my very first

I had surgery yesterday morning - my first one ever.

Not a big deal, but I had to have a mass taken out of my back. First I went to my regular doctor. She said that it was a little too big to do in her office so she sent me to my surgeon who saw it and told me that he thinks it's even too big for his office and we need to schedule an appointment for an operating room. So it has been a process of a few months but my surgery was yesterday.

I got there at 5:45 a.m. EARLY. I got my blood tested all the good pre-surgery stuff. Kelsey took me to the hospital. But Michelle and grandma came too. It was a family affair.

Then I met up with my nurse who had me change and hooked me to the IV - the whole time I held on to Kelsey's hand. Ew needles. Ouch. Gross. While she was hooking me up, I was singing "Outside," a wonderful song from Signing Time that my kids always sing. I was humming and singing and trying to make noises to keep from squealing/screaming. It wasn't actually that bad and once it was in, it was in - and I was quickly out of it.

Michelle told me that we were all giggling, waiting for the surgery to actually happen. I guess I was fairly entertaining in my drugged up state, yet conscious enough to laugh at what was happening. I had Kelsey and Michelle laughing so hard that they were going to pee their pants. See, I AM the funny. We were all crying...must have been a good waiting room.

So next they were prepping me and this I do not remember. The nurse was putting my hair back and was commenting on how thick and beautiful my hair is and I said, "It's really good today, like a lion's mane." ha really? I would say something like that? Next I remember being in the actual operating room and them asking me to switch to another bed. I roll over and they lay a blanket over my head and put the nasal oxygen tube just in there with me. I was asleep instantly.

Then I was back in the waiting room and they were waking me up. I woke up to see the familiar face of the surgeon I had met a week earlier. "Dr. Petersen! A face a recognize. I haven't seen you at all yet." Michelle said he was just smiling the whole time. Then it was time for Michelle to go back to work. I kept asking her not to go and to stay with me. I was even reaching out for her to make her stay. Cute.

I was in and out of sleep for the next couple of hours and thus in an out of conversation with my nurses and poor Kelsey. I woke up with a pretty bad headache and got some good medicine for that. Kelsey and I went to Smith's after and I was really feeling ok, just my numb back. Mike came over after his class and even brought me some soup from Bajio's. The poor kid - I was all over the place. Ah my head hurts. Oh no, I am going to be sick. OHHH and the hiccups I got - on and off ALL day. That was the worst.

I am still on pain killers and I still have random thoughts from the few hours that I don't remember and I will laugh and laugh.