| I awoke at 4:40 AM after a short night of sleep at my daughter Alex's house. Alex, Cathy, and I got ourselves ready. I shaved and showered and didn't swallow when I brushed my teeth. Alex drove us to Jefferson Hospital at 11th and Chestnut. I went right up to the 9th floor lounge and check-in (which consisted of writing my name and Dr. Strup's on a slip of paper), arriving at 5:58 AM. Alex and Cathy were there with me soon thereafter. In a few minutes, I kissed Alex as Cathy and I were led back to a staging area. I changed into a hospital gown and was asked to write with a marker, "left side" and initials on what I thought was the left side of my body. Nobody checked me for accuracy. I kissed Cathy and was asked to lie on the gurney to be pushed to the pre-op room (my terminology). There was one nurse in charge of the room which looked like a maintenance garage with gurneys being pushed in and parked in stalls along the walls of the large room. The nurse said that in a few minutes, when the doctors arrived, the room would quite fill up. Sure enough, a flood of doctors inundated the room. My first doctor of the day, a Chinese urology resident, handed me a surgical cap for my head. I put on the cap and then was approached by Russian and Korean anesthesiology residents. The Russian was evidently the senior of the pair. He set out to find the best vein in my right arm for the IV. He kept a running commentary going as he prodded and tapped my arm to find "her." Once he was satisfied with his choice, he turned over the insertion of the IV to the Korean resident, who was a bit nervous and more than a bit annoyed at the incessant patter of the Russian. He accomplished his mission and moved to the center of the room which was beginning to look like lunchtime at a British Pub with all of the residents congratulating each other and trading stories. The Russian asked if I wanted something to relax me; I learned how to answer this type of question years ago when I asked an orthodontist, "Does my daughter need braces?" The Russian injected something into the injection valve near the entrace of the IV into my right hand. Then the Russian strode importantly to the social center of the room. I felt something cool and wet on my right hand and wrist. When I looked, I saw that my IV was leaking from the area of the injection valve just used. I attracted the attention of my Korean resident who immediately asked an Indian doctor for help. The Indian had a different kind of surgical cap on and looked important. I would have grabbed him too. The Indian gave a few orders and replaced the faulty tubing in my IV. Next, an orderly pushed my gurney a long, long way down to the operating room. I was wheeled into an already lively room where I was greeted by two nurses and the three residents I had seen so far. A couple of the guys transferred me onto the operating table and set up some arm rests. I was beginning to think that I might be awake for this operation. The Korean resident forewarned me and then put an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose. Normally I would get a vicious panic attack at this point, but my minor procedure in January had put me through the paces of some of this process and I was comfortable with turning over all control to the operating room staff. The Korean resident also told me that he would be putting a tube down my throat later; I didn't think I needed to know that, but it turned out later that I was wrong. The last thing I heard in the operating room was the Russian resident saying, "I like to do it slowly." Fade slowly to black......and slowly become conscious again in the recovery room where I hear one nurse say to another, "Don't worry about his pulse - it dropped to 35 in the operating room." I knew that they were talking about me since I've been running a resting pulse of about 40. I think what awoke me were the constantly inflating and deflating sleeves over my lower legs. These contraptions are intended to prevent blood clots, but they are bloody annoying. As I became less woozy and heard that there was a problem finding me a room, Cathy and Alex joined me. They had talked to Dr. Strup after the surgery. He said that it was a "fun operation" of four hours and lots of interesting activities. He had to remove my existing stent, sever my ureter, reshape my kidney pelvis into a funnel shape, "zap" out the twenty or so stones, reattach the ureter to the bottom of the pelvis, and insert a new stent. I was pretty much out of it as I talked with Alex and Cathy. They were finally kicked out of the recovery room and I was finally moved to my room by "Tony" the gurney pusher. Tony knew all of the good-looking women along the way. As I was rolled into my room, I saw that Alex and Cathy had preceded me. I also saw the nurse, Suzanne Giacobbe, who had been part of my pre-op testing on June 26. She said that when she heard about the pulse rate she knew that I was coming. She had a heck of a time getting my pulse before and ended up getting it from my ankle. I think that I talked to a few people on the telephone with Cathy's help, but it's too fuzzy for me to recall much about it. I was still pretty much out of it when Alex and Cathy left at about 4:30 PM. By now I had discovered that the TV only had a few channels, no Weather Channel, and movies only on AMC and TCM. I was served a "clear liquid" dinner with Jello as the best part. Since my dinner included chicken broth, I told Suzanne that I'm a vegetarian. I discovered that I had a catheter inserted so I wouldn't need to use the bathroom. I also had a thick tube coming out of my left side into a drain bulb. My other daughter Katie and her husband Tom arrived after dinner with a card and the gift of a tour guide to Spain. I was still pretty doped up during their visit, but I certainly appreciated them making the trip and I hoped that they would reward themselves with a dinner at Roman Delight on the way home. After Katie and Tom left, I knew that my mental faculties were very limited as I found myself enjoying network TV. Many nurses and residents came by to prod me and test me as the evening wore on. I finally slept a bit overnight. |