BA & LP Surgery Day
Surgery Day
February 2, 2006
I woke up several time during the night thinking about what might happen and If I’m about to do something that I might regret. My last meal was 8:00 PM yesterday and after midnight, I’m not to have any food or drink. This is standard procedure for surgery prep. I finally got out of bed at just after 7:00 AM and Jen soon after. We did our usual morning routine of reading the news and taking one last shower. I packed a few overnight items for my over night stay at Greenbaum and we drove over to Greenbaum surgery center. We went up stairs to visit Amy and Trisha, It was post VAG day one for Amy. We spent a bit of time to chat as this is the first time I have met Trisha. We have emailed and yaked on the phone over the past few years. While this was our first face to face meeting, it was like getting together with old friends. Amy appeared to be doing well this morning. The clock showed it was time for me to sign in for my surgery date. After doing this a few times, you do get to know the routine. The receptionist recognized me and she signed me in. After a short wait, I got called by a clerk to verify my information and check me in.
More time passed and RN Kara called me in, my time is up. At first I did not remember her, but she did. She took my vitals and gave me a gown to change into. I got changed into the gown, put my stuff into a bag. Then one of the nurses braided my hair and we put all that hair into two hair caps. This is what I have done with my hair every time for surgery and it appears to work well. I followed her to stall# 9. RN Joan asked me some more questions about my general health. She gave me a pill to reduce my blood pressure and an anti clot injection. She also put on a pair of those calf compression stockings. RN Joan had problems installing the IV in my arm. She tried once in my hand, but got the IV into my arm. It turns out when you stress over getting this done, your veins drop making IV insertion difficult. One of the nursed went to call Jen who has been waiting for about an hour in the waiting area. Jen appeared and sat next to me while I waited for the next steps in this process to happen. Dr. Williams the gas passer stopped by to chat with me about today’s anesthesia plan and procedures. We discussed meds that he planned to use to day and questioned me about my health history. Once he was done with this, he went off to get the first set of meds for the process. Two of the OR nurses appeared and I remembered one of them, Cindy. They were concerned with how stressed I appeared and asked me why I’m so scared, I told them it was possibility of losing nipple / breast sensitivity from the BA. Cindy told me Dr. Meltzer did her BA two years ago and she has not had any problems or loss of nipple / breast sensitivity, very happy and I should be fine. Dr. Meltzer appeared and we talked about the procedures for today and my concerns were the same as we discussed pre-op and we talked about bicycles and cycling. My surgery time was near and Dr. Williams appeared with what he called, “liquid courage.” He injected the meds into my IV line and I was off to sleepy land just as they began to roll me out of stall# 9.
The next thing I remember was a nurse talking to me in the recovery room (PACU) and told me all went well and they are going to wheel me up stairs to room 11. My time in recovery was short, about one hour. Jen was waiting for me and watched as they got me set up. I was already semi awake and the pain was not excessive, about 5. During my pre-op discussions with Dr. Meltzer, I asked them for a PCA (patient controlled anesthesia) for me to use post-op.
I had one of these for the VAG last year, but did not use it much since the pain level was not very high. It turns out the PCA is a good idea for the BA as I used it much more than when I had the VAG. The pain never got greater than a 6 and when things began to hurt more, I would just push the PCA button and the relief was instant.
After settling down in my room, I was curious to find out what happened to my nipple sensitivity and it appeared to be OK both sides, similar to pre-op. I tried to feel for my nipple over the ace wrapping and cotton pad and I can easily locate both my nipples by touch. I was really relieved to learn this. I was semi awake the rest of the night. It’s been really dry in Scottsdale and that made my mouth and throat dry. I kept asking Jen for ice chips at first, but eventually moved on to drinking lots of water. I have not eaten anything since 8 PM yesterday night so I was pretty hungry. It was too late for Greenbaum food, but Jen brought a blueberry muffin and some soy, honey, sesame chips. These were not ideal but sure tasted good. Jen got a chance to chat with Dr. Meltzer about my surgery. My BA went easy, my pec muscles were quite soft and he had no problems separating it from my chest wall. I had no bruising post op. He stayed as far away from any nerves that might be involved with sensation and my implants were on the small side 275cc on both sides. According to Dr. Meltzer, this implant size would make me a ‘C’ cup. Dr. Meltzer told me I had “normal female” sized areolas, big nipples and good breast development. All these factors made doing BA procedure on me easier for both of us. They are pretty much what one would expect initially post-op, high, hard, swollen and painful. The labiaplasty was pretty much routine. He corrected all of the things we discussed pre-op. It’s no nearly as painful as the BA, but really swollen right now. I kept ice on this area for the entire time I was in bed.
Sleeping was difficult as the nurses come by every hour or two to take your vitals and the racket from the monitoring equipment added to the noise level. It was not a restful night, but I was so relieved to know my nipples are not numb and appear to have normal sensitivity for now. That was a huge weight lifted off my mind. The sleep I got was reduced to a bunch of short naps between being prodded by the nursing staff.
February 2, 2006
I woke up several time during the night thinking about what might happen and If I’m about to do something that I might regret. My last meal was 8:00 PM yesterday and after midnight, I’m not to have any food or drink. This is standard procedure for surgery prep. I finally got out of bed at just after 7:00 AM and Jen soon after. We did our usual morning routine of reading the news and taking one last shower. I packed a few overnight items for my over night stay at Greenbaum and we drove over to Greenbaum surgery center. We went up stairs to visit Amy and Trisha, It was post VAG day one for Amy. We spent a bit of time to chat as this is the first time I have met Trisha. We have emailed and yaked on the phone over the past few years. While this was our first face to face meeting, it was like getting together with old friends. Amy appeared to be doing well this morning. The clock showed it was time for me to sign in for my surgery date. After doing this a few times, you do get to know the routine. The receptionist recognized me and she signed me in. After a short wait, I got called by a clerk to verify my information and check me in.
More time passed and RN Kara called me in, my time is up. At first I did not remember her, but she did. She took my vitals and gave me a gown to change into. I got changed into the gown, put my stuff into a bag. Then one of the nurses braided my hair and we put all that hair into two hair caps. This is what I have done with my hair every time for surgery and it appears to work well. I followed her to stall# 9. RN Joan asked me some more questions about my general health. She gave me a pill to reduce my blood pressure and an anti clot injection. She also put on a pair of those calf compression stockings. RN Joan had problems installing the IV in my arm. She tried once in my hand, but got the IV into my arm. It turns out when you stress over getting this done, your veins drop making IV insertion difficult. One of the nursed went to call Jen who has been waiting for about an hour in the waiting area. Jen appeared and sat next to me while I waited for the next steps in this process to happen. Dr. Williams the gas passer stopped by to chat with me about today’s anesthesia plan and procedures. We discussed meds that he planned to use to day and questioned me about my health history. Once he was done with this, he went off to get the first set of meds for the process. Two of the OR nurses appeared and I remembered one of them, Cindy. They were concerned with how stressed I appeared and asked me why I’m so scared, I told them it was possibility of losing nipple / breast sensitivity from the BA. Cindy told me Dr. Meltzer did her BA two years ago and she has not had any problems or loss of nipple / breast sensitivity, very happy and I should be fine. Dr. Meltzer appeared and we talked about the procedures for today and my concerns were the same as we discussed pre-op and we talked about bicycles and cycling. My surgery time was near and Dr. Williams appeared with what he called, “liquid courage.” He injected the meds into my IV line and I was off to sleepy land just as they began to roll me out of stall# 9.
The next thing I remember was a nurse talking to me in the recovery room (PACU) and told me all went well and they are going to wheel me up stairs to room 11. My time in recovery was short, about one hour. Jen was waiting for me and watched as they got me set up. I was already semi awake and the pain was not excessive, about 5. During my pre-op discussions with Dr. Meltzer, I asked them for a PCA (patient controlled anesthesia) for me to use post-op.
I had one of these for the VAG last year, but did not use it much since the pain level was not very high. It turns out the PCA is a good idea for the BA as I used it much more than when I had the VAG. The pain never got greater than a 6 and when things began to hurt more, I would just push the PCA button and the relief was instant.
After settling down in my room, I was curious to find out what happened to my nipple sensitivity and it appeared to be OK both sides, similar to pre-op. I tried to feel for my nipple over the ace wrapping and cotton pad and I can easily locate both my nipples by touch. I was really relieved to learn this. I was semi awake the rest of the night. It’s been really dry in Scottsdale and that made my mouth and throat dry. I kept asking Jen for ice chips at first, but eventually moved on to drinking lots of water. I have not eaten anything since 8 PM yesterday night so I was pretty hungry. It was too late for Greenbaum food, but Jen brought a blueberry muffin and some soy, honey, sesame chips. These were not ideal but sure tasted good. Jen got a chance to chat with Dr. Meltzer about my surgery. My BA went easy, my pec muscles were quite soft and he had no problems separating it from my chest wall. I had no bruising post op. He stayed as far away from any nerves that might be involved with sensation and my implants were on the small side 275cc on both sides. According to Dr. Meltzer, this implant size would make me a ‘C’ cup. Dr. Meltzer told me I had “normal female” sized areolas, big nipples and good breast development. All these factors made doing BA procedure on me easier for both of us. They are pretty much what one would expect initially post-op, high, hard, swollen and painful. The labiaplasty was pretty much routine. He corrected all of the things we discussed pre-op. It’s no nearly as painful as the BA, but really swollen right now. I kept ice on this area for the entire time I was in bed.
Sleeping was difficult as the nurses come by every hour or two to take your vitals and the racket from the monitoring equipment added to the noise level. It was not a restful night, but I was so relieved to know my nipples are not numb and appear to have normal sensitivity for now. That was a huge weight lifted off my mind. The sleep I got was reduced to a bunch of short naps between being prodded by the nursing staff.
posted by Rupunzell | 1:25 AM
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