surgery deets

after a month or so of what feels like almost constant traveling, i am home for the foreseeable future and therefore finally went back to the doctor today to schedule the surgery. at first i was annoyed that i had to physically visit the office just to plan the procedure, but after spending a half hour with the doc and the nurse practitioner going over all the details, i understood why we couldn't just have a short phone chat.

i'm going in on tuesday, may 3, which works out well for a friend's wedding at the end of the month but not so much for my choir performances in early may. ah, well. priorities, i suppose. my mom has offered to fly down to stay and help out around the house, which i thought was overkill when she first offered... but after hearing the details today i think it will be a great help. the hubby is wonderful in many ways, but picking up the slack around the house when i'm incapacitated is not one of those ways.

since i'll be totally knocked out under general anesthesia, there is a lot of preparation. and since they will be making three incisions in my pelvic region AND they won't really know the situation down there until they get inside, it's hard to say how much pain and discomfort i will experience. the doc did tell me that i definitely won't be able to return to work that week after the surgery on tuesday. but hopefully by the following monday i'll be able to be up and around more normally.

about a week prior to the surgery, i'll have to go in for a pre-op check-in to make sure all of my bloodwork and everything is still normal. then two days before the surgery i have to eat an all-carbohydrate diet, eliminating fruits, veggies, proteins, and dairy. the day prior to the procedure i will be on an entirely liquid diet, with nothing at all (even water!) after midnight the night before. i also have a prescription pill to take four times per day the day before the surgery (simethicone) which will help to reduce bloating and gas. fun, fun.

i'll go into the hospital that morning (they'll call me the day before to go over details and tell me exactly what time to arrive) and will get knocked out so i don't have to know about any of the gory details until afterwards. basically, they will make three incisions, each about a centimeter long. one will be in my belly button, where they'll insert the laparascope to peek around in there and see what's going on. then there will be two other incisions somewhere along my pubic bone that will allow them to insert other tools like scissors and lasers and scrapers and who knows what else. they'll scrape out the uterine lining to get rid of the polyp(s) and the "dysynchrony" of its composition, and they'll move my tubes around to see what's going on behind and around them. if they find endometriosis, they'll zap it out as much as they can. then they'll either staple or glue me up.

i will have to hang out in recovery for a couple of hours afterwards to come out of the anesthesia and all, but then i can retire to the couch for some good (and hopefully not too agonizing) relaxing time. i should start thinking about movies and TV shows to watch that week... hmmm...

all in all, i feel ok (if a little nervous) and just want to get this over with. i am so grateful that i work with such supportive and understanding people, and that i will have friends and family here to lend a hand. it really shouldn't be a big deal at all, and hopefully the end result will be worth all of it!