So Long! Buh Bye!

Yesterday was surgery day, and now I am minus one gallbladder!  Hopefully after recovery, I will be feeling much better without my stony friend.

Let the adventure begin!

Before I went in, I was told my surgery would take about an hour, and I'd probably spend about another hour in recovery, then I would be able to go home.  I was wheeled into the operating room right at 8 a.m., so imagine my surprise when I woke up in the recovery room at 10:15 a.m.!

Chad was in the room with me, he'd just gotten there after speaking to the doctor, and I asked him why was I so long in surgery.  He said we'd talk about it later. Talk about making my heart jump! I said,  "No, we'll talk about it now!"

I'd had a minor complication.  As the doctor was doing the internal sutures, way down inside, the suture needle broke.  The doctor said he knew there was a problem when only half the needle came back out when he went to complete that stitch.  He had to open up a much larger incision in order to find it and get it out, so instead of four small punctures, I have three small puncturs and one 3" to 4" inch incision; this is what I was told, it's under a dressing I've been ordered not to remove, so I haven't been able to see it for myself (the little ones all look good).  Hunting for the "needle in a haystack"-AKA-my innards, took some time and then the extra large hole had to be closed up, so that's why I was so long in the operating room.

Whew! That's all it was!  I was really worried there for a minute!  Turns out Chad wasn't really trying to soften the blow, he just didn't think I was awake enough to remember anything yet, and he didn't want to have to tell me over and over again.  Turns out, I was plenty awake!

Poor Chad!  During my extended surgery, he was out in the waiting room, really wondering what was going on and why it was taking so long.  After awhile, he started hearing the receptionist calling the other surgical patients on the schedule to tell them to come about 45 minutes later than they were originally told.  Finally, the doctor came out and got Chad, and explained the delay. 

My doctor is a wonderful Christian man, and I know he felt terrible about what happened.  He told Chad he wasn't sure why the needle broke, must have twisted it just right or something, and he was very apologetic about the whole thing.  We could tell he felt badly about it, but I'm not upset in the least.  Of all the possible complications he told me about before my surgery, this was by far preferable to any of those!  Yes, I will have a longer recovery time, and my belly will be more swollen and sore for awhile (I definitely will NOT be doing any sit-ups in the near future, and getting out of bed is not very fun), but all's well that ends well!