Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Post-op report

Everything went perfect as could be for the surgery and recovery afterwards, but by perfect I don't mean painless.
Dr. Samuels was my anesthesiogist and he came in to give me an IV and drugs about 7:20. He explained he would be with me the whole procedure and I would also have a tube down my throat to help me breathe so I will have a sore thraot and sound hoarse from it ( which I do, though I can't feel the sore throat right now), and also I had a heart montior on my chest.
They wheeled me into the OR at 7:30, and the last thing I remember was my surgeon, Dr. Bartels, tapping me and waving, saying "hello", and then I was out like a light.
I was out of OR by 9:15 AM and when I woke up I asked the nurse (very groggily) sitting right beside me, "Am I all done?" She said yes, and I was relieved that the worst part was over. I was in tremendous pain in my ear, and I had nausea. but they pumped me up with morphine for pain and phenergan for nausea and I slept four more hours, then I threw up which actually made me feel better, then I got discharged and we came to our friends Mitch and Debbie York's beautiful house for the rest of the day. My discharge time was 4:15. On the way here to the York's, I popped 2 Vicodin, which are pain pills, and I don't remember anything from on the way here, except that the ride was a little bumpy and that was frustrating. Since I had not eaten anything since 9:30 the night before, I requested some toast with jelly once at the house to settle my stomach a little more, but I fell asleep again before that was ready. A couple hours later, I woke up and ate some toast and some cereal, kept them down just fine. I took 2 more Vicodin at 8:30, then, since I was famished, I ate some meatloaf and black eyed peas, but only because I thought I could handle it, and I was right. I kept them down with no problem at all. So far, I have only felt dizzy once, and only for a second when I moved in the bed while still at the hospital. As of right now, 4:20 AM, I am up because my head is sore from the incision, my whole left side and back of my head is like one big deep bruise, and it was starting to hurt from lying down, even on my uncut side, the mere act of sitting myself up from lying down hurts because it pulls on the sore spot. At 4:30, I'm due to take another 2 Vicodin. If it wasn't for the Vicodin, I would be in really bad pain, even with the pain pills, I still have a tiny bit of aching.
I will be recovering for a good few days, maybe even a week. I can still get dizzy during this time. I hope I don't. So far my tinnitus is not any worse than it was before, but hearing only from one side is difficult. I should expect that my left side hearing is completely gone now, maybe it isn't, most likely it is, but I can't tell right now due to all the packing around and in my ear.
While I was in between episodes of unconsciousness, I did think that I would never feel any better than I did at that time. which was horrible. But by the end of yesterday I did feel comparatively good, just really tired and sore, and like I said, without that Vicodin, I would be feeling much, much worse.
I'm anxious for all recovery to be over and I can actually turn on this implant and hear out of it for the first time. That date is June 12. I am ready to hear life. I know that all this aggravation right now is going to be worth it. I just hope that Jason doesn't get tired of dealing with my unending demands of help that I've needed, since I can't bend down ( needed his help to go to the bathroom) or pick anything up or really do much of anything since that tends to pull on my neck and head. I'm grateful that I have my friends who will be bringing me dinner so I don't have to worry about that, and Jason works from home so he can tend to the kids when necessary.
Oh by the way, that Vicodin, a narcotic I believe, derived from Opium... that is some GOOD stuff... makes me feel real relaxed and tingly: makes me high...I can totally see how people get addicted to pain killers. But don't worry about me getting addicted, I won't. But I'm not gonna be brave and tough out this pain either.

2 comments:

Nikki said...

I was going to call Jason today and see how you were doing...but now I know! :)
Glad you are home and everything went well. I have been praying for you. So, what % hearing do you have at the current time? What percentage will you have on June 12th?
I am so very happy for you. Sorry we missed you this past weekend...we have to get our schedules straightened out. Prayers will continue, keep us updated!

Amy Parris said...

So glad to hear you are "okay" and still praying that you will be "great" soon.

My friend's surgery yesterday went as well as expected. She won't know until Friday if the tumor they removed was cancerous. They also found more tumors wrapped around her neck. A little scary for anyone, but for her especially as she is a mom of 3 girls, 6 and under.

I will pray for you both. When I worked with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity they would always tell me to "make a little sacrifice" whenever the going got tough. Since then, when I'm in my best state of mind, I try to offer my little sufferings up for people much worse off than myself. It's helped me deliver 2 babies naturally (not intentionally I may add). It helps to refocus my attention on something other than myself, which is often hard to do.

I'll make a little sacrifice for you.

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