When we last checked in with our friend Laurie, she had done all the prep work and was ready to have her weight loss surgery. In today’s entry, she walks us through the big day! To catch up on Laurie’s story, click the Personal Journeys link on the left-hand side of the page, under Categories.
Part 7: The Big Day
Monday morning, December 10th, 2012. My surgery was scheduled for 3:30 that afternoon, so I got to spend the entire morning in a state of subdued panic. I mean, I’ve had more than a few surgeries in the last few years, so the pre-surgery procedure was nothing new. There’s always a little bit of anxiety, but things get to be so routine after a while, it’s kind of no big deal. This, however….well, as you can imagine, it was a little different. Up to this point, all the surgeries I had were to remove and/or fix something that was wrong, in order to make me right again. After they were over, there was some recovery time, then life went back to normal. This was the first time that I was voluntarily going under the knife to take something that was working perfectly fine before, and mess it all up. For the first time, I would be a completely different person on the inside after this surgery. That had me a little anxious. It was a weird feeling, knowing that something was going to be physically removed from my body, and that my insides would never be the same again. I can imagine that going through the full gastric bypass probably intensified that anxiety a million times – talk about making some drastic changes to your insides! While the gastric sleeve wasn’t as much of a trauma to my organs, there was still about to be a lot going on in there…and, honestly, I was scared to death.
My mom and my husband both went with me to the hospital, and as we sat in the pre-op room waiting to hear my name, I starting wondering just what the hell I was doing. Almost like getting cold feet before a wedding, I started second-guessing myself, big time. Why did I think I wanted to do this? Nothing will ever be the same again! Why can’t I just diet?? I’ve been on all liquids for a month, I can certainly handle Weight Watchers again!! DON’T DO THIS!!! YOU’RE CRAZY!!! The rational part of my mind knew exactly why I was doing it, and I knew deep down that it was the right decision and that I’d go through with it no matter what. I tell you, the thoughts of where I would be this summer were powerful motivators…being able to take my son to the beach or the pool without feeling like a freak. Being able to take him to a park and go on a ride with him (bumper cars with Mylo?? HELL yes.) Not feeling like I had to cover every inch of my body when I went outside, even though it was 100 degrees out. That was enough to make me remember why I was doing what I was doing…
And then they called me in. And the cold sweats began. 🙂
I said goodbye to my husband (for a while) and brought my mom into the pre-surgery room. Hey, sometimes you just need your mom, right?
So they got me all plugged in – the anesthesiologist was a bit of a butcher, though. I don’t have great veins, but he took a quick glance at the “normal” places (bend of the arm, top of the hand) for an IV, didn’t see anything immediately, so he stuck the freakin’ IV in my wrist…right below my thumb. Hurt like a sunnuvagun, and that got the tears going. I was tired, scared…and the pain just brought it all out. As much as it stunk, it felt kind of good to let some tension out! I cried for a little bit, then calmed down and all was well! The guy assured me that they’d find another spot for the IV when I was under, so that was good. My surgeon came over for a visit – awesome guy, very no-nonsense, but very, very nice – and gave me a wonderful, reassuring pep-talk. He really made me (and my mom!) feel much better. He was so positive and enthusiastic, you couldn’t help but be cheered by him. (Thanks, Dr. Nepomnayshy!)
Now, Lahey Burlington is a teaching hospital, so the next guy I met was the “student” surgeon who would be assisting Dr. Nepomnayshy. His name was Dr. Schnelldorfer, and he was from Munich. Well, as you can imagine (I’m married to a German) I was thrilled. He was very… German. Very nice, very tidy, put-together… I just knew I was in good hands. Hey, who better to perform surgery than someone who has precision and efficiency in their blood?!
After all the pre-surgery sign-your-life-away forms were signed, I gave my mom a big hug… and they wheeled me in. And that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in the hospital room.
Next time, we’ll spend some post-op time with Laurie. And coming soon, an update on how Laurie is doing now, over a month since her surgery!
If you have a story you’d like to share with us, email me at bigfitdeal@gmail.com
