Sleepy

Thought I'd come on and try to let you know about my experience. Unfortunately for you but fortunately for me, I was on morphine so I've got some big holes.

Day of Surgery - Before

Woke up at 4AM. in order to be at the hospital by 5:15AM. As usual, I didn't sleep all that much but strangely, I felt pretty rested. I fully expected to be nervous however, I wasn't. No anxiety or anything. Wes was very encouraging as I messed around before we left.

Once they got me checked in at Mercy, they took us on a walking tour of the hospital. Seriously. A tech came to get me and the other people that had signed in and we walked from one side of the property to another. Strange. I've always been put in a wheelchair. Guess they wanted us to enjoy one last walk...

Once we got to the tiny little surgery waiting rooms, they had me put on a hospital gown. Now, we waited. A nice young man (who was a former combat medic) came in to get my vitals, insert the IV and take blood. As soon as he saw my tiny veins, he opted to let someone else stick me. Another woman came in and got the vein on the first try. That was a blessing as they usually have to dig and dig and dig.

My parents and my daughter Alexandria and her fiance, Jeffrey, came back to see me. I think that my dad seemed more nervous than anyone. I'm very fortunate that my parents have always been with and supported me all these years of strange symptoms and hospital stays. Hopefully, this will be the last time that they have to do that for me. Alexandria got really teary when she came and it really touched me.

Shortly after they left, the nurses from surgery came to get me. It was around 7:40AM. One of my surgical nurses is very good friends with someone I work with. She was reassuring me that Dr. White was the best. Maybe I looked frightened but I didn't feel it.

Down the hall to the maze of surgery rooms. They wheeled me in and immediately started prepping me. Everything was fine until they put on the blood pressure cuff. That thing was so tight, I thought it was going to break my arm. They told me that everything was okay to take a big breath. That's the last I remember.

Day of Surgery - After

I could hear voices but I couldn't seem to get my eyes open. I heard them saying that they couldn't wake me up and that they had been on the phone with the doctor. (Originally, the doctor and his PA said that the surgery would be about 2-3 hours long and that I would spend 45 minutes or so in recovery. This would have put me in ICU around 11:30A to 12PM) What I didn't know was that I had been in surgery for around 4 hours and they had been trying to wake me up for a while. Finally I woke up to a pounding headache. I asked for some pain medicine but they wouldn't give me any. They said I would have to completely wake-up first. I was really frustrated by this because I was awake enough to carry on a conversation with them but not awake enough to take pain medication?

I finally made it to ICU around 4:30PM. I think that was the loudest place I've ever been in a hospital. All kinds of monitor sounds, other people moaning and yelling out, etc. They did have a glass door on my room and when they closed it, it was relatively quite. I believe they hooked me up to every monitor known to man. It was strange because I had a hard time keeping my eyes open but for the first time in a long time, my head felt clear. No longer did things sound muddled and confusing. That was miracle #1. They gave me some pain medicine right away so I didn't have a lot of pain. I was shocked at the way I could move my head all around. Then, I noticed that I didn't have any tingling in my hands and fingers. That was miracle #2.

Wes stayed with me but my parents and my daughter were also allowed to visit. Immediately, they commented on my face. No longer did the right side of my face droop. Both eyes were the same size and my smile wasn't crooked anymore. That was miracle #3.

They brought my husband a form to fill out and when he was finished, he left the room to give them the paper. While he was gone, I saw his cell phone light up because he got a call. It was then that I realized that I could see his phone. His phone was in a place that I couldn't possibly have seen it before. I started looking around and realized that I could see everything. That was miracle #4. Later that evening and the next morning, I had two dear friends visit me. It was so good to see them and their comments about how my face looked was very encouraging. I spent the night in ICU and was moved to a regular room the next day.

I think the worse thing that happened and the worse pain I had was from the IV. My veins are really small and they tend to roll out of the way when you try and poke them. If you're lucky enough to stab one, they usually burst. Every single time the gave me anything in the IV, it hurt really really bad. Not just a sting but my whole forearm would hurt. In the ICU, at about 4 in the morning, I asked for some pain medication. When they inserted it into the IV line, I though I was going to come unglued it hurt so bad. It's kind of dark in the ICU so the nurse turned on the light. The IV had come out of the vein and everything that they had been giving me was going straight in my arm. It was huge and hurt really bad. Needless to say, they took out the IV. Now came the fun part. They tried to start another one. The first couldn't get a vein so she called another nurse. Who called another nurse. Who called another nurse. In the end, there were six nurses and 13 tries. Finally, they stopped poking and digging for a vein because one of them called my doctor and he said if I could take pills by mouth, they didn't need an IV. Needless to say, I had bruises and stick marks all over both arms.

Regular Room

To say I remember everything that happened when I got to a regular room wouldn't be true. I do know that within that first day, I stopped using the walker and noticed the most beautiful miracle of all - I didn't drag my left leg. It's been years since I could walk anywhere and not get exhausted from dragging my leg. I walked normally! Miracle #5. If none of my other symptoms had disappeared except this one, the surgery would have been worth it.

I remember everyone that came to visit but I can't tell you what we talked about. My husband said I carried on conversations with them but I don't have a clue what was said. Hope it's nothing they can blackmail me with! I took some walks down the hall and tried to sit up as much as possible. My head and neck hurt but not even close to what I though they should. I was trying to move my neck frequently so it wouldn't get stiff. I only took a muscle relaxer and pain meds a few times a day.

Another strange thing that happened. My back was really itchy and I was constantly asking my husband to scratch it. Finally, I lifted my gown and asked him to see if I had a rash or something. Well, there was something there all right. It was a huge red patch on my back near my neck. One nurse said it was the size and shape of a piece of toast. It started as really red and then became raised with a bunch of little blisters. What was it? Who knows. No one could figure anything out except that I had an allergic reaction to something that was laid on my back during surgery. It's still red and crusty and still itches like crazy but it's on its way to healing.

My surgeon wasn't on call all weekend so when he saw me on Monday, he let me go home. I was really ready. The ride home was painful but I glad to get back to my own bed. We have some wonderful friends that have signed up to bring us dinner through November 25th. I've received lots of emails, phone calls and cards.

To say the surgery has been a breeze wouldn't be true. My head still hurts (although it's not in the back but around the top and front), I have moments of weakness, my neck is really sore and I have a hard time sleeping on my back because the stitches really pull. I'm up and around most of the day but get so tired in the afternoon, I usually lay down for a nap as I feel as though I'm constantly sleepy. I can't read much but I'm watching TV. None of the symptoms mentioned above have come back. Time will tell about the others.

I get the stitches out on Tuesday and then I can finally wash my hair. We've tried a dry product on my hair and some nursing home shampoo but it's still greasy and over-all gross. They didn't exactly try to shave my head in any style so getting it back to all one length will be interesting. I'm going to get my husband to put some of my pictures on here this evening. If you don't want to see them, be forewarned that they will be in my next post.

Thank all of you for your prayers. Please pray for continued healing.