SNIP, SNIP, STAPLE AND STITCH

SNIP, SNIP, STAPLE AND STITCH 

First of all, i just have to laud the Indian Healthcare system, i now know why it's the preferred healthcare destination. They are thorough, quick and efficient. Once you're admitted, they bring you an incentive spirometer to help you exercise your lungs, it helps with breathing after surgery is done in the abdominal area. So all i did the day before the surgery was carry the spirometer with me everywhere and inhaled and exhaled every 15 minutes, to be honest i did not enjoy it...but i did get my fair share of oxygen. I was put on a liquid diet for 24 hours in preparation for the surgery. The blood tests were frequent as expected but there was this ONE test, just thinking about it gives me the shivers. So apparently there's an artery vein that runs straight into the wrist joint and they had to collect blood from that specific vein to determine oxygen levels for surgery. So the cool gadget they had used earlier to highlight the veins couldn't be used because the vein they wanted was deeper 😢, so imagine a syringe being moved in, out and around your wrist as they search for it 😡 and the nurse telling you to be strong and i'm like yeah you'd say that because it's not your wrist. Either way they found it and i knew they had found it when i started going numb on the right side of my body, let's just say she was nice enough to give me pain medication that induced sleep because that's a feeling i never want to go through ever again. As for the people who are considering this procedure, keep in mind, pain thresholds vary and what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right? 😃

So 8th of December arrives and a beautiful Friday morning it was. I was woken up bright and early in the morning for the usual pre-surgery preparations such as shaving and sterilization of the abdominal area. You could tell these guys were used to this and that they could do it with their eyes closed. Unfortunately or fortunately there was a language barrier and i had to heavily rely on the head nodding to know whether it was a go or not. I also brushed up on the little Indian i could understand and speak through watching Bollywood movies that were in PLENTY.
I was wheeled into the ICU at 1:30PM and was put on machines to monitor breathing, blood pressure and the works. I was with four other patients who were all waiting to undergo the surgery as well. I was taken into theater 15 minutes later and all i remember was being amazed at all the gadgets, don't get me wrong, I've had 6 other surgeries before but you could tell this one was SERIOUS and a LIFE CHANGER...everything was cold, shiny, bright lights, bigger and serious machines. The anesthetist comes in and tells me to bring out my hand and they proceed to strap me up on the operating table from my legs to my hands and finally the head because it's serious right 😄😄😄. So he proceeds to inject this milky white thing into my veins and i kid you not, i knew my veins were singing "FIRE, FIRE, BURN"...and next thing i knew, i was trying to wake up. The procedure only takes 45 minutes but rights all the wrongs in your life....can i hear an AMEN. So all i can hear is breathe, breathe heavily and i'm scared to because you just operated me in the same area you're asking me to use HEAVILY. Needless to say, i had to and i slept again to wake up in ICU and the first urge i had was to wake up and use the loo...but my friends, reality hit me like a BUS. I was irritable and in pain but i just didn't know where the pain was, all i wanted to do was sleep on my side (the little things we take for granted). My first question to the nurses was "why can't i feel the pain in my stomach, because that's the first thing you'd expect right? Well no. I decided i was going to stand up and i did, to walk to the loo only to realise halfway that maybe just maybe it wasn't such a good idea. I looked around and saw my other fellow patients in deep sleep and i was extremely jealous of them. I'm sure i had this face...

As i sat on the side of my bed, i asked myself WHY? WAS IT NECESSARY? LIFE WAS OKAY BEFORE, PLUS WE ALL CAN'T LOOK THE SAME. Long story short, they hooked me up on some really good pain medication and i was waking up the next morning and just grateful to GOD that i wasn't in pain anymore.
The next morning as they were taking me to my room, a lady nurse, helped me out of the wheelchair and told me to walk with her because she wanted to show me something. I followed her to a window that had a beautiful view of the hills and she told me to enjoy the view and fresh air because i made it and in that moment, i realised the language of kindness and love. She didn't have to do what she did for me but she did and it's at that point i just broke down crying and regretting my decision to travel alone because all you want at that moment is the warm embrace of your mother. The lessons in life had already started to make sense in those moments.A special thanks to the doctors and nurses for their kindness. As always, in whatever we do let's choose to spread love.