Pre Op

Hello. I’m a 20 year old female and I was born with bilateral toes syndactyly. All my life I have been so embarrassed and ashamed of them so I decided to get them separated. Because I was a minor I had to obviously ask my parents for permission and even just bringing it up was hell. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he explained to me the procedure, which would consist of a z plasty and a skin graft If needed.

A few days before the surgery I went to the hospital to get a blood test for the anesthesiologist.I also told him I wanted regional anesthesia instead of general and I’m so glad I went with that option.

On the day of the surgery, I wasn’t really nervous.. or maybe I was just numb. I didn’t think it would happen and the day was finally here. I was admitted 4 hours before my surgery and during that time my blood pressure was taken and an iv was put in. A nurse also came in and did a skin test for an antibiotic (it hurt, a lot). Soon enough I was told to change into the gown and I was taken off into surgery.

When I got to the operating room, the anesthiologist started cleaning my back and he told me to take a deep breath and lean forward. He placed in the epidural, which didn’t really hurt, it just felt uncomfortable. For a few seconds I could feel electricity down my left leg. Nothing intolerable though. The epidural kicked in 15 mins later. I couldn’t feel anything except for the surgeons touching me. A cover was placed in front of me so that I couldn’t
see and they got started. Through out the procedure I couldn’t feel anything but I did start feeling the tourniquet squeezing my legs when the epidural started wearing off. But i let the doctor know and they infused in the epidural. The whole surgery took a little more than 2 hours and then I was taken into the recovery room for about 2 hours.







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