I found it amusing that before the surgery the doctor wrote up a list of the things we needed to go buy at a pharmacy and bring to the clinic for the surgery. Things like gauze, gloves, IV fluid, needles... it seems strange to me that the clinic wouldn't have these on hand and just charge me for them, but that's not how it works here. I don't know what a surgery would cost like this in the states, I suppose it would depend on what sort of insurance someone had. Probably a few thousand dollars. But here the total was about $350. It was more expensive for us to pay the travel costs and lodging for coming and staying in the big city!
I was really scared about the anesthesia because I had never had it before. They put some burning medicine in my hand IV and it put me to sleep. I know that later they put some gas mask over my mouth and nose to breathe to keep me asleep, but I missed all of that. I woke up in the recovery room throwing up. I didn't even feel too bad, I was just throwing up (or trying to since my stomach was empty!) I was sore for some days after but I'm feeling pretty good now. We had the polyps analysed and they weren't cancerous, hooray! Hopefully they don't come back.
So here's a picture that JP took while I was still waking up from the surgery and wearing the ugly hospital gown and funny cap. I think I was kind of crying. He says I kept asking the same questions over and over again - like "what time is it?" and "did it go well?" I guess I also asked how my dog was doing when I first woke up!
It's not my prettiest picture for sure, but I kind of like the raw honesty of it.
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