surgery /// under the knife

On May 29, 2024 - exactly two weeks after that fateful first trip to the urologist - I arrived at the local hospital where I would have my inguinal orchiectomy performed, the surgery to remove my right testicle and associated tumor. I was joined by my mother Lily, who had flown over for moral support and to help look after me post-surgery.

Prior to surgery, I had to avoid eating and drinking, shave my privates, and curiously to mark the area below my right hip where I would be getting cut open with a purple Sharpie marker. I sincerely hope this was not the guide the surgeon would be using for my incision ;) I guess it's a little insurance policy that the hospital and surgeon know who they are operating on and which side to be cutting open.

Anyways, after a long wait at the hospital - my surgery slot was pushed back during the course of the day - I was wheeled away (after a big hug from my mom!) for surgery. This portion of the day was remarkably like what you see in the movies - bright lights, sterile blue tiled walls, beeping machines and smart people in gowns and protective masks. While pre-surgery was largely a blur, the biggest component of course was the process of being put under general anesthetic. I remember having a very pleasant conversation with the junior anesthesiologist, and him really putting me at ease about the situation - that they would be monitoring my vitals throughout and would give me more or less medicine and ensure I was asleep but not "too asleep". Before I knew it, I was slowly drifting off. I remember thinking about my family, about Joanna, my closest friends, and how much I loved them before the bright lights went dark - so sentimental and mushy, I know.

And that's it. Soon enough I woke up in another room with more beeping machines and now a whole host of other hospital beds with other patients in them. Honestly, when I came to I thought that the surgery hadn't yet happened, my feeling was that I was in another waiting room but that they hadn't given me enough anesthetic and that I had woken up - I recall panicking a little and trying to flag a doctor to ask them if I had already had the surgery... which of course I had. Relieved, I was told I was in the post-op observation area, where I would slowly wake up (I was very dopey at this point) and once they were comfortable, I would be moved to my room in the hospital for the night in another part of the hospital. As I said, I was pretty out of it but I guess I must have been in the post-op area for a good 30-45 min. Thereafter I was wheeled away again for a little trip through the hospital's underground labyrinth of hallways, up an elevator and - there was my mom! She gave me a big hug and snapped the photo of my sleepy but happy face below.

From there - it was on to the next step of the journey - my overnight stay at the hospital and post-op monitoring and tests. But "overnight" turned into "overnights", as I'll explain in the next post.