And...

I'm alive! The surgery went really well today, and I'm already back at home writing this. A brief synopsis:

So, I got to the hospital and went through the obligatory paperwork. Finally got to my room, put on the ass-revealing hospital gown, and chilled with an IES worker who came along with me. After about an hour of waiting I was taken upstairs and the games began.

I was in the surgury waiting room watching some field hockey on TV when the anathesiologist came in. Really cool guy who's family is from Florida. We chatted for a bit and he asked what kind of anasthetic I wanted. I was debating if I wanted a local so I could watch what they were doing, but I chose to go with general anathestic, the full knock out punch and wow, it was fun.

I'm in the middle of the operating room, and there is a team of like 10 doctors. I felt honored to have so many people watching my hernia surgery. I continued to chat with the anathesiologist, and after he gave me the IV in the arm, he said I'd start to feel funny in a little bit. Sure enough, about 15 seconds later my body wanted to get a little groovy, yes, that's right, groovy. I was in a very relaxed state. I tried to resist it as long as possible, but as soon as the gas mask went out, I was done. Very relaxing little nap. I think I dreamt about Chilton, but I can't remember for sure.

The next thing I know, I open my eyes, and I see the doc pull a huge breathing tube of my throat. "All done" he says. I was still quite under the influence of the drugs, so I got wheeled down to my original room and relaxed. Sylvia, my host mom, was there to hang out when I arrived and stayed until Belen, the gorgeous IES assistant came to hang out and take me home. Which is where that leaves me right now, at home.

I can walk pretty normally, and the doctor told me that I don't need to use gauze or bandaids or anything after tomorrow. I guess they did some special type of cut that they sewed up from the inside. I'm looking forward to getting a look at it tomorrow. I also got some painkillers, so I'll let you know how those go. On an end note, with the hopes of getting my $6000 peso surgery money's worth, I stole soap, conditioner, and the bottle of water from my hospital room! That's how we do.

I've got some more to write on other topics, but I'm going to go watch some TV.

Besos


Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina