thursday May 17

the alarm finally went off at 4am.  thank goodness!!  my shoulders and back were so tense from non sleep that it was a relief to finally get out of bed.
took another awesome ash tray shower, put on some clothes, gave my mom a million hugs and then we were off.
we parked on the top floor of the parking garage and went into the hospital to check in.  they said, oh, you can't check in for another hour, not until 6:30am.  ak!

so we sat in the hospital lobby and watched as the day started.  christie came by and we all just hung out, passing the time, noticing my surgeon as he walked into the starbucks in the hospital lobby.  i tried to not look that way, didn't want to have an awkward, uh, hi there, hope you got the triple shot this morning, kind of conversation, but he was far away and it was good to see that he's a normal (??) kinda guy.
eventually we got to check in, that was probably one of the longest hours to pass but i was grateful to have christie and eric there.  after checking in, we got instructions:
go down the hallway, make a right, go up the ramp and then pick up the white phone.  tell the person on the phone your name and then wait.  WTF???  what is THAT??

but THAT was exactly what we did.  they came out and got me right away.  christie stayed in that waiting room, but eric came back with me.  it seemed like a small, crowded room, same day surgery holding cell.  lots of people with lots of curtains separating us all.  that was the last time i had on underpants for many days, since i had to take everything off and get into a gown. my head hurt and i was a bit of a wreck.  eric gets chatty in those situations, so he was non-stop.  i wanted to ease drop on all the other patient's check in stories, but i couldn't hear them over eric, so i had to ask him to shut it for a bit and he did.  but we still managed to have some fun in there.

and then the lights were flickering!  WTF again!  turns out that they test the generators on thursday mornings, hence the 630 check in instead of 530, or something.  
the anesthesiologist came up to meet us, he was a kind of goofy, super friendly asian guy.  he chatted with us a long time and answered a ton of questions.  then it was all very quick quick quick!
it seemed like i was the last one in the holding cell.  we had two nurses doing all kinds of assessments, busy busy then it was time to go!  eric ran to get christie really quick, we had some hugs, then they were wheeling me away without a good bye kiss from eric!  luckily he is a fast runner and he caught me right before the loaded me on the elevator down to the BASEMENT.

it wasn't until after that last little kiss that i started to get really scared.  i almost started to cry and i felt very alone.  but the lady pushed me along, almost taking out a few corners it seemed!  we passed down a long long hallway with a bunch of lead vests having along the wall.  there was a sign over them saying somethign to the effect of "if it doesn't have your name on it, don't use it" but i was surprised to see the vests all in green, pink, camoflauge, and stuff.
then we got to the basement surgery holding room!
here everyone was wearing the green scrubs, everyone had their hair up in a hat (even me!  i had to put a hat on before being wheeled down there which was funny since they were going to have to take the hat off anyway!)  but everyone wears their srubs differently - some skin tight (!!!!) and some baggy, but mostly just wearing them however.
nurses came to talk to me, the anesthesiologist came by again, lots of talk about making sure i got marked properly (not this arm, not this leg, lift this, tuck that).  and then some waiting.  weird tho was that my nurse was chewing gum and one of the other nurses was late, running around - i'm late!!  traffic!!!  akk!!  kind of sureal, as was the guy who i assume was a different anesthesiologist with the giant handlebar mustache and big green hat holding in his hair.  
one by one, just like in the other holding cell, the patients were wheeled away.  i kept feeling like i was part of the graduating class of may 17, 2012.
and finally it was my turn to go.
we saw a few people in the hallways, but it was very quiet.  i looked into the other rooms as we went by, i was surprised at how big they were but i guess that is a good thing.
then we got to room 3. the nurse put on her mask which looked like it would have caught any gum that might fall out and then we went in.
there was a guy in there with probably 20 trays of stuff all lined up.  the nurse called out to him and introduced him, i think as the scrub nurse, he turned and waved.  i scrunched further into my wheely bed and light blanket pulled up to my nose.  there were tv monitors all over the place with what must have been my brain on them, lots of big lights but they weren't turned on yet.
then they asked me to get myself over onto the actual operating table, so i did, but they kept me wrapped up in blankets.  i can't remember if other nurses showed up but i know between the one nurse and the anesthsiologist, they were sticking things to me and pulling wires and cords out of everywhere.  then next thing you know, the anesthesiologist pulled out the mask, put it over my face, i felt that it was squishy and did not smell or taste of bubble gum or orange, then the last thing i remember was me saying, yeah, i can feel that starting to work!