When things don't go as planned :( (Part 1 of 2)

So Friday was it!  Operation Day, the start of the rest of my life and all that other cheesy stuff.  I was over the fear and anxiety of the op, and uber excited.  So packed and ready with my 15.1 kilos lost - off to the hospital I went, but not before a couple of pics to hopefully show progress!

Week 6

Week 1

 (So a skirt for the week 6 photo - but you get the idea there is some change going on! )

And off to Boulcott Hospital I went.  Joan and Anthony came in with me, we waited briefly (it is a private hospital - so are actually treated like people) and then was taken to my room.

The room - I shared with another woman, but had complete privacy and a shared bathroom for the both of us - nice too.  The admin lady even went through the features.  I had a tv with sky (even movies and sport), the dom post and a list of options for my "fluids" after the op.  Sweet!  On the bed was my burgundy gown and the shower cap used to wear in surgery.

My nurse came in and went through general checks, blood pressure, O2 rate, heart rate etc, and gave me some ever so sexy white opaque pressure socks to put on....they were truly styling!

The anaesthetist then came in, asked more questions, checked my teeth and went through risks which included possible allergies to the drugs (how if I had known that was very important!) and the risk of breaking teeth when they intubated me (ACC covers it though - so all good really), also how I would feel, what would happen, and sign the consent forms for him.

Then Atul the surgeon popped in for more briefing and consent signing, and also said how pleased he was with my weight loss to date (yay).

Then it was waiting for a little while - then on with the shower cap and off to theatre.  I was pumped!

I was wheeled down the hall in the bed, chatting away to the nurses (no one looks like the tv doctors and nurses I found...) and arrived in the very white and stainless steel new operating theatre.  Felt a bit space age, but the surgeons seemed most excited and very eager to show it off.  Apparently, it has cameras in it, so if they want to broadcast it to the world, they can.  My response:

"This op better not end up on You Tube."  - I got laughs, I was happy.

Next the anaesthetist started to try and find the vein for the various drugs to give me and send me on my merry way to unconsciousness.  This was not to be easy.  I had warned them my veins (even regardless of fat factor have always been sneaky and hard to find).  So after many pokes and prods they got a line in for the anaesthesia to go in.  This is when I decided to say:

"Looks like you are going to have to earn your money today looking for my veins."  The theatre nurses erupted in laughter. I'm thinking now, when a guy is poking needles into you - maybe leave the jokes until later...oh well!

Right, then once I had the pillow under the head situation sorted - apparently the head at the right height is important - I was given an oxygen mask - my lungs needed as much pure oxygen in them as possible to proceed with the anaesthetic and muscle relaxants (stop twitching, and enable tubes down my throat without gagging etc).  Then the drugs started going in, I thought I was nodding off, but thats when my body and events decided to take a different path, and I went into Anaphylactic shock.