Ten Hours

I am about to turn in.

I have been prmised that no more pokers and measurers will bother me tonight.

Lesson learned for anyone finding themselves in a similar position: Bring a bath brush. I was instructed earlier to take a shower using surgical soap from head to foot. Easy enough task except Nurse Peggy rapped my right arm in a plastic bag to keep the IV line from getting wet.

Don't try that at home kids.

To make matters worse, surgical soap does not create any foam so it is awfully hard to figure out where you have been and where you have to go.

Tomorrow I expect to be awakened at 4 am for prep. That will include shaving my body. This was a problem this morning when I was made ready for the heart cat. I am ticklish. Always have been. So I was writhing in giggles as they tried to do the shaving.

Let,s not even talk about the swapping with iodine or whatever it was. Nothing like being speed out there mostly naked giggle and jiggling.

I hope I do not wake the rest of the floor.

A man from the ICU came in to explain some things to me and have me suck on that crazy plastic thing to see what my lung capacity is (he promises it will be less this time tomorrow).

He also had the courtesy to inform me that I will be awakened by the sound of a harp. He implied a live harpist playing on the PA. He said some people hear it and think that things didn't work out and they are in heaven.

He was a gum chewing person with a gold american eagle on a chain around his neck. He didn't care much for the idea of the harp.

The operation is at 8:30 and will probably take 3 hours. The anastesia will have me out for about six. I have to prove to them that I can breathe on my own before they remove the ventilator (I hate the ventilator idea).

Well, off to sleep and then to the great adventure.

Hap