Day 0

June 3 was all about my last foods. I had a muffin for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and then for my final dinner I went to Uncle Julio's a Mexican chain restaurant where I gorged myself on tortilla chips, guacamole, black bean salsa, and nachos. My surgery was scheduled for June 4th at 1 PM, which disappointed me because June 5 was national doughnut day and I wasn't able to partake in getting my free doughnut. I actually did manage to sleep because the idea of surgery remained super abstract to me and it didn't start to get real until I was asked to strip and put on the hospital gowns and socks. I was a bit confused about the socks because I remember this one episode of House where a woman left her socks on and ended up dying because House never checked her feet, but I suppose that's an extreme example and it's not like my foot was broken with bone marrow leaking into my blood stream.

On the way to the hospital
Last pre-swollen selfie

We checked in around 11AM or so and then I was just waiting for however long in a room that had a window and I saw a squirrel tap on the glass and then eat a wood chip. And then one of the nurses came in and introduced herself and then began to ask questions.

So the process is endless questions of what's your birthday, who's your doctor, what procedure are you having done, etc. and I didn't mind at all because I'd rather minimize all possibility of being confused with someone else.


I was introduced to the anesthesiologist and then one of the residents came in and wrapped my hair up and then one of the anesthesiologists gave me an anti-anxiety drug through my IV. It probably helped that I didn't have my glasses or contacts with me and was blind to everyone I passed by and what was in the OR. I remember lifting myself from my wheelable bed to the operating bed and then nothing.

awkward hair wrap 

The surgery, so they tell me took 5 hours. In the anesthesia recovery room, there was apparently a mishap with my oxygen only being at 70 and red and beeping and they had to call in the anesthesiologist who stopped the pain medication and shook my foot and shoulder telling me to breathe. What I remember is just coughing and hacking up blood all night in a half conscious state. Sometime around 11PM they took me to another room to spend the night.

But the surgical part is done and now it's just a process of moving forward, one day at a time.