July 22, 2010. My surgery date for a face-lift, neck-lift and upper eyelid surgery.

My surgery is schedule for a 1Pm and I have to be there by 11AM. We leave a little early so that I can stop at the local Hyatt, where I am staying for two nights, to drop off my overnight bag and all my post-op goodies.  I had arranged for an early check-in so that my overnight nurse would not have to deal with my things right after the procedure.

I am feeling a little anxious as I get ready to leave to make the one hour trip to Santa Rosa, CA. I make sure that I have my new foam slant pillow, straws, gauze pads, jello, pudding and Gatorade for my two- day stay. I wear  my sweats and a hoodie, as they will be easy to put on afterward my surgery.

I don’t have much to say  in the car on the way.   My husband and I get to Hyatt in plenty of time and I check in, leaving my bags with the front desk, since my room was not ready yet. We sit in the lobby of the Hyatt and  I watch the time so I can  take my anti-nausea pill one hour before surgery.

The time has come and we are ready to drive five minutes down the road to ZPL’s  office and surgery suite. http://www.lorenc.com Jennifer is there, greets my husband and leads us into the consult room to wait for  ZPL.  My husband has never met him and I can tell  he is feeling somewhat uneasy about all of this. While we wait, Jennifer hands my husband a copy of Dr. ZPL’s book, “A Little Work”, to read.  It gave my husband something to do as we wait.

ZPL comes in a short time later, cherry and relaxed. I am his second case of the day.  We joked  a little and he tells my husband that everything is going to be fine.

By this time I was not the least bit nervous anymore, just excited to finally have the surgery that I had been planning for over 1 year. Say goodbye to my jowls, and  sagging neck.

I asked if I could have some Valium, but Dr. ZPL said no. The Anesthesiologist came in next, spoke to my husband and me, took a brief medical history and assured us that everything would go smoothly.  I felt very confident that it would.

Jennifer took a few more pre-op photos, I kissed my husband goodbye and waited for the surgical nurse to take me back into the OR. Time to go… I put on a gown and walked into the OR where the surgical team was getting ready. We all chatted and joked as Dr. ZPL marked up my face and took some pictures with the markings on my face and neck. ( Unfortunately  something was wrong with digital camera and those pictures never came out)  My before pictures were tacked up on the wall,  my IV was started and off to sleep, I went…..