When I arrived at the hospital we were in a waiting room, signed some forms, and then eventually were brought into the room where they had me change into a gown and fancy silver hair cap.
I put all of my clothing and personal items into a bag I brought with me and left them with my husband. (See my post about What to Bring to The Hospital.)
The various doctors came in to say hello and told me what to expect. They also put a very large bandage-type thing across my lower back. I was told that this is to protect my skin because I was going to be lying on my back for a long time. It was one large adhesive piece that covered my entire lower back and felt plastic-like on the outside.
They put the IV in and the anesthesiologist told me he would give me something to calm me down a bit before we went in for surgery. Two minutes later they came in to take me!
They wheeled me into the operating room - which I remember looking like a combination of a space ship and a robot factory with so many things hanging from the ceiling and racks and carts around. They had me climb up onto a very narrow table and lie down and I asked the anesthesiologist "hey I thought you were going to give me something?"
He laughed and that is the last thing I remember.
This is not a photo of my operating room, but it looks as close as I could find to what I remember. But I remember the room being whiter, bigger, and with so many people in it. I could not believe how many people were in there.
