Officially, this surgery was a surgical debridement and complex wound closure.  It didn't start out well, with the nurse being fairly rude to me when she took me back and trying to take my glasses away.  I specifically requested a regional anesthesia so I could be awake for the surgery, and she wants to take my glasses away and leave me blind as a bat?  I've been through three prior surgeries with regional anesthesia, and I've never lost my glasses.  Even for the last one, they didn't take my glasses away until I was already almost completely under.  She finally gave them back, and none of the doctors ever mentioned it during the surgery, which I expected.  Thank goodness she was not at my head during the surgery, or I might have requested a general just to not have to look at her.

The epidural did not go well.  I warned the anesthesiology team about my prior experiences, but I don't think they believed me.  Nobody ever does.  Here's a little side note for any medical professionals watching:  Average and Normal are statistical fantasies that do not always have much bearing on reality.  Those of us who lie on the far ends of the spectrum do exist, and it decreases our quality of care when you ignore us, blow us off, and assume we have no idea what we're talking about.

Okay, enough ranting.  Really, I enjoyed this surgery.   It was the first time I've been wide awake and coherent and able to pay attention, and I liked it.  The epidural didn't go as expected, but it all worked out in the end.  The first try slipped into a blood vein, so they had to pull out and try again a notch lower.  That one worked, but he was never able to get a full block.  It was very patchy and incomplete.  I think he gave me 25cc or more of lidocaine in the epidural, and the final result was total numbness of my left thigh.  My right leg was fairly numb, I could wiggle my toes all the way through surgery, the outside of my hips was never numb at all, and I got partial numbness from my crotch up to just under my navel, just barely enough room for the surgery.  They supplemented the epidural with a local lidocaine injection, and that provided enough for them to do the surgery.  I was still able to feel a good bit, though, especially when they were working on the far ends of the incision where the epidural had no effect.  Tolerable for me, although it might not have been for somebody else.

The anesthetist was also giving me a lot of Fentanyl through the IV, to keep me calm and relaxed.  They tried to give me Versed, but I refused because the whole point of the epidural was to be awake and to remember.  So he gave me I believe 3cc of Fenatanyl.  Which I think was supposed to knock me out (or possibly just shut me up).  All it did was make me very relaxed and comfortable.  I was wide awake.

The surgery opened me up just enough to see the bottom edge of the zombie skin used for my hernia repair.  At this point, Dr. Livingston checked it, and it now has blood supply and everything, fully integrated.  Everybody, and I mean everybody, in the room now had to go look over his shoulder and go, "Wow!"  And I was stuck behind the blue curtain.  Not fair.  Apparently, that donor skin isn't supposed to integrate that thoroughly that fast, so everybody was really impressed.  I think he took a picture of it, too, which I hope to get a copy of.

Did you know they use a cauterizing tool in surgery that produces a smoky smell almost identical to that of a dental drill?  Not only that, but it also tickles and causes muscle spasms.  They have a battery-powered irrigating tool that feels like one of those personal massagers.  This is all the fun stuff you can find out about if you stay awake for surgery.  Pretty neat.  There is also nothing quite like being able to feel yourself being sewn back together (the epidural was wearing off a bit).

I got to check it out with a mirror before he dressed it, and it looks fantastic.  All neat and closed, flat, clean, you can't even tell there was a problem.  I think the contour will be improved once it's healed, too.  There used to be a bit of a pooch at the top of the vertical incision, and that's been flattened by this second surgery.  So I'm feeling really good about this surgery.  I think we're finally done.   He put in two drains this time, even though he only mentioned one yesterday.  So I guess I'm back in dresses for another couple of weeks.  But whatever it takes, I won't complain.  Too loud.

I made Jack bring me some chocolate chip pancakes after surgery.  I was barely able to enjoy them, though, because the pain grew to monstrous proportions.  I finally had to ask the nurse to knock me out with IV Dilaudid (a synthetic morphine), because nothing else was working.  The Dilaudid didn't really relieve my pain either, but a full dose of it pretty much made me too loopy to care, so I was able to sleep.  I can't believe how much I'm hurting after this surgery.  It's probably the least invasive of the four abdominal surgeries I've had, and yet it's bothering me the most.