Tina's Tubal

Well, we got to the hospital at about noon, as instructed. By that time, I was more hungry than nervous, since you're not supposed to eat or drink anything for 12 hours before the surgery. Ray was more scared than I was, and he was also feeling a bit guilty for being too chicken to get snipped himself, although I didn't mind being the one since I'm the one who could get pregnant. Anyway, they brought us to a small room with a stretcher-type bed and a chair, and gave me an open-backed gown and some ugly (but warm) brown socks to put on. Got into the gown (with Ray's help tying it in back), put on the socks, and got under the warmed blanket they brought me. The nurse came in to take my blood pressure and temperature, and asked me all sorts of questions (any allergies?, etc.) and put an IV into my hand. Then the anesthesiologist came in to explain that when the time came he'd put the anesthetic into my IV and that'd put me down for the count. Then my GYN came in to say hi and ask if we had questions, and told me I could take off the band-aids tomorrow and shower, "no matter what they tell you." She also gave Ray a prescription for Percoset for me. Sat there a while longer, and then the nurse came to wheel me into the Operating Room.

It was freezing in there, but I wasn't awake very long so it didn't matter. As the OR staff were getting themselves ready, the anesthesiologist stuck a needle in the IV port, I started to get dizzy, and the next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery area afterwards. Had a little pain -- the nurse asked me to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being nothing and 10 being unbearable), and I gave it about a 2 or 3. She gave me a couple ice chips on a spoon, I sat there a while, and then they wheeled me back to the small room where I'd been originally and called Ray back in from the waiting room. I was still pretty spacey from the drugs. In a while, though, I needed to pee, so a nurse helped me to the bathroom, wheeling my little IV stand. Got back to the room on my own, and the nurse had me sit in the reclining chair instead of on the bed. She brought me some apple juice, I drank it and sat there a while longer, and they asked if I wanted to go home. That's all I wanted at that point, so she repeated what the doctor had said about taking the band-aids off the next day and showering, and also told me not to take any tub baths, swim, or do any bending or heavy lifting. Then she took out the IV, told Ray to bring the car out front, and she wheeled me out there in a  wheelchair. This was about 5 p.m.

I was afraid that I'd have trouble getting up the stairs at home (we have a townhouse that's on the 2nd and 3rd levels of our building), but I managed it fine. I crashed out on the couch while Ray went to get my prescription filled. He made me some rice, since the nurse had said not to eat anything too spicy or anything that might upset my stomach. I wasn't nauseous, but I also wasn't hungry; however, since I hadn't eaten all day I figured I should eat something. I ate as much of the rice as I could, and basically just stayed on the couch, semi-conscious from the aftereffects of the anesthesia and from the Percoset, until about 8:30, when I decided to just go up to bed. I only woke up once during the night to pee and take another Percoset (after making sure it was at least 6 hours since the last one), and slept through till morning. Woke up pretty early because I'd gone to sleep so early.

This morning I feel much better; there's only a little pain, and that's only when I move too suddenly or cough, so I just took some Advil and some Benadryl to help stop the coughing from my damn allergies, and Ray got me breakfast from Dunkin' Donuts before he left for work. Unless someone kicks me in the stomach before then, I'll likely be going to work tomorrow.

The hospital experience was also much more pleasant than I expected it to be. Not one nurse batted an eye when they found out that I 1) was having a tubal, and 2) had no children before this. All of them basically agreed that anyone who really doesn't want kids shouldn't be having them, and no one gave me a hard time about it. It was pretty awesome when you consider the reactions of a lot of people when you confess to being childfree! 

I took off the band-aids this morning before showering, and the cuts are so tiny that I'm amazed they could do the  operation through them! One's in my belly button and the other is below my pubic hairline, so even if there are scars (and I doubt there will be, given how tiny these cuts are), they should be well hidden. I have 2 stitches in each incision.

It's funny, I kinda feel like I haven't gotten my money's worth with those tiny cuts. ;-)

When I called the doctor's office today and told the receptionist that I'd had a tubal yesterday and needed to make a follow-up appointment, she sounded surprised and asked how old I am. I told her I was 30, and she commented that that seemed a really young age to get a tubal. I refrained from asking why no one questions when someone my age has 5 kids, though I was tempted. Anyway, my doctor is childfree herself -- when I saw her at my last exam and I brought up the subject of a tubal, she said during our conversation, "I've delivered 1,100 babies and I still don't want one of my own!"

So that's my tubal experience. By far, the worst part of it was the dizzy, spacey feeling from the anesthesia -- the pain has not been bad at all. I wouldn't want to do it again, but even if I'd known exactly how I'd feel (and you never can, no matter how many others describe it to you, because everyone's different and because hearing about it is never the same as actually going through it), I'd still have done it.

Tina

Contact your local chapter: http://members.shaw.ca/nokiddingchapterone/06.htm

Contact our media spokespeople: spokespeople@nokidding.net

(8  APR 05)