Under the knife

I’m 53 years old, and I’d never had anything even approaching a major surgery. Until last week, that is. I’ll spare you the details, but I underwent a laparoscopic procedure last Thursday, Nov. 10, at Northwest Medical Center in Bentonville.

As I said, it was a new experience for me, and I was a little bit worried. Every surgery carries at least a minimal risk, and I have some medical issues that make me a little more high-risk patient. My wife, Lisa, drove me to the hospital and stayed with me through the pre-op process until it was time for me to be wheeled into the operating room.

I thought about the things that could go wrong. I thought about my family, my sons and my grandsons, and my hope that if something did go wrong, they would know how much I loved and cherished them all.

But I kept those thoughts to myself. I didn’t want to upset Lisa and I didn’t want to go into the surgery with anything less than a positive outlook.

So I did my best to keep things light, joking with Lisa about going out for lunch later and walking to the restroom in just my socks — that’s a no-no, apparently, and the nurse let me know about it.

While I was still in pre-op, my surgeon came in to talk briefly and said a prayer. I appreciated him taking the time to do that for us.

As it turned out, there wasn’t anything to worry about. After I was moved into the operating room, I was given some oxygen to breathe and a nurse injected something into my IV. She said it would be a little “spicy.” I immediately felt a stinging pain in my hand where the IV port was located and then … nothing.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the recovery room and Lisa was right there. The surgery went perfectly. In a few hours, I was walking in the hallway and I was discharged to go home the next day. Sweet Lisa spent the night in my hospital room, sleeping in a sort of lounge chair that I know must have been pretty uncomfortable. I’m not sure she’ll ever understand how much of a comfort it was to me to wake up and see her waiting for me.

I’ve felt a little bit better each day since. As I write this column, it’s late Sunday afternoon — three days since surgery.

I can’t say I feel 100 percent, but I’m not too far off. There’s still some pain from the surgery that I’ll have to live with for a while and it may leave some permanent scars, but I can handle all that.

I was back in the office full time on Monday, doing what I love to do.

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Scott Loftis is managing editor for Carroll County Newspapers. His email address is SLoftis@cherryroad.com.