The big day

I'm having surgery in the morning. I have to check in to the hospital in just over 8 hours. I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything before then, not even water. My first procedure is at 10am. My actual surgery, is scheduled to start at noon. The surgery requires a plastic surgeon to come in to seal the wound with a skin graft. He is scheduled to do his thing at 1:30pm. I suspect that I won't be out of surgery until 2:30 at the earliest. Then, I'll probably have to be in observation for a good while. I'm wondering if I'm going to get home before 5.

I'm very nervous about going in for surgery. Which is probably why I'm still up, instead of going to bed. How much sleep would I get, anyway? I will go to bed, after I finish this post. I've never done well around doctors. I've been known to get light headed almost every time I see a doctor. It doesn't even matter why I'm seeing the doctor. Recently, it's been a lot worse. This would be due to my last surgery, and all the stuff I've been told about my next one. I'm just hoping that they dope me up really good tomorrow. In all honesty, I don't want to remember a damn thing.

The skin for the graft is most likely going to come from my leg (left, I think). I think my thigh is the most likely spot. I'm told that this will resemble a scrape on my leg, but will still be quite painful. I live on the 3rd floor of my building, and there are no elevators. I'm a bit worried about being able to climb the stairs. I'm told I should be fine, but that's of little comfort. I'm also worried about being able to drive. I drive a standard, so I need both legs to drive. If I get stuck in traffic, my left leg does a lot of work. I'm told that shouldn't be an issue, either, again, little comfort.

Then there's the not-so-small matter of my arm. I'm told that I need to move my arm as little as possible for the first few days. This will help ensure that the skin graft takes, and heals properly. If the skin graft doesn't take, I'll essentially have a patch of dead skin sewn to my arm. That's not a pretty thought. I don't think not using my left arm will be much of a problem, but I could be wrong.

Lastly, my company's holiday party is on Friday night. I had already RSVP'd to attend. This was before I knew that my surgery was going to be the day before (I think I had been diagnosed with melanoma at that point). I still want to go to this party. My attendance is entirely dependent on how I'm feeling on Friday night. I have someone who can drive me to the party, and I won't have to stay long. I'm really hoping that I can do it.

I just want to be done with this whole mess.