Whoohoo a month down, 2 to go! I have slacked off a little because I really have been so lazy, which is weird because WHAT else do I really have to do right now? So I came up with the idea to make a kind of timeline and weekly accomplishments/post thing to post and updates by weekly per post.
I spent Tuesday 12/20-Sunday 12/25 in the hospital. Not exactly a week but lets just say it was so Monday-Sunday will be the weeks...
First Week home:
This was when the challenge began. My husband Stayed home with me from Mon-Wed. Thurs my sis April drove over an hour with her fam to stay the night until Daniel could get home mid-Fri. I highly recommend you plan it so that you have someone. I literally had no one I could depend on. I had plenty of people who SAID they would help, but I knew the possibility of them actually showing up. I was worried about being alone. It is very hard to do anything you are supposed to do on your own for a while.
For the first few days I stayed in my own bed with a gang of pillows, pills at the ready, my ear plugs, and remote within reach. I also kept my grabber close because I kept knocking down my pillows to support my leg or other things fell on the floor and getting in and out of bed was not easy and I just wanted not to move. The grabber was really helpful to reach the bottom of the blanket and either cover/uncover my feet because I had the hardest time flinging the blanket over my whole body when my legs were so high on pillows. I finally got my first semblance of a shower on Tuesday. This was such a hassle. We ended up not buying a shower chair so we used the bariatric commode and my walker. First we used a trash bag and taped over my incision to keep it dry. Daniel put the commode half in/out of the shower and adjusted the legs so it was even and I had to just sit and then he helped me lift my right leg over the edge, then I stood up and he scooted the commode in more. I sat down again and we began. I used a handheld shower head. I also used the scrub on a stick. Daniel washed everything for me. I still had the head ache and it was hard to hold my head sideways. The shower took forever it seemed like and he did so good :) It was messy but I was clean!! Then I laid down flat and let the incision air dry without the bandage on there for about 30 mins. I did this every time I took a shower until all the steristrips were off (2-3 weeks). Then Daniel cut and taped a new bandage on their and we were done. Then I would usually nap, it was exhausting!! Every little thing I did was too much and took too much out of me.
On weds, I did another dulcolax to poo :( not the best feeling having your muscles contracting to poo, and then delivering yet another baby sized dump a few days after the first. But def was having it out!! Lesson: Drink milk of magnesia in the hospital every day and keep taking all the stool softeners they give you. I had extra problems because I was throwing up a lot so I was dehydrated and that made going poo even worse. But you gotta do what you gotta do, and the nurse in the hospital scared me by telling me if I didn't go soon it can start coming out of my mouth. What is it with these med people?!? They keep telling me things that scare the "poo" out of me lol.
Once I got home I did not puke again which was wonderful. I spent most of my time finding new shows to watch on OnDemand. Which is not like me. I am a book reader! I had about 2-3 shows I religiously watched but after PAO it was so hard to concentrate and as soon as I focused on the book I would fall asleep! About Tues/Weds I came out of hibernation and ate food with my family at the table. it was awkward but I used a pillow under my arse and ate small meals quickly and then went to couch. This was hard to get used to. The first day I only sat for about an hour. It was so uncomfortable to sit in that bent up position. I had the huge hematoma that was getting bigger and it put more pressure on the joint. So after a short while, I went back to bed. About the same time tues/weds I stopped asking Daniel to help me to pee at night. I woke up every 3 hours on the dot to take my pain meds, drink and go pee. Which the commode was right by the bed and since he had to start going back to his job, I began my trek back to independence one pis at a time. Weds I took my first trip out of the house to Walmart. That was interesting. I took 2 pillows with me to support my legs. An old lady watched me walker and struggle to get onto the motocart. When I finally did, I waited for her to go through the door first and she said "No hunny, you go first." I preceded her into the store and then she came and hugged me and said, "God bless you. You'll make it through. I had both mine done." It was so strange to have that bond with someone. How did she possibly know? Well the time in the store was terrible. I had motion sickness from the time we left the house and the motocart did not help. It was not a smooth ride. Eventually I started feeling like I was actually going to throw up so we hustled out of there and went home. On Thursday my mom came over to hang until April got there and she helped a lot. She cleaned the kitchen and fed me and helped keep me company. We also slept a few hours too. :) April came and her boyfriend cooked us dinner. That is something you might ask people to do when they say "If you need anything let me." Then say, "Actually, can you bring us some food or dinner?" It takes a lot of stress off the person taking care of you especially if its your spouse.
I usually took showers every 2-3 days because it was such a hassle for everyone. By Sunday I was spending so much time in the living room with everyone else and was beginning to feel normal again. My best advice is to just take it one day at a time. I was getting better and better at maneuvering myself without help except for the couch when lifting my op leg above the pillows on the couch was hard. Just make sure everyone knows that you need to rest and to really support you in every way because you need it.
dis-pley-zhuh: abnormal growth
This is my journey with DDH and my experience. I have found that reading the wonderful blogs belonging to some courageous women has helped me immensely and I am hoping that my words will be as helpful to someone else. Enjoy!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Hospital and Home needs list
Well, I haven't been focused enough to add o my blog until now and even now I kind of don't feel like I want to, but some ladies in the PAO facebook group are about to go through their first PAO and are wondering what they will need to bring so I feel obligated to post my list of things I needed and used in the hospital and at home. :)
Things I brought with me:
- A backpack, inside the backpack was:
- Chap stick (soft lips is my brand)
- Expandable back scratcher $3.99 at Walgreen's
- Kleenex with aloe because I was sure the hospital had generic tissue and I didn't want to use that.
- Baby wipes.
- Shampoo/conditioner. I wanted my own instead of the hospitals.
- No-rinse shampoo.
- Lotion/Soap.
- Tooth brush/paste.
- Mouth wash/floss picks.
- Book and puzzle book.
- Notebook and pen
- Ear buds and set of speakers. The speakers plugged into my phone and did not use batteries or wall plug. $9.99 at Walgreen's
- Earplugs and an eye mask
- Deodorant
- Snack foods: dried apricots, cranberries and prunes to help with the bowel movements
- Powerade (3)
- My glasses and case
- Ziploc bag with q-tips and pony tails so i could have my hair french braided in doubles so my hair didn't get dread locked.
- Comb
Ok I also brought with us but my husband brought in later once I was in my room:
- My favorite pillow
- My daughter's thick blanket to have a reminder of home :)
- Phone and Charger
I wore the loose fitting clothing into the hospital that I was going to wear home and also the moccasin-type slippers I got from Target.
Out of all the stuff I brought, this is what I didn't use:
- No-rinse Shampoo. My hair was too long and it was a hassle.
- Notepad and pen. I had good intentions but my headache was so bad I couldn't focus on anything
- Book and puzzle book. Same reason as above.
- Earbuds. I did use the speakers though to listen to music from my phone.
- Ear plugs and eye mask. I ended up having my own room. I tried using the ear plugs but the headache left a pounding in my ears that was so much more painful when I had the plugs in. Plus I had the nurses keep my door closed and the lights off all the time and my pain pump did not make much noise. I tried using the mask but because of the pain medicine my nose itched and plus all i wanted was a wet towel on my head. For some reason the weight and coolness of the towel felt good and made my headache subside a little.
- Snack food. I had bouts of vomiting. I tried to eat the apricots but later I threw it and some medicine back up so I didn't end up trying any more of the fruit. I brought it all home. I ate the cranberries and apricots at home and threw away the prunes.
Now at home this is what I got prior to surgery:
- Handheld shower head installed prior to surgery. VERY HELPFUL
- Scrub sponge on a stick to wash lower extremities.
- Standard Commode, 1 of 3
- Walker, 2 of 3
- Standard Crutches, 3 of 3. $25.00 for the set on craigslist
- Gopher grabber. I haven't used as much as I thought but in bed it really helped for many reasons: cover the blanket over my feet, if I dropped something on the floor, helping to put on or pull up my pants, reach the light switch for my lamp to turn it off, grab my drink, reach my phone charger. First week home it helped. It's up to you if the $25 is worth spending for a little help while you're in bed. For me it was.
- 4 extra pillows.
- Tall bedside table same level as my tall bed.
- bedside lamp with a reachable switch.
- Refillable rubber ice pack with a screw lid for my hip. It beat the mess of leaking water from Ziploc bags frozen. $12.00 Walgreen's
- Kindle fire :) and I loaded it up with books and games. though I didn't have enough attention to focus until 2 weeks post op to use it.
- Xbox 360 games to keep me busy. Same reason as above.
- Easy to make meals and snacks: Uncrustables, micro dinners and snacks, hot pockets, gogurt, powerade, etc. It was easier to take the pain meds with a little something in your tummy.
- Duralax suppository. Yes I used this 2 times because it took 8 days to poop and I still needed to use it again a few days later. Almost 4 weeks post and I still have problems. If you are not against putting it in your bum (I'm not). Other wise ask the hospital for milk of magnesia while you are there to help before you go a week without going poo. It is not fun delivering a baby sized dump :(
- Miralax. I used it everyday. Still had problems. I think my advice would be to use something a little stronger. Milk of magnesia in the past always worked the best but this time I didn't use it.
Ok now, Things I brought home:
- Bariatric commode. I am a little bigger and it gave me more room to spread my legs. Having them too close together did not feel good at all.
- New standard walker. I can resell on craigslist.
- Sock putter on thingy. Really helpful for tube socks or crew style. I like ankle socks and it was awkward to to bend my ankle and hard to get the ankle socks on.
- Gait belt from the hospital. For a while it was very helpful to lift your own leg in and out of bed, on and off the couch. Especially since it is really important that only you are moving your leg around so as not to hurt you. After a while you get sick of the belt and end up aiding your leg around with your hand. Also if the hospital doesn't send you home with the belt you can use your own belt. Just make the loop at the end and kind of lasso around your foot to move it. It also helped me at home to start to do "walking" motions because getting the leg used to moving that way is a little tricky at first.
That's about it as far as my list goes. Here are a few more helpful things to know.
I got into shape before my surgery. I had practiced using the walker and crutches. I spent some time in the gym and spent most of the time working out my upper body and non-op leg strength to prepare. Still, there was nothing like the actual post-op life with the crutches and walker. I also lost 35 lbs (as you know if you read my earlier posts in my blog) which helped sooo much.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Sunday 12.25.11 Merry Christmas!! 5 days post op
Today I got up with PT/OT and a determination to go home today!! I got up and walkered down the hall and we did the stairs. Too bad Daniel wasn't there, I really wanted to get that on video. Oh well. I did fantastic. We went back to the room and I had to do that again when Daniel got there so he could be prepared to see what it looked like and to know how to help. Make sure you ask PT/OT how to do things you will need to do at home. Like if you have a tall bed, how to get in/out of the car/truck, etc. Whatever you will be having to do at home make sure you ask while you are with them so they can show you. Cush was amazing. She really worked hard to get the insurance company to order and negotiate with the medical equipment company to deliver a bariatric commode to the hospital. She rode them guys to getting it there. She was awesome. I will definitely be sending her a card. I was so anxious to go home. I NEEDED to get busted out of there. For the last few days this old woman was screaming. She was suffering from Alzheimer's and very confused. She was yelling; "go to hell! Their killing me, help me! HELP ME! Please oh my god help me it hurts!!" It was awful. I was ready to go yesterday.
The ride home was crazy! They wheeled me out, again crazy top speed!! lol Well we went down to the entry door, and Daniel got the truck. Now this is where it gets interesting. Its 38 degrees when we exit the hospital. OMG I have never felt so cold in my life!! It was so windy and cold. Anyone who has had a PAO in the winter probably knows that when your cold and shivering, you are miserable. Your bones and joints are shaking and it does not feel good. So I'm cold and trying not to shake and tense up and now I have to try to get into the truck. Crap. Well, it was awkward for sure but I took it slow. He brought 3 pillows from home to help me. I put one between my hip/leg and the door, the other across my incision and the last one between my legs and then we covered me up with the thick blanket of my daughters I brought to the hospital. And on we go. I had so much motion sickness but thankfully I did not throw up. all I wanted was something to eat but we passed all the good fast food stuff and I just said let's go home and most likely I would not have kept it down. It was a long 1 hour bumpy ride home. When we got home it took about 20 mins to get me out of the truck and into bed. It was rough but I was home. And on comes the really hard part. Living at home.
So I don't want to share this but you should know. I was really getting worried about the fact I had not pooed in 8 days. So Daniel got me Dulcolax suppository and I used one. About 15 minutes later I was literally giving birth out of you know where. It hurt, I was sweaty and afterwards I needed a nap. Lucky Daniel, I did it in the commode so he had to dump it. You should have seen him with my bright purple ear plugs shoved up his nose and him trying not to puke while dumping it in the toilet lol. I asked him to weigh it, but he refused, I know, I am terrible.
In bed I had 2 pillows beneath my head, 3 under my leg, one under my left leg, and 1 next to my hip between me and Daniel so I didn't get a swift knee to the PAO. I slept OK. Still had the headache but I felt 100% better just being home. The night was just like me being an infant without the crying. Though since I used the commode it was still like changing my diaper lol. We were up every 2-3 hours taking meds and he was giving me food so I could keep the meds down. Thankfully once I was home I never puked again. It was good to be home.
Ok so here we are on the ride home. You might be able to tell I have a greenish color. Motion sickness was killing me. I also have a cold wet towel wrapped around my head which was helping with the spinal headache. And finally that is my commode in the closet. That is my newly remodeled bathroom. Right next to the bed and also you can see the walker too. :)
The ride home was crazy! They wheeled me out, again crazy top speed!! lol Well we went down to the entry door, and Daniel got the truck. Now this is where it gets interesting. Its 38 degrees when we exit the hospital. OMG I have never felt so cold in my life!! It was so windy and cold. Anyone who has had a PAO in the winter probably knows that when your cold and shivering, you are miserable. Your bones and joints are shaking and it does not feel good. So I'm cold and trying not to shake and tense up and now I have to try to get into the truck. Crap. Well, it was awkward for sure but I took it slow. He brought 3 pillows from home to help me. I put one between my hip/leg and the door, the other across my incision and the last one between my legs and then we covered me up with the thick blanket of my daughters I brought to the hospital. And on we go. I had so much motion sickness but thankfully I did not throw up. all I wanted was something to eat but we passed all the good fast food stuff and I just said let's go home and most likely I would not have kept it down. It was a long 1 hour bumpy ride home. When we got home it took about 20 mins to get me out of the truck and into bed. It was rough but I was home. And on comes the really hard part. Living at home.
So I don't want to share this but you should know. I was really getting worried about the fact I had not pooed in 8 days. So Daniel got me Dulcolax suppository and I used one. About 15 minutes later I was literally giving birth out of you know where. It hurt, I was sweaty and afterwards I needed a nap. Lucky Daniel, I did it in the commode so he had to dump it. You should have seen him with my bright purple ear plugs shoved up his nose and him trying not to puke while dumping it in the toilet lol. I asked him to weigh it, but he refused, I know, I am terrible.
In bed I had 2 pillows beneath my head, 3 under my leg, one under my left leg, and 1 next to my hip between me and Daniel so I didn't get a swift knee to the PAO. I slept OK. Still had the headache but I felt 100% better just being home. The night was just like me being an infant without the crying. Though since I used the commode it was still like changing my diaper lol. We were up every 2-3 hours taking meds and he was giving me food so I could keep the meds down. Thankfully once I was home I never puked again. It was good to be home.
Saturday 12.24.11 Christmas Eve 4 days post
Today things went better. I was a little more alert. I had this great idea to use a tennis shoe on my left foot to raise me up a little so I was not putting as much weight on the right. Cush, my favorite of the OT nurses, agreed that might work. I really liked her because she was blunt, and she was patient. She worked so hard for me and took her time. She kept checking on me and made another visit when my hubby brought the shoe. I was able to walker to the wheel chair and Cush wheeled me down the hall. WOW that was rough. When you sit down and not move for 5 days, being wheeled in a chair at top speed was madness!! LOL!! Well I was able to get up and walker about 10 feet and then I turned around and walkered back and Cush wheeled me back to my room. Woohoo! Success! I was so happy :) There was no way I was going to no rehab facility. Today was boring after this though. that was so exhausting moving around.
There's my 5 year old Mickaela coming to visit me :D
First pic of my incision, no staples and no stitches :)
There's my 5 year old Mickaela coming to visit me :D
Friday 12.23.11 3 Days Post
Today I had PT/OT. we tried getting me up to use the walker. No go. Again I was light headed and pale and nauseous. The therapists said I was putting too much weight on my foot. It's hard to tell how much is too much. So we raised the walker and that helped a little. But they still said I was putting too much weight. It was really hard because I needed to get up and move to be able to go home. And today is the day they actually want to send me home but there is no way I would be able to do it because the headache, light headed and puking still. Jeeze would this ever stop? Well today I gave up the pump and I decided to only eat toast, crackers and ice water. I had a few Popsicles too. I still puked a few times, but managed to stay semi pain free. I think this night was close to being the worst. My mom came later and cleaned my hair which made me feel great. Ok don't be grossed out but here's the thing. Let me warn you. If you are desperate to be off the pain pump you will do just about anything to be pain free. Ok so while my mom was there, I puked up the oxycontin, and oxycodone. The nurses will not give you another dose so my mom scooped the meds out of the bucket and rinsed them off and I re-took them. Complete desperation. I know. The contin was really easy to spot though because since it was a time-release it grew about triple its original size and was like rubbery lol I know gross.
Well I did say I had one of the worst nights and let me tell you why. One thing, the surgeons assistant Gail which I appreciate her doing this but at the time I was upset. She was not hopeful on my progress and I was not doing very well. She told me that if I couldn't get up and start moving right without weight on my foot by Monday they would be forced to send me to a rehab facility until I can figure it out. She told me I was definitely not going home Saturday and probably not Sunday. I think it was a scare tactic but it worked. I cried that night. The other reason was I began to really dislike being at the hospital. I think the treatment by the nurses took a turn for the worse. I woke up late in the night and I asked for a nurse to come in the room. When she came in I asked her to look into my ears with a scope to see if I had fluid in my ears. I was having severe pounding in my ears and I just wanted them to see. Well the nurse told me they didn't have any scopes. Excuse me?? I was shocked. She was confused at what I was asking. "Look into my ears to see if I have fluid in my ears." How hard is that? Well she said ok let me ask. She walks out in the hall leaves the door open and I clearly hear her ask someone in charge. He laughs. LAUGHS. And says just tell her we don't have any. I was pissed. I am in a freaking hospital which also has an emergency room. I'm like can't you just go and get one? How in the world in a hospital can you not have an ear scope. So I was a little pissed and yelled at her to get out. I did. Well you laugh at me and you don't have something a hospital would obviously have and you don't think I would be pissed? Well she finally left and I cried. I was so upset and broke down. Daniel was asleep and he was so tired from lack of sleep and working I didn't want to bother him with my feelings. At this point I really wanted to get the hell out of there and go home.
There's me shortly after a PT visit. light headed and a little green. :(
And there's my bandage. They took it off today.
Well I did say I had one of the worst nights and let me tell you why. One thing, the surgeons assistant Gail which I appreciate her doing this but at the time I was upset. She was not hopeful on my progress and I was not doing very well. She told me that if I couldn't get up and start moving right without weight on my foot by Monday they would be forced to send me to a rehab facility until I can figure it out. She told me I was definitely not going home Saturday and probably not Sunday. I think it was a scare tactic but it worked. I cried that night. The other reason was I began to really dislike being at the hospital. I think the treatment by the nurses took a turn for the worse. I woke up late in the night and I asked for a nurse to come in the room. When she came in I asked her to look into my ears with a scope to see if I had fluid in my ears. I was having severe pounding in my ears and I just wanted them to see. Well the nurse told me they didn't have any scopes. Excuse me?? I was shocked. She was confused at what I was asking. "Look into my ears to see if I have fluid in my ears." How hard is that? Well she said ok let me ask. She walks out in the hall leaves the door open and I clearly hear her ask someone in charge. He laughs. LAUGHS. And says just tell her we don't have any. I was pissed. I am in a freaking hospital which also has an emergency room. I'm like can't you just go and get one? How in the world in a hospital can you not have an ear scope. So I was a little pissed and yelled at her to get out. I did. Well you laugh at me and you don't have something a hospital would obviously have and you don't think I would be pissed? Well she finally left and I cried. I was so upset and broke down. Daniel was asleep and he was so tired from lack of sleep and working I didn't want to bother him with my feelings. At this point I really wanted to get the hell out of there and go home.
And there's my bandage. They took it off today.
Thursday 12.22.11 2 days post.
Today I had no visitors. My mom visited yesterday but she said she was going to come so I told Daniel not to come because I felt so bad about the night before. Well, she didn't come until Saturday so no visitors for me. I spent a lot of today in pain from the headache and only could keep down toast. YUM. I ended up ordering & wasting a lot of food. It sounded good but when I got it, it was not appetizing so I chose not to eat it. The chances of puking up something that didn't taste good going down was pretty high. This day was mostly spent in dark silence again. Today I blew vomit so profusely it filled up the bucket and sprayed with such force past my feet. I am sure it went at least 7 feet from my mouth. All my blankets were completely soaked with an amazing shade of green. The first time I threw up like this it came out neon orange. So they came in and helped clean me up. They washed my legs and face and my back. They got me up to change the bed all while I was crying. That feeling of helplessness and complete dependence on another human is such a low feeling. At the same time they were cleaning me up, a nurse assistant came in and installed a trapeze handle to help me in getting in and out of bed. This was awkward to learn to use but it did help.
Today I got my catheter out which I was not happy about because that meant I had to get up now and start moving. I had PT/OT today which is basically getting up to stand, washing me up a little bit and getting me back in bed. We would have gotten me into a wheel chair and started to get me moving on the walker but because of the headache and nausea I was super dizzy and pale and almost passed out a few times. My PT/OT visits were cut short. When I finally felt like I had to pee, I got onto the commode which was standard size and so uncomfortable. So they got a bariatric commode which is for larger people. I am not super big to need it but I needed to open my legs wider than the standard size. The bigger one was so much more comfortable.The first time going pee was so hard. I had stage fright. It took about 30 mins the first time. I think the catheter does something to your bladder and you have to re-learn how to pee on your own. Everyone had to leave the room. I had a puke bucket, a pitcher of ice water, the water running in the sink and sitting on the commode was painful. So I tried maneuvering around, leaning side-to-side. Deep breathing, coughing (which hurt my hip/incision). I eventually had to hold one hand in the ice water and the other hand splashed water on me. FINALLY I PEED!!!! VICTORY! Oh my god, it felt so good but stopped quick. NO! I wasn't done! LOL It took another few minutes to get going again, but felt great. :)
Today I got my catheter out which I was not happy about because that meant I had to get up now and start moving. I had PT/OT today which is basically getting up to stand, washing me up a little bit and getting me back in bed. We would have gotten me into a wheel chair and started to get me moving on the walker but because of the headache and nausea I was super dizzy and pale and almost passed out a few times. My PT/OT visits were cut short. When I finally felt like I had to pee, I got onto the commode which was standard size and so uncomfortable. So they got a bariatric commode which is for larger people. I am not super big to need it but I needed to open my legs wider than the standard size. The bigger one was so much more comfortable.The first time going pee was so hard. I had stage fright. It took about 30 mins the first time. I think the catheter does something to your bladder and you have to re-learn how to pee on your own. Everyone had to leave the room. I had a puke bucket, a pitcher of ice water, the water running in the sink and sitting on the commode was painful. So I tried maneuvering around, leaning side-to-side. Deep breathing, coughing (which hurt my hip/incision). I eventually had to hold one hand in the ice water and the other hand splashed water on me. FINALLY I PEED!!!! VICTORY! Oh my god, it felt so good but stopped quick. NO! I wasn't done! LOL It took another few minutes to get going again, but felt great. :)
Thursday, January 5, 2012
12.21.11 1 day post op
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Post op: 12-20-11
Well the surgery went great!
Got into pre OR at 12:30 met with the anesthesiologist who I think was from england. Love the accent!. The room had pretty light covers with clouds and flowers. Heather was great, she talked me through the spinal. And I didn't even feel it. Well I felt a little nerve twinge but I know y that meant she was numbing me up. I laid on my right side so gravity was working the medicine to the right hip and man did it work! I was numb from my ribs to my toes. Got into the OR which was cold and the doc had foo fighters cd in. the drs and nurses and I were singing along lol. So I was in a twilight sleep. I was awake during the surgery which was wierd but awesome. I felt the p pounding to break the bones, and I felt and heard the screws going in. I didn't hurt but I knew what was going on. I talked to the doctors about my work and schools in seattle and also one of them, Chris I think, talked about gears of war and video games lol! My surgery started at 1:10 and I got to recovery at 2:35. So the surgery was fast. I spent 1 hour in recovery where they gave me back the blood that came out during surgery. I don't know what measurement term whether it was cc or something else but I lost 500 and they gave me back 250. They washed my blood and gave it back. Got to my room at 3pm and I am having a lot of troubles with pain management. The morphine is not working enough. I want to push more than 8 min so they are giving me other pain meds. The pain goes up and down from 3 and right now its at 7 :( this pain pump sucks. Hopefully we can get it under control. My hubby left to get mickaela and they are coming back to visit for a while. I am amazed at the surgery and how great it was I was so happy and laughing. Not so much right now but it will pass. I wanted to eat but they said the clear diet only. Boo! Gummy bears, chicken broth and gatorade. I want to thank all the wonderful or people so later I can send a card to them:
Dr downer, Heather, Chris, Brian, Katie, Angie, Shantal, Tess. So far I don't know my nurses well enough. They dont bother me much. Except I hate all these beeping machines. Oh and a nurses asst elevated my right leg and dropped it, oh crap! Not good! Ok I'm off to rest a little.
Pic 1 is me right before I got my spinal. Last time with my hubby in Peo- OR. This is the room that had all the pretty flower and sky pictures above the lights. One thing I want to say is I remember Dr. Downer coming in in his operation garb. He looked so small for some reason. I remember his apron being pretty "dark" looking. It was a canvas-type really thick apron you might see on a slaughter house butcher. LOL SCARY!
Pic 2 A pre op pic of smilies with me and Daniel :D
Pic 3 Is RIGHT after I got to my room 1 hour after surgery. Look how happy I was :D I remember being so superbly happy, must have been the valium and this happiness didnt last long.
Update: I am updating later because I am only recently getting my head back together and can focus enough to put all my notes in here. Plus shortly after the post above, things got real bad for me.
Well wouldn't you know it, I got another Spinal Headache. For those that dont know what that is, a Spinal Headache happens (1.5% chance for everyone according to my anesthesiologist) when the anesthesiologist puts the needle into your spine column and the hole in he spinal lining doesn't heal right away. Instead, some spinal fluid leaks out and the hole takes a while to heal. From the loss of spinal fluid, there is a gap between the meningeal lining of the brain and the top of the spinal column and this causes a massive spinal headache. I would say 5 times worse than a migraine. Sensitivity to light and sound, excruciating pounding in the ears, and all the way around the back and top of the head. You can't sit up and sleeping still pounds. I read a site that said it lasts 5 days. WRONG!! I have had one with my c-section and that one lasted 19 days. This one lasted 13 days. This one was not as bad as the last one because of a few reasons. This time, the needle used was a spinal needle and is super small compared to the epidural needles used during a c-section. Also, I was expecting this headache again because if you have had one, you will likely have it again. There are a few things that may "help" the headache which include a crap load of caffeine, hydration and laying down and also staying flat. Which I can tell you don't really help. Laying down until the headache goes away is the only real help but when you are sleeping it still pounds. Ice helped on the back of my neck throughout the night. which I am totally thankful for my hubby to keep getting me a new ice pack every few hours. The only real "cure" is to do a blood patch. They take blood from say your arm and inject it into the spine with an epidural needle which remember I said is bigger than a spinal needle. They inject the blood close to the previous spinal site, and the idea is that the blood will clot the hole from the first spinal and stop the leak. However there are risks. The blood patch might cause another spinal headache and the clot might not hold and pop out. So they would have to do it again. My anesthesiologist said usually they have to do it 2 times. Also, when you put anything into the spine there is a huge risk of infection in the spinal column, a risk of paralysis and need for open back surgery to fix. So obviously with my track record of having the rare things happen to me, I decided against the blood patch again. I have had this head ache before so at this point I will just tough it out. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur of vomiting, pain, nurses and barely sleep.
Got into pre OR at 12:30 met with the anesthesiologist who I think was from england. Love the accent!. The room had pretty light covers with clouds and flowers. Heather was great, she talked me through the spinal. And I didn't even feel it. Well I felt a little nerve twinge but I know y that meant she was numbing me up. I laid on my right side so gravity was working the medicine to the right hip and man did it work! I was numb from my ribs to my toes. Got into the OR which was cold and the doc had foo fighters cd in. the drs and nurses and I were singing along lol. So I was in a twilight sleep. I was awake during the surgery which was wierd but awesome. I felt the p pounding to break the bones, and I felt and heard the screws going in. I didn't hurt but I knew what was going on. I talked to the doctors about my work and schools in seattle and also one of them, Chris I think, talked about gears of war and video games lol! My surgery started at 1:10 and I got to recovery at 2:35. So the surgery was fast. I spent 1 hour in recovery where they gave me back the blood that came out during surgery. I don't know what measurement term whether it was cc or something else but I lost 500 and they gave me back 250. They washed my blood and gave it back. Got to my room at 3pm and I am having a lot of troubles with pain management. The morphine is not working enough. I want to push more than 8 min so they are giving me other pain meds. The pain goes up and down from 3 and right now its at 7 :( this pain pump sucks. Hopefully we can get it under control. My hubby left to get mickaela and they are coming back to visit for a while. I am amazed at the surgery and how great it was I was so happy and laughing. Not so much right now but it will pass. I wanted to eat but they said the clear diet only. Boo! Gummy bears, chicken broth and gatorade. I want to thank all the wonderful or people so later I can send a card to them:
Dr downer, Heather, Chris, Brian, Katie, Angie, Shantal, Tess. So far I don't know my nurses well enough. They dont bother me much. Except I hate all these beeping machines. Oh and a nurses asst elevated my right leg and dropped it, oh crap! Not good! Ok I'm off to rest a little.
Pic 1 is me right before I got my spinal. Last time with my hubby in Peo- OR. This is the room that had all the pretty flower and sky pictures above the lights. One thing I want to say is I remember Dr. Downer coming in in his operation garb. He looked so small for some reason. I remember his apron being pretty "dark" looking. It was a canvas-type really thick apron you might see on a slaughter house butcher. LOL SCARY!
Pic 2 A pre op pic of smilies with me and Daniel :D
Pic 3 Is RIGHT after I got to my room 1 hour after surgery. Look how happy I was :D I remember being so superbly happy, must have been the valium and this happiness didnt last long.
Update: I am updating later because I am only recently getting my head back together and can focus enough to put all my notes in here. Plus shortly after the post above, things got real bad for me.
Well wouldn't you know it, I got another Spinal Headache. For those that dont know what that is, a Spinal Headache happens (1.5% chance for everyone according to my anesthesiologist) when the anesthesiologist puts the needle into your spine column and the hole in he spinal lining doesn't heal right away. Instead, some spinal fluid leaks out and the hole takes a while to heal. From the loss of spinal fluid, there is a gap between the meningeal lining of the brain and the top of the spinal column and this causes a massive spinal headache. I would say 5 times worse than a migraine. Sensitivity to light and sound, excruciating pounding in the ears, and all the way around the back and top of the head. You can't sit up and sleeping still pounds. I read a site that said it lasts 5 days. WRONG!! I have had one with my c-section and that one lasted 19 days. This one lasted 13 days. This one was not as bad as the last one because of a few reasons. This time, the needle used was a spinal needle and is super small compared to the epidural needles used during a c-section. Also, I was expecting this headache again because if you have had one, you will likely have it again. There are a few things that may "help" the headache which include a crap load of caffeine, hydration and laying down and also staying flat. Which I can tell you don't really help. Laying down until the headache goes away is the only real help but when you are sleeping it still pounds. Ice helped on the back of my neck throughout the night. which I am totally thankful for my hubby to keep getting me a new ice pack every few hours. The only real "cure" is to do a blood patch. They take blood from say your arm and inject it into the spine with an epidural needle which remember I said is bigger than a spinal needle. They inject the blood close to the previous spinal site, and the idea is that the blood will clot the hole from the first spinal and stop the leak. However there are risks. The blood patch might cause another spinal headache and the clot might not hold and pop out. So they would have to do it again. My anesthesiologist said usually they have to do it 2 times. Also, when you put anything into the spine there is a huge risk of infection in the spinal column, a risk of paralysis and need for open back surgery to fix. So obviously with my track record of having the rare things happen to me, I decided against the blood patch again. I have had this head ache before so at this point I will just tough it out. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur of vomiting, pain, nurses and barely sleep.
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