8 things to know

Here are 8 things to know when you go into surgery:

1. Don’t eat or drink after the hospital tells you. For me – that means no food or drink after 10:30 pm on Thursday.
2. My caregiving team (i.e. mom and dad) should bring a book because they have to wait while I’m in surgery. Mom, what a great time to read the draft of the book I wrote!
3. Be clear with the doctors, make sure my parents and I understand what’s happening, and ask questions (watch To Err is Human). Use Google Live Transcribe so that I can better understand what’s being said because I have AN (auditory neuropathy & hearing loss)
4. Plan on watching mindless tv shows or videos because you’re going to be really groggy and pain medicated. Hope that the hospital has the channels that Premier League football and Twins are on.
5. Bring comfy easy-to-put-on clothes along because when you are discharged, you are going to want to get the f**k out. It’s less painful for me if I have easy-to-put-on clothes because I need other people to get me dressed because I have cerebral palsy (CP).
6. If you’re staying overnight, don’t think you’ll sleep well because if you are either a light sleeper or a mom, you won’t get any sleep. Especially if you’re like me and have sleep apnea, the beepy thing beeps a lot all night long. And nurses come in and check your pulse, blood pressure, IV’s, etc. My dad is pretty good at sleeping just about anywhere.
7. Hope that you are not in the hospital for more than two days. The last surgeries I had for putting in my DBS (deep brain stimulation), I was there for a week. That was more than long enough for me!
8. Get a gallon of coffee because if your parents/guardians/friends/partners are anything like my mom, they are going to need lots of coffee. Thanks to Ronald McDonald House for helping take care of the caregivers and having good coffee for my mom and a nice place for my dad to get breaks, too.

I will have one more post by Wednesday at the latest, going more in-depth about the surgery the doctor will be performing on the big toes and then my mom is going to do a guest post after the surgery. The photos shown are of me in the hospital when I had my DBS surgeries 4 and 5 years ago (yes, did this one twice + one time to have the first one removed!)

Another song for my hospital playlist: Brave by Sara Bareilles

“Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live
Maybe one of these days you can let the light in
Show me how big your brave is”