Sunday, February 11, 2018

The Surgery and Result

I hardly slept at all on Tuesday night, February 6, 2018.  The removal of the fiery mass was to be today.  James drove me over to Scripps and I was urging him to hurry from outside his bedroom door but it only took 10 minutes even with the fog and darkness on the roads we took.  We were still there at 5:22 am...early.

James parked right in front and walked in with me and although it said to check in downstairs the receptionist said I should check in there and she accepted my Directive to be put in the file.  Seems I always end up at Scripps for my procedures, they should have it.

Maria arrived and we went downstairs to Surgery reception and James left when a nurse came for us and we spent the next hour and a half preparing for surgery.  She told us about My Scripps as an app where we could view all my medical information but she thought we needed a code.  Maria was able to figure it out and we read that all my blood work was normal.  Ekg looked good.  The CT Scan was not in there yet. More information needs to be added for a complete record...I could supply some.  I gave the nurse the release to send pertinent information to my D.O. in Chester Dr. Nilhoufar Salhiji from both Dr. Konijeti and Dr. Weston.

Dr. Kim the anesthesiologist came and asked questions, the stress test from Dr. Fletcher was not in the file.  Then Dr. Weston came and she had received the stress test late yesterday and said it was a medium in June 1917 (not as good as I had implied--or as recent).  I told her I was in much better shape now as I was about 25 pounds heavier in June.  She asked me how I did with stair climbing and I told her I am running up and down them all day and no problem.  I weighed in at 128.9 and 5 ft 3 1/2 inches today.  As I said before, she seemed more worried about a heart attack on the table than what she was going to do.

Next thing I knew I was in surgery and Dr. Kim explained I would be in the typical wman gyno exam with my feed in stirrups  (I had asked...always curious)1for the surgery but they would not be doing that until I was asleep.  It will be a general anesthesia and not a spinal.  I assured him I had never vomited.  The only problem I had was having a stuffed nose and difficulty in breathing but since I gave up dairy last summer the phlegm was no longer a problem.  Interesting he said.

I woke up but was cold, the nurse seemed to be in a hurry to get me out but I know she has others coming in.  The next nurse I was taken to was very cheerful and I was soon dressed and ready to go home.  Maria was there and we head back on 101 and to the pharmacist.

The recovery has been fairly smooth and new favorite treatment is the sitz bath.  Maria bought it when she picked up my prescription on the way home.  One of the medications cost $259 (for numbing the area) so the pharmacist recommended taking an over the counter which was 4% lidocaine instead of 5%.  It works fine and I noticed the one they sent home with me was only 4% also.  The pain pills are great.  I can see why people could get addicted to them.  At any rate I think she must have done a very careful cut because my pain is not that bad!!!

Sunday on my phone I finally got the final result of the pathology report!!!  (I could have had it sooner but my phone froze and I didn't figure out how to unfreeze it until this morning.)  It is clear and I am definitely A-ok with no cancer!!!  Yea!!!  I do have some high numbers on the CT Scan and am being sent to my urologist to see what that is all about and I do have gallstones but they are not blocking anything and I do not have kidney stones so what is the high numbers about?  We will see maybe tomorrow, nice my urologist is so close.

The only surgery I had in Glendive was the tonsil removal.  At Sharp Hospital in San Diego I had three caesareans and one natural birth from 1960 through 1966.  At my last ceasarean they also tied my tubes and removed my appendix.  I had a hysterectomy and tied up my bladder in 1967 at Scripps La Jolla.  At Scripps La Jolla I was in traction for my back for 1 week in 1977 and the resection of my finger in 1979 (chopped off in blender),  At Scripps Mercy I had the carotid surgery in 2010 by Dr James Hemp, At Green Hospital the lumbar laminectomy in 2011 by Dr Roger Thorne, Colonoscopy in 2011 in Escondido by Dr. Feldman, Cataract Surgery for right eye in 2013 by Dr. Christopher Hsu at El Cajon Hospital, Endoscopy and Colonscopy with polypectomy on Friday by Dr. Gauree Konijeti (woman),  and now the transanal excision of the ulcerated pedunculated rectal mass (rectal polypod)  by Dr. Lynn Weston (woman) in 2018.  Dr. Diana Kang is my Scripps Urologist in Encinitas.

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