Jay and my mom were so great helping me get everything ready to go. My mom gave me her Alex and Ani anchor bracelet that morning, which really touched me. I recently told her that I wanted an anchor tattoo and that anchors now meant a lot to me. (In the beginning of my journey I saw a picture of an anchor with a quote saying "I will not sink" and held that close to me the entire journey) I wore the bracelet all the way until I had to change, and then had her wear it for me.
As we left the house, Jay looked at me very seriously and asked if I was ready. I told him "Yes! Let's go get this done. Team healthy!" He just kinda looked at me, then smiled and hugged me. I can say that I surprised myself with my attitude, but really, how else could I be?
We got to Shands, and checked in and sat in a room full of people (and lots of children) We waited for over an hour and a half. I am not a fan of waiting, but especially not when I was not allowed to eat or drink past midnight, and was now STARVING! When I was called, it was like a cattle call - 5 patients and their families are ushered down the hall and up an elevator, to one big room of beds and curtains. This was nothing like all of my other preops and kind of freaked me out, to be honest.
Preop again was filled with lots of people, signing, and stats. The same nurse who jacked up my IV showed up again, and we all just exchanged knowing looks. This time was no different, he had his issues, but oh well...
Every person that came I kept asking if I was staying overnight (My PS wasn't sure ahead of time) and most could not give me a definitive answer. THAT was my biggest concern of the day. Yes, I know that may seem weird. I have never been admitted to a hospital, and also did not want to spend the night alone. I wanted to be with my family, so I was hoping I could go home. Finally, I got "Yes, you will be staying" by my oncologist and I responded with a very loud "shit" Luckily, my Dr is awesome and said she was going to push really hard to get me admitted to the Cancer tower because it was much nicer, and my family could stay. (Even more of a reason to love her)
Speaking of that, come to find out that the only surgery that initially got in the books was my PS placing the tissue expander, which was why I had such a late check in time and why I was in the main hospital and not the nice Cancer tower. Once again, my oncologist stepped in and got things straightened out.
My PS came in again, and drew all over me, while we joked that I would have one of the most unique "what I did over summer break" essays come back to school. This is why I love my doctors - even in totally awkward situations they get me and my personality and treat me the way I want to be treated. I cannot say enough great things about them.
After that, we met my anesthesiologist - Dr. Dreamy - as my mom and I call him. He was way cute and referred to all of my meds as my margaritas. Cute and knows my drink of choice?! Too bad I didn't get to see much of him, because he was just to damn good at his job :)
Finally, it was time to get rolling. It was game time, and oddly, I couldn't wait. I could see the look of concern on both Jay and my mom's faces, and I really wanted to tell them it was okay, but would they really believe me? I told them I'd see them soon and was off...
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