hang it. If you have to go, then do it before surgery.
Falling asleep in pre-op is good. It makes you forget the surgeon is running two hours late and you are laying around waiting to be cut.
The surgery room was not like a technology manufacturing cleanroom. If you have worked in cleanrooms like in a fab operation then a hospital cleanroom does not seem that clean. Operating cleanrooms would probably be class10K in my old tech world though would probably test out around 1-2K with a particle counter is my guess based on many years in that world. Other people will probably just think it is a very clean room. I was a bit taken aback myself.
A local anesthetic and drugs to put you in lala land really means you are out cold but not so far that the anesthetist has to shove a breathing tube down your nose or throat. My recommendation is go with the local and lala land drugs. A friend had a tooth chipped by the breathing apparatus down his throat. His dentist said it "happens all the time" because operating personnel don't care so much about your teeth.
You will say and do stupid stuff when you come out of anesthesia. Don't worry about it. As we said in Part I about KYST and GYST, add NGF at this point. Really, in your delirium if you start high fiving the nurses and the surgeon, telling the operating room nurse she has a cute outfit on really meaning it, and begging for chocolate cake it is OK. They have probably seen and heard worse than that.
The loose fitting clothing is super important NOW. It is hard to move and having clothing that is easy to get into now is less painful. Slip-on shoes are a nice touch as well.
Even though stuff hurts at this point, it is nothing like its going to hurt in a few hours or tomorrow morning.

Try to sleep after you eat something. You will probably be hungry from the overnight fast. I did not get a headache from no caffeine because there was most likely two gallons of ibuprofen in me at that point. I ate and then fell asleep on the couch.

Next installment is about waking and getting up the first time and you can read it now by clicking HERE!

Please comment below and I will answer all questions. This blog will only become useful if people comment and add their experience and ask the questions which other people share but are afraid to ask. Plus, everyone's experience is different. How did you find out you needed surgery? Were you scared? How did you deal with it? Was it relief to know? Or, was the info a complete surprise?

Gutpatch Hernia Repair Series
1. This Sucks! Step 1
2. You Have A - I Have A - Hernia?! Step 2
3. Oh Man! Getting Surgery Scheduled - Step 3
4. Let's Have a Hernia Repair Operation - Step 4 Part 1
5. Hernia Surgery Part II

6. Post Hernia Surgery

Gutpatch Learns The Truth

How do you know you have a hernia? My distrust of the medical establishment had put me in a position that at the age of 55 I had not had a physical exam in over 35 years. Getting laid off from my tech manufacturing career had me in a new part-time job of being a bicycle tour guide. So, at the age of 55 I got a full physical exam since I needed it for a California Commercial Drivers License. Everything was pronounced fine and even the finger in the patooty hernia exam was negative and I never gave hernias another thought until five years later.

Now at age 61, four friends and I were heading across the country from the west coast to ride a 215 mile seven day mountain bike trip going from Telluride, CO to Moab, UT. We are going to be staying in huts stocked with food and water that also have bunks. So, the weight we carry on the bikes will be much reduced but this is still a big physical effort for seven days straight through mountainous backcountry. We arrive in Grand Junction, CO a few days ahead of time to get acclimated and do a little mountain biking for three days before embarking on the hut to hut trip. I'm taking a shower and notice a funny looking pouch next to my pubic bone on the left side. I'm thinking "what the heck is this?" and don't really know what to do. I had not experienced any sustained pain and could only imagine all kinds of deadly medical conditions ready to slay me. My motel roommate immediately brought up Alien. Why do I drink? Hmm...

Fortunately for me, one of the women on the trip is a nurse and I showed her "the pouch". She exclaimed, "oh, you have a hernia, but, it is not going to get you out of this trip - haha!". Oh really - I am so not laughing. Imagine the grumble bear now. But, on one level I am relieved it is not something unknown that requires cancer screening or something.

So, I did the trip and never felt a thing. When I got back, my GP (general practitioner) looked at it and referred me to a surgeon. And, at least for me, in the year 2015, no more finger in your butt to confirm a hernia. Thank God for that!

The truth was that thinking back, I could remember a couple episodes of big gut pain that only subsided after laying down - which was probably what it took for the intestine to go back inside. That means I cannot ignore this and should seriously consider getting the patch job done.

I also decided to do a little weight workout of curls and shoulder presses isolating the muscles to avoid any use of the core. About 20 minutes afterward I felt sick to my stomach. Now, some people like my wife thought that was a stupid experiment. But, I needed another confirmation that surgery was needed. In the next post, I'll discuss picking a surgeon and learning more about the procedure and what it means to get a patch.

Read the next part of my adventure with a hernia by clicking HERE!