Sunday, August 1, 2010

Surgery day run down

This is a run down of my oh so fun day thus far.

I woke up at 6:00am to finish getting myself ready for the day. It was kind of nice having that time with the house to myself while Jeff and Tyson slept. Even though the sun was already starting to shin, there was just a bit of Stormy look to the outside. Because the hospital has had too many cases of staff infections, I was not allowed to shower or even wash my hair, instead I got to use these wonderful prep clothes provided by my doctor. Now you would not think using something that looks more or less like a think baby wipe would be a problem, but they made me itch to the point of tears. They are suppose to clean your skin of any bacteria and continue to do so for about 6 hours. The night before I had used them for the first time and the itching was so bad I had to soak in a cool bath until it finally washed off. I did feel guilty for not doing exactly what I was told, but I could not stay like that all night. When I used them again today, the itching was not quite as sever.
After I finished washing up, brushing my hair and teeth, I got dressed and woke up Jeff and Tyson. I felt bad because for once Tyson really wanted to sleep in. He was so tired and begged me to let him sleep. He was even more upset when I told him that we had to get ready to go to the hospital. He was understandably upset with the idea of me going back to have more done.
Anyway, after everyone was finally dressed and ready, we headed out the door and got to the hospital at 7:59 exactly. I was surprised to see how many people were already in the waiting room. This being a very small town, I just didn't expect that many people to be there that early waiting to go into surgery. Even though they were busy, I barely had time to sit down before they called my name. Tyson even told the nurse that she called us too fast and that he was not ready. Ready or not, it was time for prep. I was once again back in one of the 3 surgical prep rooms and it was a bit early how nothing but the photograph on the calender had changed. The nurse came in with a choice of 2 very stylish hospital gowns, one being the normal one you see and the other a paper gown with a port in the side to be hooked up to a bear warmer. I chose the paper gown, even though it is uncomfortable and leaves you feeling like your wearing an overly starched paper table cloth, the warm air is always nice in the freezing OR. So after I was dressed for the ball, it was time to answer a ton of questions and get the IV. As of last year I now have a true fear of the IV and was in no way looking forward to this step in the process. I explained to the nurse before hand that I have small veins that tend to blow very easily and she said she would do her very best but she could feel that they were small. Then came the countdown and the "here comes the pinch and burn" and to my grateful surprise she got it on one shot. Tyson was excitedly watching the entire time, to my relief he did not ask to help this time. He has become quite fond of seeing mommy get stuck with needles and in turn he has no fear of them. So after I was all prepped, the doctor came in one more time to go over everything and to sign off on my leg. I still think it is funny that both a nurse and the doctor actually write on the limb that is to be operated on with permanent maker so the wrong one doesn't get hacked into. You would think the large scar on my knee would give it away, but not so. After the doctor left, I was able to get a few more cuddles in from Tyson before being knocked out. Even though I was awake during surgery, they put me to sleep long enough to put some medication in my knee, along with the spinal block. Originally I told them I did not want it, but after they showed me the needle they were about to put inside my knee, I agreed. By the time I woke up, I was already on the OR table and numb, or so I though, from the waist down. My knee was up in the air and the doctor was dressing it and applying the tourniquet. I was then asked if I wanted to watch and of course I said yes. So they lowered the blue sheet in front of me so that I could see the TV screen and before I knew it, I was looking at the inside of my knee. That day there happened to be someone visiting the hospital so to my advantage, my doctor was explaining everything he was doing and what he saw to this person, so I kind of knew what was going on. Unfortunately not long after they started, I started to feel everything the doctor was doing. At first I could only feel pressure but soon I could feel the instruments moving inside my knee, along with everything he was cutting and shaving. The nurse noticed I was really in pain and asked if I wanted her to put me to sleep. I can't even put into words how much I hate being put under so I said no. Instead she gave me some Fentanyl and tried to control the pain. The overall surgery did not take that long, but the pain made it seem like forever. The worst pain was when he was cutting the tendon from the inside of my knee. It felt like he was cutting right through my leg. Soon the lights came back on and I knew it was over. I was taken to recovery where the combination of medications caused me to start shaking uncontrollably. It did not bother me so much, until my leg started to shake. The post op nurse told me that she would tell the doctor and soon came back with Demerol to stop the shakes. This did work, but left me completely exhausted. Once I finally left post op and got back to my room, the only thing I wanted to do was sleep. Before that happened the nurse had to hook me back up to the blood pressure cuff and pulse ox. I was a bit surprised to see my blood pressure at 101/54!! My mind was soon taken off of everything when I heard Tyson's voice in the hall. Because I was still unable to feel most of my lower body and I was so out of it from all the medications, Jeff and Tyson did not stay long. They went out to lunch while I tried to sleep off some of the drugs. When I woke up, they were just coming back into the room. Not holding back anything here, I will admit that when I picked up Tyson, I was so numb still and the fact that I had 2 bags of IV fluids, I apparently peed. I had no idea that I had done it until I noticed the blankets were wet. I can not even say how embarrassed I was, but when the nurses came in, they informed me this was a very normal occurrence, but even out of all the surgeries I have gone through, I have never experienced anything like this. The nurses were just wonderful though and tried very hard to reassure me that it was ok. One of them even told me that this was always worse for the patient then it was for them. So even though Jeff had just gotten there, I sent him back home for some dry underwear. In the meantime I got cleaned up and moved to a chair. On the way to the chair, one of the nurses accidental kneed me right in the knee, so out she went and when she returned she had a Vicodin in hand. The anesthesiologist then came in and seemed a bit surprised to see how numb my lower body was this long post op. Usually I bounce back really quickly and because I could feel what was going on in surgery, it was not expected for me to still be unable to feel my stomach, bladder, butt and thighs. After all I left the OR around 9:45 and it was already after 1:00. It was almost another hour before I finally started to feel strong enough to try and stand up. Once I could do that, it was just moments that they had me getting dressed and ready to go home. Tyson was so excited for me to come home, although he was very upset he could not push me in the wheelchair out to the car. Somehow being run into a wall on the way out didn't sound like a good time. Once we got home, I put my pj's on and climbed into bed. The only thing I wanted was to finally get some real sleep, but sleep did not want to come to me. I was still really feeling drugged and just could not find a remotely comfortable spot on the bed. Tyson was trying to be such a great doctor, bringing me drinks, fluffing my pillow and pushing on my knee to see if it hurt. Well, the last part was getting to be a bit much so I told him he was allowed to spend the night at his Nannie and Papa's. He was really not happy about having to leave, but I told him it was because I needed my rest and it would not be fun to just watch me sleep. So like a good boy, he went over, but he made sure he called me 2 or 3 times an hour to check on me.
After I was finally able to get a little sleep, I started to feel better. The pain really was not bad, until I got up to pee. Only then did I have to take something for the pain. That first night was a bit rough, but overall the pain was not that bad.
So I guess that is my surgery story, I will continue to update and let anyone reading this know how I am doing. Hope you enjoyed my latest trip to the OR, please just help me pray that this will be the last!!

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