Memory of the nurses and docs working on me before surgery...I remember when they put in my chest tube. Dayum! I remember thinking oh man they didn't put it in the right place...and I said "fuck that hurt God D*mn it!" And one nurse said, "atta girl!," and laughed, and then said to someone "she's gonna be just fine, she's a fighter." I wanted to kick her ASS for laughing because that tube really hurt, but they were holding me still for the procedure in spite of my trying to kick with my one good leg and punch...til it hurt my arm and I stopped trying to move it. LOL I was right, they did have it in the wrong place, so they backed it up and did it again. DAYUMMMMMM!
I also remember being suctioned...that was so strange..I remember thinking as I'm coughing and my body's racked with spasms, trying to rid itself of the plastic tube in my lung, ack ack ack..."how ironic...I've seen this done so many times and thought wow it looks almost painful...and now it's being done to me..." didn't hurt, just really weird how I worked in a vent unit for 5 years and knew lungs inside and out, so to be on the other end of it with that knowledge gave me some sense of control in a time when I had very little. I remember when they took the vent tube out, and I was SO excited...I kept taking huge gulps of air, ON MY OWN! and it was the greatest feeling even though my ribs and shoulder hurt with each breath. I was so scared that night that I'd forget to breathe...and the nurses just laughed and said with all those monitors we have on you, we know what you're doing before YOU do! I hadn't even realized I had monitors on me...guess that morphine worked better than I thought. LOL
