soniq911

Well, I made it through the surgery with flying colors. The surgeon told me everything went well, and I don't remember anything about the surgery so I guess the anesthesiologist did well.

I arrived at 0530 for my scheduled 0730 surgery appointment. I was led back to a pre-op room where I stripped down and put on a gown, the anti-clot stockings, the cool anti-slip footies and all that other junk. The nurse came in to take my vitals, get me to sign some papers, and started my IV with LR. After a visit from a few other people...the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, and the internal medicine doctor, they started wheeling me away to the OR. They gave me the margarita mix before we left the room, and about 10 seconds down the hall I was out.

I woke up in horrible pain, my throat hurt, and I had a mask on with humidified O2 flowing through about 10LPM. I was still groggy and don't remember a lot, but they kept giving me ice chips, and eventually gave me a chloroseptic lozenge for my sore throat. The one thing I remember clearly was the foley being ripped out of me. I mean, I'm sure they didn't RIP it out, it just felt like it. After a few minutes of questions they wheeled me to my room.

My girlfriend was there waiting for me which made me feel good, but I was still in a ton of pain. They kept giving me dilaudid and fentinil, and then switched to morphine with no relief. I talked them into giving me a muscle relaxer which helped a little. I don't remember too much about the next few hours because I mostly slept, and my girlfriend had crawled up next to me and fallen asleep too since she had been up for close to 24 hours at that point (she works nights and worked the night before). I was able to talk to my surgeon at one point and complained about the pain, so they switched me to norco and valium which seemed to take the edge off. I was still told to take my percocet for any break through pain too.

Not more than 4 hours after I was in my room, the PT people were there telling me that we're going for a walk. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be, but it wasn't a breeze either. I was told she wants me up and walking around every few hours, which I was actually able to do. I don't remember much more about the rest of the day, I was sleeping on and off so much...and I think about 20 different people came in to take vitals, draw blood, change IV fluids, empty the surgical drain, give pain meds, etc.

I was released the next morning since I was ambulatory and was able to use the restroom without assistance. The nurse of course had to remove my IV and my surgical drain...which was almost as bad as when they pulled my catheter out. My girlfriend watched and she said it was in there about 6 inches. Ouch!

I was fortunate enough to work for an ambulance company and got a free ride home on a stretcher so I wouldn't have to try to get in and out of my Grand Prix and sit up for the ride home.

I've been taking my pills by the book, the girlfriend actually got me a pill organizer since my memory hasn't been great since the surgery and I was having trouble remembering what I took and when I took it.

All in all, I'm glad I got it done. He was able to only do it unilaterally, and I can't imagine what the pain would be like if he did it bi-laterally. I'm moving around ok, need a cane sometimes if I feel wobbly from the meds, still have a little difficulty getting in and out of bed, but for the most part I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would.

Sorry this is so long, just wanted to share my story. I have a lot more I could write, but I'm about to fall asleep...I've been sleeping about 18 hours a day because of the meds, and i've been up for about 3 hours now which is a long stretch for me.

Until next time...