4: So long old friend

January 17th. D Day. I couldnt sleep much the night before due to some pain and anxiety. I was already up and scrolling through my social medias when my alarm went off, 0430, time to shower. They give you this special anti bacterial body wash that you're supposed to wash with the night before and the morning of. The smell reminds me of faint wiff of a sterile hospital, the consistency is like water so it was hard to apply, even with my "body detailer" loofa thing. Next I put some clothes on, the surgeon recommended something with an elastic waste band and whitey tighties if I had them. I didnt. So boxer briefs and an old pair of wind pants it was. Mom was the one who got elected to drive me to the hospital for all the pre-op stuff while Claire, Dad and Tammy caught a few more minutes of sleep. We get through the paperwork and head back to my little Pod. Claire's crew shows up shortly after 6, we just hang out until its time for me to go back to surgery. In the meantime we meet with a nurse, the anesthesia team and my surgeon to answer any questions we had. After that, it was a little bit of Versed and we started the short trip back to the OR. Here's where everything starts to get fuzzy, they start with introductions of the staff, some more medicine, and Im out a little after 7am.

When I come to, im back at my pod, alone. Remember how I mentioned they wanted me to wear whitey tighties, since apparently boxer briefs are not the same thing, I ended up in an XL jock strap packed with gauze, secured with a few saftey clips. I feel like the fucking new years baby. I should mention before I got sick, i was only 145 pounds regardless of how I ate or my activity level. Currently im down to about 135 and dropping. So this XL jock strap was comical, very, very comical. My body shakes the anesthesia pretty quickly and I am able to be discharged very quickly. It helped that the guy next to me was losing his shit and they had him to deal with. WVU's hospital is large enough to have a public pharmacy in it, so Claire goes and gets me my pain meds while Mom and I head for the car. Im home a little after 930, I couldnt believe it. Im pretty numb from the waist down so i dont feel much, but man do I feel great otherwise. I swapped the jock for a pair of tight fitting boxer briefs, grab some ice and head to the couch. Slowly but surely the drugs from the hospital wore off so I could feel my stitches, pain and discomfort set it and for some reason, my ball hurts, not the one thats left, the one they took. Phantom pain, and it is intense. I load up on some pain meds and take a nap. When I wake up, I have to pee, and man I am terrified. Theres no chance in standing and making this happen, so I sit down and try to get comfortable. Its not bad, or not as bad as I was expecting, but in my head, as soon as the flow started, it was like all hell was going to break loose. It takes me about 5 minutes and some help from running water to get up the courage to start the flow. Oh man Oh man Oh man....ahhhhhhh, sweet relief and it doesn't hurt in the slightest!

While im in here, I take a look at the new equipment set up downstairs and lament a bit over my lost ball. Everything kinda looks the same, but I figured that was due to some swelling. Everyone is just kind of hanging around, which is weird for me. I haven't had Mom and Dad inside the same house for shit, 15 years now. I dont have time to relish in the moments however as I was fading fast, and before I knew it I was out.