Hi All,
I had my surgery Tuesday @ 12:00 pm and was in my room by5:00 pm. My surgery went well, I had no problems with anesthesia and came out of it relatively quick compared to what I have experienced before. No vomiting this time or shaking. Great anesthisologist! He listened to me, and prior to surgery gave me this sour...very, very sour stuff to drink that he said would help with nausea. This is the first time out of about 8 surgeries that I haven't vomited and shaken myself off of the table while coming out of anesthesia. While I was in the recovery room I was actually sitting up, putting my hair back into a neat little ponytail, making myself cough and observing and feeling quite elated that I had not only lived through the surgery, but that I was in extremely good shape.

When I awoke, I was absolutely starving to death and could think of nothing but trying to swallow and food! at about 5:30pm they brought me broth and Jello. At 7:30 they brought me a complete dinner which consisted of a huge enchildada, rice, beans, a large bowl of mixed fruit, a whole wheat roll, dinner salad and juice. I ate the ENTIRE plate of food. Small bites of course, but I actually got it all down and kept it down. I was feeling pretty smug right about then.

I had requested no pain killer in my IV because I was not experiencing any pain except for some pretty bad muscle spasms in my neck and shoulder, and the throat pain. I asked for a Soma instead of morphine and they said they didn't have any on hand, but they would call down to their pharmacy and get some. Well...The Soma never came, and all I received was a Tylenol until 9:00am the next morning. I had been asking all night for something for the spasms, I would have even taken a painkiller in my IV, but it was not to be. Finally when the Intern came in at 5:00 am to check on me he said that he was going to order flexeril instead of Soma. At 7:30 am I ate my entire breakfast, and then I waited, and waited and waited for the muscle relaxant and then finally at 8:15 I complained to a PT that was helping my roomy. I said, "This just isn't fair." I only turned down the IV drugs thinking I'd get a muscle relaxant. She was stunned at what I had told her, that I had received no pain meds and left the room immediately and at 9:00 am is when my nurse finally brought me a Flexeril and a Xanax and apologized. The combination of the two helped just enough so that I was actually able to go to sleep for three hours for the very first time since the surgery the previous day. I need to be more of a squeaky wheel.

Besides the horrendous muscle spasms, the biggest complaint was the sore throat with the lump, but it wasn't bad enough to keep me from eating and I never did choke. I made sure I took the advice of others on this board and chewed, chewed, chewed! With each bite I took several sips of water and managed to consume huge amounts of food before I left that same day at 4:00 pm. BTW...I'm only 5'2" 103 lbs soaking wet.

That was two days ago and I have had to take a total of 5 Soma's, five Xanax and two Norco. My throat is not even an issue anymore, but the muscle spasms in my neck and shoulder make me want to cry. I've been using mostly ice packs, and one time a heating pad. The ice seems to work the best for the spasms at this point. I can't soak in a hot tub, so a heating pad will have to do when I need warmth. I have a hard collar but my Neurosurgeon says I only need to use it when driving in a car, which is okay with me because it makes my spasms worse. I think it might be a bit too tall for my neck.

I think the reality of what I would call a pretty extensive surgery is finally hitting me because I'm not bouncing back like my old self. Reading all of your posts is driving it home to me that this is going to take time, a lot of time to heal, and I just have to learn to sit still and be greatful that everything has gone so well for me.

Thanks everybody for all of your posts that helped me get through this surgery. I was sooooo scared, and those of you that reached out to me really put my mind and ease and gave me some good ideas that I was able to put to good use.

I'll write more later, keep you all updated, and continue reading!

Bye for Now!
Diann