I just drank 1700mg of Sodium. in a “Phospho-Soda,” to be exact. Sodium phosphate. They say it’s “Ginger Lemon flavor,” and it is, for about the first sip. After that, your tastebuds are blinded by the salt. And you know that you’re drinking 4 ounces of very highly concentrated salt. It’s all you can do not to gag and throw it all back up.
So. I’m supposed to pound liquids until bedtime, and then have another Salt Soda at 4:30am. Check-in is at 10:30, and my surgery is scheduled for noon. After 4:30 I’m not supposed to have any food or drink at all, except for “essential medicines.” I’m guessing Zyrtec probably isn’t on that list, so I guess I won’t take that.
I’m anxious, yeah. Nervous? Not really nervous. I know that the surgeon is really good and the anesthesiologist is someone my father trusts a lot, so I feel very good about who will be working on me tomorrow. I’m not nervous about the surgery, or that they’ll have a hard time fixing my problem. I think that will all go just fine. What I’m concerned about is the recovery, especially with two little kids in the house. I’m not the best at resting when I’m supposed to, though I did better than anyone thought I would last year while on bedrest. And I’m going to have to rest so that I can heal from tomorrow. It will not be easy.
In the hospital, I’m likely to have lots of extra tubing running into and out of me, and pain pump to keep me on top of the pain so that my body can concentrate on healing rather than hurting. I probably won’t be mobile for the first few days, and I’m probably not going to feel very social. Any of you that are thinking of visiting in the hospital, please plan to wait until I am in the comfort of my home, and visit me here. Ronda will have the latest information from Jerry about my visitation wishes, if you need to know. But based on the kind of surgery I’m having, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to want a party in my room the way I’ve had after both girls were born.
I love you all, and thank you for the well-wishes — you can always call me at the hospital — and thank you for letting me rest.