Party in the OR

So, back to my endo story... I last left off with my first endo/PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) related visit to the emergency room in September of 2006.  I was sent home with Percocet and told to follow up with my OB/GYN. The following week, I did. During that visit she conducted another ultrasound which confirmed that "too many cysts to count" were still present on my left ovary and I was OFFICIALLY diagnosed with PCOS. From this point on, my abdominal pain remained fairly consistent and I "opted" - I love how that makes it sound like there was some kind of choice involved - to have a diagnostic laparoscopy to determine what else, if anything, was happening inside of me. I had the surgery on October 30, 2006 at the same gorgeous hospital - designed especially for women - where I had, three years prior almost to the exact day (November 3, 2003), delivered my first miracle baby, Elizabeth. Thankfully, there was a different entrance for surgical procedures and labor/delivery so I wasn't bombarded with people coming and going in various states of pregnancy, labor OR delivery.

Not only was this my very first endometriosis surgery, this was also my very first surgery in a hospital - EVER! I had my wisdom teeth removed while I was in college, but I never count that because it happened in the dentist's office. Maybe I should say this was the very first surgery that required me to put on special gear and have a living will in place or the first one that took place in an official operating room!  I just remember not being nervous. I was excited that I would have some answers by the end of the day. I didn't once consider that this procedure was just the very beginning of what was to be a life of chronic medical consultations, procedures, treatments, therapies...oh, sorry...I'm getting ahead of myself. Where was I? Oh yeah, in the waiting room with my husband.

We were called back to pre-op where I was welcomed by a lovely nurse with gorgeous red, curly hair. I remember this very clearly because as a redhead myself, I always wanted the kind of curls that this woman had. She presented me with my "party clothes" - her words, not mine. The party ensemble featured a johnny - not a cheesy paper one like in the office or the ER, but one that actually wrapped all the way around me without ripping AND a matching johnny "robe" that went on normally to cover the back so my rear end wasn't hanging out for the world to see as I later walked myself down the hall to the OR. I was also given socks with grips on the bottom so I wouldn't slip when walking around the linoleum floors. The icing on the "party clothes" cake was my "party hat" - a surgical cap to contain my head of wild red hair. If this had been the time of camera phones or selfies, I would surely have documented my pre-op look for all posterity, but alas... it was 2006.

The placing of my IV went off without a hitch and before they gave me a little bit of pre-op medicine to ease my (now present) nervousness, the doctor came in to talk with me about what would be happening after I was sedated. I was very thankful for my OB/GYN at the time. As a Christian, she prayed with me before she left the room and this put both my husband and I at ease. I also knew that my husband would be praying for me in the waiting room throughout my procedure.

It was just about time to head back to the OR, so the nurse came to deliver my pre-operative calming cocktail via IV. I left my glasses with my husband and followed her blindly through sterile hallways and double doors to the OR. There, in a the glaringly white room, I was asked to get up onto the operating table and the last thing I remember was someone saying..."There she goes..." I fell asleep thinking about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.  All of my favorite things... Completely unaware of what awaited me on the other side.