Oophorectomy

There’s nothing quite like waking up after a procedure and seeing a crowd of people in scrubs around you. It’s frightening and surreal. When I woke up after the procedures, I wondered if I had made it through. I had two procedures that day, but first things first.

Shortly after my CT scan, a nurse called to tell me that alongside a looming oophorectomy, I had three good-sized kidney stones. I made an appointment with a urologist, a Dr. Thibault, and at that consult it was decided that he would zap the kidney stones with a laser on the same day of the oophorectomy. I was in a rush to get it done and was secretly hoping they’d be ready to go right there and then.

I took the week of the operation off from work so that I could go to all of my pre-op appointments. Although my bone pain is mostly gone, fatigue sets in much faster than it used to and I felt I needed the extra time off. It might not have been the right call because it’s taking me a little longer to recover than I’d anticipated. I’m on fairly serious pain medication and that helps, but I feel a little guilty for taking it.

Katie wanted to be home for the weekend and we couldn’t say no. I know it gave her a lot of peace of mind to be here. When I picked her up, we had lunch and did a little shopping and it was like she never left.

I’ve determined that there’s a certain rhythm at play during any kind of operation involving anesthesia. Kind of a hurry-up-and wait feeling, like I’m backstage watching actors getting ready for a play. Once in a while, a nurse pops in and takes vitals, and then there’s more waiting, and then suddenly all the doctors and a thousand nurses are all around and everybody needs to go RIGHT NOW. I’ve gotten used to this rhythm.

The weekend went by too fast. I was enjoying my first free weekend in a while with my family, even though I was still recovering.