Woke up at 9:30 AM the day of surgery...I have been a "professional" sleeper since I was a kid and at times like this it serves me well. I ran some errands and got to the hospital at 12:30 & proceeded to wait.
At 2:00 I was taken back for surgery prep....and it was a whirlwind. Questions...IVs...meeting nurses, anesthesiologists, surgeons, assistants....the list goes on. When I was finally wheeled into the operating room (OR) there was 10 people in the room and Dr Ghiselli and his assistant Renee were not even in the room yet. That freaked me out just a little...it was kind of like....oh wow....they are really taking this seriously. And if you have not been in an OR lately...the temperature is kept at a breezy 60 - 65 degrees Fahrenheit...a bit cool....and I like it cool....especially if you are wearing one of those stylish hospital gowns ;-)
In addition to the the surgeon, I had an anesthesiologist, a neuro tech that "wired me for sound", two nurses, X-ray technicians, and several others. The neuro tech was interesting...he placed electric probes up and down my right side to monitor nerve activity....he was present in the OR the whole time....he first took a baseline...then as Ghiselli worked...he watched for any abnormal activity with my nerves and neural system...it was very cool...and to top it off there was an MD neurology specialist monitoring the whole thing remotely (or at least I like to think he was doing that instead of posting to Facebook)....it was VERY reassuring.
I also took note of the surgical table....an interesting contraption that supposedly simulates you "standing up"...the surgeon wants to set spacing between the vertebra (prior to fusing) at the same distance that would be found if you were standing. It supports you at your hips, knees, and chest (and maybe somewhere else) but you get the general gist. I was moved to that table (and catheterized...yea) AFTER I was put under. Also the lighting was intense..turn those babies on and you could probably see things inside my stomach.
So I was laying there waiting for Dr Ghiselli to show up for the "opening ceremonies"...and all of a sudden I am in the recovery room...what the hell?? The anesthesiologists are sneaky little bastards aren't they? I did not even get to hear what music Ghiselli was rocking out to (supposedly the surgeon gets to pick). I was talking to the nurse (cute and flirty...but married) when I was "beamed up to the recovery room"....not a "Star Trek" theme song to be heard.
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