Part 1- IVs, ice packs, and blueberry muffins

When we arrived at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center in Neenah at 5 in the morning on Dec. 13, I was surprisingly calmer than expected.

Once we made it to my room in the Neuro Care Unit, things sprang into motion. There were about three staff members waiting for me, and they helped keep me calm as they prepped me for the embolization. I had my vitals taken, blood drawn, and at least two IVs started. I quickly learned to get over medical tape, needles, tubes and people asking me questions, which was something that NEVER stopped until the day I left.

Before I knew it, they were wheeling me down to my official embolization prep room, where I met the anesthesiologist, Dr. P., and other staff members who would be working with me. At this point, the reality began to set in, yet I remained pretty calm because I was ready to get everything over with.

Finally, I was saying my "see you soon" to my parents and headed to the procedure room, where they played The Beatles for me as they got me situated, and the oxygen mask being the last thing I remember before waking up in recovery.

There are three things I remember from waking up in recovery; looking at the clock, needing to go to the bathroom, and hearing another person next to me talking. After looking at the clock and seeing it was around 11, I learned I had only been under for about three hours.

I barely remember returning to my room, but I remember feeling almost fine post embolization even though they expected me to have a headache. The embolization was very successful, and they were able to cut off most of the blood flow.

Only two strange things happened the day of the embolization. My entire left arm went numb from an artery line IV that was not supposed to be removed until the next day, but had to be. Having stitches removed just hours after being put in SUCKED. I also had to be given anxiety medication after the Art-line issue because the anesthetics made me nervous about everything.

Once I had relaxed again, I had some dinner before my mom and I headed to bed early, as the nurses would be waking me up frequently throughout the night before I had to wake up around 3 a.m. for surgery prep.

Part two will talk about the rest of my hospital stay!

The photo below is from the afternoon after the embolization, we made the mistake of leaving my hair down and it became a huge mess.