Prepare For Surgery:: Heal Faster by Peggy Huddleston

Getting Ready for the BIG DAY!

You would think I was preparing for open heart surgery, but no, it is only day surgery which will repair my psoas tendon and right hip labrectomy, which rids me of all the floating cartilage inside the joint itself. It has been nearly 3 years since my last rotto-rooter, so I am glad this is happening now. With any luck at all this will be the last surgery I will need for a while. Yay!! It is also quite ironic that doctors say:: Yah, you'll just need a couple of days rest and no crutches and you'll be up and ready to rumble. RIIGGHHTTT. They are sticking an enormous scope into my hip joint in three places, hoisting my leg in the air to get at the joint itself and they're telling me I should be back on my feet in a matter of minutes. Why is that? Why do we always want to believe that surgery is no big deal? It is an enormous shock to our bodies, yet we treat it like we've just gone to the ball park and over eaten a few hot dogs. I don't get it at all!

I do think that there is a big difference between the intensities of each of the surgeries. Meaning, open heart is much more scary and life threatening to me than what I am doing, but it still illicits the same amount of anxiety and negative emotion. Hence, I am doing the steps in the book, Prepare for Surgery :: Heal Faster by Peggy Huddleston. Her book on learning how to relax, calm down, is said to allow us to recover faster, have less pain after surgery, and strengthens our immune systems after surgery. I thought this completely profound and something worth exploring. The wonderful Julia brought the book to my attention and loaned it to me to read prior to Tuesday. I sometimes feel like a complete wimp. I am merely having a small rip in a tendon fixed and then my hip joint cleaned out. However, they do this with an enormous scope sticking out of my hip in three places and please, let's remember, one persons pain is another's no big deal. My body takes on pain at three times that of another person. I recall a conversation with my dear friend, Jeanine Ferguson from junior high school about how differently people experience pain. I experience pain at a very high and intense level which makes me a candidate for a high level of anxiety prior to and after surgery. Anything that I can do to calm myself down that does not require more medication is a very good thing.

So, I am learning Ms Huddleston's five step method at relaxation and what to do prior to having surgery. I thought one was very interesting. It was meeting your anesthesiologist. How often do we even consider knowing the name of the person who will be responsible for monitoring the amount of sedation medication it will require to keep us asleep during our surgery? It is mind blowing that of all of my different surgeries there are only two anesthesiologists names I know. I don't know any of the nurses names, which is sad, but I may even explore changing how this is conducted. I may just do a mass group hug prior to my surgery so I know who everyone is. Sounds strange, but how many people would you allow to work on your innards without knowing them? Like a:: 'hey buddy' wave to the dude across the street. 'Come on over here and operate on me! We need an extra person to help stitch me up. Wanna help?' We wouldn't conceive of doing something like this, but we do when we don't know the very people who surround us in the OR.

So, my goal is to know Matt Larson, my anesthesiologist, at least one half hour prior to my surgery (as indicated in the book). And request calming medication be run in my IV prior to my surgery. I absolutely can't stand sitting there waiting on the surgical staff to get things organized and me sitting outside anxious as hell, waiting for them. Now that I can help myself relax and drift into a calm mindfulness, I can use the benefits of the calming medication to assist me in this process and my body is less rigid, less uptight, less high strung. It allows me to remove my shoulders from my ears and just be. I think this will be or can be a very, very healthy process and idea. I wonder if hospitals have ever thought of this as an idea for all of their surgical patients. This assists me in helping myself calm down and relax, so that I can get in the 'zone' so to speak. I love the entire notion of it.

Today, I am going to read the other portion of the book. Like what to do after you've had the surgery and what do you do to best heal? I think this is extremely interesting and helpful in how I can best help my own body. No one has ever taught me how to treat my body with dignity, love and respect with love being the most important thing. According to Huddleston, love is the most amazing healing tool of all. Finding divine love in the healing process is an even more important part of the tool kit.

I will let you know what I find out, however, in the mean time, I would appreciate prayers. Prayer works. Period. And I love and appreciate and respect them.

As part of my relaxation steps from Huddleston's book, I am taking myself for a walk in the woods today at one of my favorite parks in Stillwater. Walking in the woods is THE most wonderful thing I do for myself and I can't do it very much in the winter because of the snow and the fear of falling and blowing out my $40K hip. Now that the snow is melting and we are set for a gorgeous day, I am going to walk and listen to the birds arriving, breathe in the spring air, and open myself up to love and be loved.

I invite you to do the same.

Namaste.

Robin