Lesson Learned

So yesterday I learned that even minor surgery is still surgery. And surgery is a pretty taxing event.

My little outpatient procedure was not quite the walk in the park I thought it would be. In fact, I ended up spending the night in the hospital, so it wasn't even outpatient. But it wasn't all bad. For one thing, my anesthesiologist brought his iPod into the operating room, and he let me choose the music. Yay! So what if I would be unconscious? Unfortunately, the 9000 songs in his iPod did not include any English Beat, but he did have The Beatles. So I chose what is, in my opinion, the single best pop album ever crafted: Revolver. I only got to hear two songs before they put me under, but it was comforting to know it was on.

The funniest part was when I woke up in recovery not knowing where I was. I kept trying to get out of bed to use the bathroom, and when the recovery nurse told me I was in the hospital and needed to stay put, I argued with her, saying I was, in fact, at home. What I thought some nurse was doing in my bedroom, I have no idea. But it was pretty amusing. To me, anyway. I bet the recovery nurse was less than impressed, although she probably sees it all the time.

My overnight hospital stay was actually quite lovely. I had all the cable television I could watch, and people kept coming in to check on me and make sure I was okay. And whenever I needed anything, and I mean anything, they were there for me. Except for the surgery part, it was kind of like a little vacation. And because I kept having to get up every two hours thanks to my saline drip, I learned that in the wee hours of the morning American Movie Classics shows greats like The King and I and 9 to 5. Okay, maybe 9 to 5 isn't exactly great, but it surely is a classic.

I admit there was one point last night when I got lonely and scared to be in that little room all by myself in such an infirm state. And I had to cry a little. But it passed quickly. And that tiny moment aside, my lovely sister, Fabulous Patti, took excellent care of me. She took me to the hospital yesterday, went grocery shopping for me while I was having the procedure done, stayed with me until I was told to stay overnight and came back to get me this morning. Family is a wonderful thing; I hope you appreciate yours.

And now I'm back home and ready to settle in for a couple of days of pain medication, magazines and likely more AMC. I'm sore, but otherwise just fine.