I had a hard time falling asleep and didn't rest much. I woke up showered, put my sheets in the washer and before I knew it my ride Michelle was here. I said bye to Brenda and we were off to UCLA. Although my surgery was not until 1 pm they wanted me to check in at 10:30 am. The 405 had light traffic and we were in the carpool lane. We arrived at 10:24 AM and valet parked.
It is a beautiful building and so clean and bright. I had butterflies in my stomach as we walked in and Michelle joked about how fancy it was with valet parking and how it felt like a Vegas casino. Minus the smoke. We checked me in and I felt really nervous and had nausea so they gave me a barf bag which I did use.
They asked us to go to the 2nd floor where we were asked to take a seat and shortly thereafter we were told we would need to wait in the waiting room downstairs until they were ready for us. I felt nausea again so I went to the bathroom and we sat down and I am sure I dozed off as I was so tired. My phone rand heard them call my name and they said I could go back upstairs so off we went.
We waited a couple of minutes and they came to get us and put me in bed 19. My nurse was Bryan - yes, he was young and good looking. I was asked to put on my gown and slippers. Was told I had to pee in a cup and I explained I had just gone so not sure how that would work and if was necessary. Bryan explained that they needed to do a pregnancy test to ensure I was not pregnant. I smiled and said I had a hysterectomy in 2012 so I am pretty sure that as good as I am; there is no way I am pregnant. He smiled and said yes, you're right pretty unlikely.
Dr. Wong (resident anesthesiologist) came in and we went throught the same spill about the anesthesia process and I signed my release etc. Than Dr. Hame came in and she was so friendly and asked how I was so I told them both how I was so nervous and that I threw up downstairs. They both smiled and told me I was in good hands and I didn't need to worry. Than a group of residents came in as they were going to give me a regional anesthesia to block the pain in that area. It was quite interesting that the main doctor to do this was doing so while they took my BP so I knew it was going through the roof. The main doctor for this was a true gentleman and considerate as I would be exposing part of my privates and he kept asking to make sure the curtain was closed. I said it was fine if they residents needed to learn and experience I didn't mind but he said he did.
The anesthesiologist seemed a bit bothered that people just kept coming in and out and asked me to guess how long before someone else came in. I said 30 seconds, My surgery nurse than came in Yoon shortly after that and we laughed.
Yoon was apologetic and I told him it was fine that I didn't care he was going to be there during surgery and would be seeing a lot of me I also told him and Bryan that I was glad they were my nurses. They seemed surprised and I explained that I worked in Human Resources and I always felt it was great to hire engineers that were not males but rather females. So I was glad to see that my staff was going to be a male team - they then said but Dr. Hame is a female. I responded yeah, but look at all the males supporting her - which they laughed and Bryan gave me a high 5.
I was rolled into the OR and I could hear them sawing something which I can only imagine was my ACL from a cadaver - I don;t know but maybe I will remember to ask. I don't recall much but I do remember them wheeling me back to the post op area and feeling groggy.
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