Just for my records, really. Let’s see. Where to start?

George and I got to the hospital at 7 am on Tuesday, with a scheduled start time of 11:15ish. (I thought it was 10:15, but maybe it was pushed back. Or maybe I remembered wrong. Whatever.) We got put into a room where I changed into a gown and an IV was placed, and many questions were asked. My mom and Larry arrived and not long afterwards, my glasses were taken from me (the horror! I was blind!) and a nice man wheeled me back to the pre-op area. It was fun. I got to pretend I was driving the stretcher.

More waiting and squinting and listening to what the nurses were saying to other people (I’m not sure how HIPAA plays into this, but they sure don’t seem to worry too much about privacy in certain situations) and eventually my doctor came to say hi. He marked my back where he was going to cut, and I verified it was the correct side. I think he may have autographed me as well.

More nice nurses came back and talked to me, and then my favorite one came. The one who put Versed into my IV. My only experience with Versed is from when the boys got it before their ear tube surgery. I was looking forward to feeling like this:

especially since I hadn’t had a glass of wine in days.

Sadly, I don’t remember a whole lot after that. I know they came by and put an oxygen mask on my face, and then, seriously, just like everyone told me (but I didn’t believe could be true), I woke up in recovery. Crazy! Seriously, so weird. Where was I? They put me in the OR, flipped me over, cut into my spine, sucked out a large herniation, sewed me back up, and I never even knew a thing. Magic.

I have vague memories of recovery. Not too dissimilar from post-c-section. There was a lot of trembling. A nasal cannula. People talking to me. And then I was put in my post-surgery room for the night. I got a real remote for my TV, that was nice. I was hooked up to an IV and a drain (ew.) I got up to use the bathroom not long after I emerged from the fog. There was some pain, sure, but nothing terrible. Of course, there was still some anesthesia coursing through my veins, so I took some pain pills as recommended.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur. Some pretty flowers (and very very very nicely scented) were delivered from my coworkers, and my friend Stephanie came to visit. George hung out with me for a while too, and brought me a better dinner than the hospital offered. (Ick.)

And basically I dozed off and on all evening and night. Not too shabby.

My doctor came in the morning to change my bandage and remove the drain (ew ew ew) which meant I was no longer hooked up to anything (the IV had been unhooked the night before.) So that was nice. I got visits from Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy. They taught me how to get out of bed and we practiced going up and down stairs.

And…that’s about it. My mom came and got me around noon, and we went home. George retrieved the boys from his parents’ house that evening, and it was so good to see them. My mom made pot roast and mashed potatoes for dinner, and I got to lay on the sofa and watch Bones all night.

I have another week and a half of recuperation before I go back to work, and another four weeks after that of being very careful (no bending or lifting or twisting). I’m hopeful I’ll get to start walking in the morning with the girls sometime in the next month, but we’ll just have to see how everything goes.

Thanks for all of the well-wishes!