Entries this day: Pre-surgery post-surgery

Pre surgery

(transcribed from Book Two of my diary)

6:21 AM Friday May 22, 1992.

I'm in Tammy's car on the way to the hospital. Cool. So this is it. If I don't ever write in here again, then I died, so you can end the movie, "Life and Times of Robert Nugen" here. Later Love - Rob permalink

post surgery

(transcribed from Book Two of my diary)

10:27 AM

I made it. I'm on my way home right now. I wrote down some notes, which I'll transcribe here. At first I was upset about the fact that I was listed for general anesthesia. I did not want that. So when the anesthesiologist came to talk with me, I told her. She said in a very comforting voice, "that's fine. No problem," as she lay her hand on my arm. I felt better at that. So they wheeled me into the operating room and got to work. I got EKG patches on my (4 of them, one on each shoulder and one on each side of my stomach) and a pulse monitor on my finger. Dr Bonefas came in and I said, "HI!" using my "Oh-my-gosh-you-are-so-beautiful" voice. She said HI and said she was going to shave my breast. At my request, she shaved both of them. The anesthesiologist said, "he only wants local anesthesia." and Dr Bonefas said "Yeah this guy wants to be awake." Cool. So they gave me a tiny bit of a relaxer via IV. Throughout the procedure, I felt about as tired as I would at 4 or 5AM after staying out at the dorms all day. I was fairly talkative; one of the nurses said I would feel awake, but that I wouldn't remember what I had said afterward, but I do remember a lot. Before they started cutting, I asked, "any bets on what color it will be?" Dr. bonefas said matter of factly "It will be yellow." Oh Dr. Jeffrey Meynig was the resident assisting Dr. Bonefas. I asked that Dr Bonefas give me a running commentary of the procedure since they wouldn't let me watch. She did. She told me what I might feel as she injected the local anesthesia. Then she told me she was going to do the incision. I didn't feel anything. She pulled the skin of the nipple back and I could feel the tugging sensation. Someone made a comment about my hair, and I told them that I keep it cut short, and that whichever girl cuts my hair gets to choose how long it will be. They asked, "at the barber shop?" I said, 'no way,' and I told them about Maggie living with me this week and that she cut it.

I asked what my pulse was, and they said 80 bpm. I told them it was 56 before the surgery. They were(?) mildly impressed by that. (I'm so so tired suddenly. I'm going to keep writing thought "Crazy for you" by Madonna is on. It's 11:50AM Maggie & John are trying to revive her hard drive, which has crashed) I wiggled my finger and messed up the pulse taker. The cauterized the cut with what sounded & felt like sparks. Cool. That kinda hurt, so Dr Bonefas gave me some more numbing injection. Then she sewed it up and showed me the lump. It was about teh size of a shooter marble. It looked reddish to me- maybe that was just blook, but it didn't exactly look yellow to me. I'll ask her later.

They wheeled me back to recovery; on the way out, I said sincerely "Thanks Dr. Bonefas." I was happy. Oh- they also showed me the nipple before they covered it. It was flat. In recovery, I read the nurse's description of what happened. She also said it went well. At 9AM, the guy who was going to wheel me back upstairs was saying, "this guy's reading- he's ready to go - he could probably walk upstairs" Oh- just after the operation, I asked Dr Bonefas to sign the EKG thing that was on my right shoulder. She signed & dated it. Very cool.

I wore that and a thermometer (a mood ring thermometer, as I said during surgery) out. (The thermometer was (is) on my forehead.) Not anymore. heh heh. I kept the guy who wheeled me upstairs relatively entertained with my thermometer and EKG stories. Once I got to my room, I asked a lady in there if I could borrow a pen so that I could write this down on a scratch paper. I have just now transcribed it to here, filling in where necessary. He was cool, and even got me an oxygen mask since I didn't use one while down there. Then Tammy brought me home and here I am. I'm going to sleep now. permalink