I have been down this road to surgery before and I am pretty good at the preparations. But a good review always helps. We all know that when we get on that surgery table we are in our birthday suits until they decide to cover us with the large blue paper towel so these are my top three tip before surgery.
1. Shaving - I'm sure it's not attractive to lay there and let everyone see your leg hairs are long enough to be braided. I know my insides aren't going to be attractive, but there's nothing I can to about that. So, I will shave (but I don't want to do it too soon because I don't want to do it twice this week.)
2. Nails - I don't know if anyone else out there has ugly toes (a few years ago I studied at my dad's toes for the first time and I know where mine came from) but I like to polish them to make them look as much like normal as I can. A word of warning: if your finger nails are painted a dark color they will make you take it off because it screws up the oxygen monitor on your finger. So this time I am going for a bright pink on my toes and light shimmery pink (called first kiss) on my fingers!
3. Shower - This is a must have either the night before or the morning of surgery. That's right, nobody wants to stink underneath that blue paper towel. And, that's about all I have to say about that...
Then before you leave for the hospital there are some things you should have ready at home for your return.
1. Crackers, ice chips and diet coke. This is for all the nausea your going to have every time you move.
2. This could be the most important. You will definitely need entertainment. So if you don't have enough, borrow books and movies. This is also a time to do some simple sewing projects like cross stitching, crocheting, embroidery. Or there is the inevitable sleep from your pain induced coma.
3. And don't forget the endless supply of internet access so you can have contact with someone from the outside world so you don't go completely insane. This is a 2 recovery process we are talking about.
Best of all is the amazing nurse you have to take care of you, in my case my mom, until I run her ragged and then we may have to pay for a nanny service, or hire my niece to babysit me :0)
4 comments:
I totally didn't know about the nail polish...how weird. Also, on my second surgery many moons ago I knew that I got violently sick from the anesthetics and I asked them if they could do something about it and they put anti-nausea in the drip and it worked wonders.
Sorry if this comment is strange. But, I have been thinking about you a lot and wishing you the best. I am so so so sorry that you have to go through this. But, I have always looked up to you. You are an amazingly strong woman! Good luck with everything! ~Natalee (Smith) Francom
You ought to see if you can get a copy right on this and sale it to the hospitals!:) Shawn and I were both laughing as we read, so I know it would entertain everybody, PLUS it's full of insightful things to do that only someone that has been through surgeries could know.
Good luck, Shelley! We were hoping to come visit you before your big day, but I guess our visit will save for after-wards. See, I learned something else from your blog - that it helps to have contact with people from the outside world. I've always wondered about that...
Anyways, we'll be thinking about you!
You are So prepared!!! You go!!! I've been thinking so much about you the past few days. Call when you're up to it!
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