It is the night before and I am trying to mentally prepare for the knife. I am going between nervousness of never having had surgery before and being in a mental state of wanting to take on this new mental test. I have been drinking a lot of water to hydrate my tissues in the hope of making it easier on my surgeon. I would really like to take some homeopathics prior. Adria and I are going to the Allen’s art show to keep my mind off of things.
On the day of my surgery we woke up at around five o’clock in the morning. We left about an hour later and we had to be in New York City by 8:30 AM. Adria l was nice enough to drive, wanting me to relax as much as possible. I was fairly calm mostly because I was still very tired, but the essential oils I was using also help me relax. we got to the Hospital for special surgery about 8:30am. and they took me up to the fourth floor to be admitted. They gave me a wristband to make sure no one would steal me and then took me to another waiting room. While my wife and I were waiting, my parents arrived to say hello and to wish me well before the big event. As only one person is allowed to be with me at a time I sent my parents up to the waiting room on the ninth floor. At approximately 10:30 AM, the nurse took me into my room. When I got there there was a robe, some socks, ends a hair cap waiting on my bed. The nurse said to me, ” please take off all your clothes and put the robe on along with the socks and then get into bed.” And of course my reply was,” if this is what you make someone do for wrist surgery, I can’t imagine what someone getting chest surgery would have to do!” she kind of laughed and said oh no, everyone has to do that. so after she left, I disrobed, got into my gown, and got into bed. I think it was at this point that I realized that this was actually happening. I was starting to get nervous and so I started to do my breathing in the hopes that it would coming down. The nurse quickly returned, and asked me several questions including what my name was, do I have any allergic reactions to anything, and said she was going to put in my IV. I told her that I do not have any allergic reactions, but I’m not thrilled with needles. I guess who is though. So, the first nurse laid me down and said to relax, she was going to put a needle now. Immediately I started flowing ki, entering a meditative state. She told me to breathe out, but I thought I was already doing that. She inserted the IV needle and I have to say that it really wasn’t that bad. Next, another nurse came in, and Asian guy named Sonny. He said he was going to shave my arm at first he was going to wash it. It was like a day at the spa. That was the first time in a long while that I saw on my arm with no hair. The same cannot be said for my head. Soon after, my surgeon lana Kang came in to say hello and see how I was doing. Again I said to her,” a little nervous, but overall O.K.” before she left, I had a series of questions that I wanted to ask her including how long the surgery will take, what pain medications I will be taking, can I take essential oils and homeopathics along with those medications, and when will I be allowed to drive because I can only stay away from the dojo for so long. of course, my loving and concerned wife asked how long should he have to be away from work. she knows me extremely well, and realizes that I would be back in a day or two if I had my way. She told me she was going to leave in order to prepare for the procedure, but no sooner more people came in to see me. I was getting a big head from all the attention. The nurse anesthetist was a foreign woman with a thick accent, I think German. She said to me,”Vat surgery are we having today?” I told her,” I don’t know what surgery you’re having, but I’m having wrist reconstruction today.” she did not find that as funny as the other people in the room. She also checked my wristband to make sure that it was really me and she was about the 40th person to ask me to spell my name. After I signed the necessary papers to waive my rights away, the anesthetist came in. He introduced himself, and was extremely friendly. He asked me if I had any other questions and I did have a large number of them for him. By the end he asked me if I also wanted to know the meaning of life. I said yes, but we need to get this over with first. He asked if I wanted to be sedated, and I said hell yes.” What is that like?” I asked. He said, had ever had two glasses of wine, because this is more like having two bottles. I also question him on the nerve block because I heard the needle was about 4 inches or more. He told me that the needle was actually a bit shorter which put my mind at ease. He said okay David we’re going to get started, so I started my meditative breathing And I know some of you might think this is weird, but I told my body to be as receptive to the surgery is possible. I also told my bones to grab on to the new ligament attachment. my wife tells me that I asked him how long it was going to take before the sedative began working. He replied, about 30 seconds. I don’t remember asking that, so I guess it worked much sooner. My wife said she loved me and good luck, but I was already unconscious at that point. That was about 10:30 AM.
Before I knew it I was waking up in the recovery room about 2:45 PM, but I couldn’t see because my wife had my glasses. I sat up, looked around, and then had to lay back down because of the good buzz I was feeling. nobody noticed that I was awake, so I sat back up and I went back down. This went on a few times and finally a nurse noticed me. She asked how I was doing and I said I was fine. we spoke for a little bit and of course I had cracked some jokes. I then asked her when I could see my wife, but because of being the jokester that I am in goofing around with her prior, she thought I was still under the effects of the anesthesia. I was totally alert, but she made my wife wait longer because of my silliness. At least I was able to watch the everybody loves Raymond marathon on TV in the meantime. About 15 minutes later, the nurse came over to check on me and I told her I could move my fingers. She said, but you had a nerve block. I said, I know, but I can move my fingers. Again with a perplexed look on her face she said, your arm is dead, you had a nerve block. I said, look, I can move my fingers And it did move. she didn’t seem overly concerned, and told me to just let her know if I was in any pain.
my wife was finally allowed to come visit me and she was a sight for sore eyes. She told me that Dr.Kang had been in to speak to her and told her the surgery went better than planned. She also seemed very positive about my recovery. after talking for a few more moments, my wife went back to the waiting room so that my parents could come see me. They both gave me a hug and asked how I was doing. We talked for a while, but then they had to go. after my parents had gone, the nurse came down with my wife and said I could go. This was about 4:30 PM. They started getting my clothes out of the plastic bag they gave me, and proceeded to try and put my shirt on. As the nurse is grab my arm and slid my hand through the sleeve, it really started to hurt. The nurse said, your arm should not be feeling anything they had a nerve block and showed me how my arm could not move on my own. I said, I know, but it still hurts. We finished putting on my shirt, and the nurse told me she was going to give me some pain medication to make sure that I can make it home to Pennsylvania without being in pain. she gave me two Vicodin which made me drowsy, but it did help with the pain. They told me I should go to the bathroom because I hadn’t done in a while although when I stood up, my legs and body started shaking. It may have just been that I hadn’t eaten since six o’clock the night before. I finally made it back to the bed afterwards, but Adria had left to fill my prescription while I was recovering. At 6 PM, they decided I was ready to be discharged, so they put me in a wheelchair and put my sandals on. I told the nurse this was the first time I was in a wheelchair, so make it a fun ride. She chuckled. As we were pulling away from the bed, another nurse yelled for me,” Mr. Nemeroff, you left your plastic bag on the bed. Did you leave anything in it?” I said, yes, a big stack of 50 dollar bills. Are they still in there? the nurse just laughed and said I’m sorry, we spent those while you were unconscious. I told her,” well if you’re not giving them back, then I’m leaving!” she laughed and wished me the best.
The nurse took me out to the lobby to meet with Adria, but she was still not there. So the nurse and I chatted for a while until my wife returned. I joked with her and told her that my wife had my wallet and my cash, I hope she’s still returning. Adria would have been back sooner, but none of the drugstores had all of the prescriptions that I needed. It wasn’t until her third or fourth attempt, that she was able to get two out of the three prescriptions that I was given. She pulled the car up to the front door, and I got in. Immediately, I started drinking distilled water, took some homeopathics, and began to munch on a bagel. What I really wanted to do, was visit to Totonno’s pizzeria, but I figured that probably wasn’t the best thing for my stomach. I got through about 64 ounces of water and about halfway through New Jersey, before I finally had to urinate. I’m sure you’re all interested in knowing that. it was about that time that I was also beginning to get some sensation back in my wrist. it wasn’t excruciating, but it was definitely noticeable. I could feel the pains in my wrist pressing against the cast. that was uncomfortable, so I stuck my fingers in the cast and pushed out slightly to release some of the pressure.The doctor had told me that I had to wait until eight o’clock before I could take my pain medication, so I just had to focus my mind and block out the pain. Once we got into Pennsylvania, I called in my order for Chinese food, the traditional recovery dinner. We got to the restaurant around 8 PM and I immediately took the medication and ran for the bathroom. We got our food and left for home. It was such a good feeling to know that the surgery was done with and recovery was in my future. After eating dinner, I took some more homeopathics and started applying various essential oils including frankincense, geranium, lavender, lemon grass, Heliochrysum, and Pan Away. for those of you who are unfamiliar with these oils, they are designed for tissue regeneration, reduction of scar tissue, nerve repair and pain relief. I went to bed around 10 PM and got set up with my extra pillows and my remote control. Adria was absolutely wonderful. She was amazingly attentive and took care of my every need. I can get used to this. She got me some water when I asked and woke me up whenever I needed to take my pain medication. although there was some soreness I made it through day one in one piece.
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