And the Girl Pulls Through

I've never had surgery before. So when the nurse inserted my IV and then put the mask flowing with laughing gas over my face, I thought..."Okay...this is it. Remember how you feel at this moment."

But then I realized...I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. I was waiting for something to strike me as completely hilarious...but it didn't. I glanced over at the nurse as she said, "How's that gas feeling?"

I simply shrugged. "Am I supposed to feel different?"

Perhaps this was the wrong thing for me to say because within moments the doctor appeared by my side and informed me that he would be giving me something that "may" burn a little bit. I am here to say that I have no clear memory of anything after that. Everything else comes in spurts. I remember rolling by the nurses station and seeing them look at me as I was wheeled into recovery. During the blurry view of their faces, I recall hoping I didn't look completely horrible. Some time later my Dad appeared around the corner and I greeted him with a "Hey Dad" through my mouthful of gauze which probably sounded something more like "Ay Ahd."

I felt fine, like nothing had happened. I was ready to run a marathon. I would have leapt out of the chair if they had let me...but alas they would not. (Not that I didn't seriously think about it mind you.)

Most everything else was a blur. I spent most of the last two days sleeping and trying to maneuver my spoonfuls of applesauce around the ice pack that was taped around my head. Iced up or not...I still have chimpunk cheeks and some tenderness but...I am alive and relatively unscathed...for the time being.