Saturday, June 25, 2011

June 25, 2011 (2nd day post op)

Hello Everyone!!

I am now going to recount to the best of my ability the experience of my surgery so far.

June 23rd 2011.

When I arrived at the hospital with my mom I checked in at the front desk. It was about 8:30am. They sent me up to the B elevators- second floor surgery check in.  I signed in on the computer at surgery check in and within a few minutes they called me to the desk.  They asked me what I was there for and had me agree to a few questions, like if they could give out my room number to visitors and if I consented to having the surgery.  They then told me to go sit back down and a pre op assistant would come and get me.  Not even 5 minutes later the pre op person got me.  They took me to pre op bay 7.  I undressed and put on the hospital gown.  It is a very interesting gown.  It was very soft purple paper/cloth like material.  It had holes where you could hook up a hair dryer type thing that could either heat u up or cool you! I was not hot or cold so I didn't use either yet.  After that I waited and the other nurse came and asked me questions about medications and some other legal type questions.  She gave me a dramamine pill to prevent sickness after anesthesia. It seemed really early to take it, but of course that wasn't up to me! I waited about another half an hour and then my mom came in.  I couldn't sit on the bed because it was really hurting my neck.  The nurse said it was ok to sit in the chair next to the bed.  I sat there for a while. The nurse came by again and said the surgery before mine took longer than expected, so they are running about a half an hour behind.  The time dragged on.  I was very nervous.  Anesthsia came by.  There was an Anestheologist, a nurse anestestist and a student nurse anestestist!  They looked at my mouth to see how big it was... they didn't look pleased.  They asked me lots of questions about previous surgeries and about my history of allergies and asthma. Soon they left and the surgeon came by.  He asked me if I was nervous and I said YES!  He told me that's normal but not to be nervous.  He put a piece of tape on my neck where he was going to cut.  Then a bunch of people came and they told me it was time to get in the bed.  I got in and they started pushing me towards the OR.  This is where things got VERY fuzzy.  They said time to say goodbye, my mom kissed me and then they pushed me through the double doors.  I don't remember what happened after that until they lifted me from that bed to another bed.  They lifted up the blanket I was lying on.  Kind of like on TV how they all go 1.2.3... and all lift.  The other bed had a doughnut pillow thing that was uncomfortable. I reached my had up to move it but they took my arm and tucked it in very tight close to my body.  They then and pulled my other arm, the one with the iv, out on a stretcher thing...... and guess what.........  I don't remember anything else.

Recovery Room:

Nurse:  Lisa!  LISA you need to breathe!  Breathe LISA (while taping on my chest)
Me: (in my head) Lisa? (while trying to breathe)
Nurse: LISA!  You need to breathe!
Me: (again in my head Lisa? LISA?)  (Also it was kinda scary not being able to breathe.  Finally I started breathing again or something and they pulled out the tube.  I drifted off a couple times and every time the nurse would come back..
Nurse:  Lisa you need to take deep breaths, deep breaths Lisa!

Anyway... At this point I could not talk.   I kept trying to say Donna but nothing was coming out not even a whisper.  Finally after trying a lot of times I could barely whisper.  I kept motioning the nurse over and finally she came over and I let out a little whisper, "Donna".  She was like, Huh? Finally she looked at my chart and was like OMG I am sorry your name is Donna!  I also noticed sometime during this that I did not have a collar on.  She was giving me pain meds at that time, it was dilaudid.  I did not feel sick at all in the recovery room. It was great!  She kept asking me if I wanted to go up to my room.  I kept saying no!  She asked me why I don't want to go there and I said because I don't want to get up.  She told me they would move me on to the bed so I wouldn't have to get up.  Finally I didn't have a choice and they just started wheeling me up there.  THIS MADE ME SICK!  I was pretty dizzy when I got up to my room and they helped me up and made me walk over to the bed.  I felt like I weighed 10000 pounds (Yeah they didn't move me).  I got in the bed and was super dizzy.  The nurse, Zac, was there and my aunt told him I was dizzy.  He gave me some Zofran in my IV that pretty much instantly made me not dizzy.  That was cool!

My First Roomate:
Although I was not dizzy any more I was still EXTREMELY sensitive.  Especially sensitive to light and sounds.  Let me just start by saying, I hate the tv show Judge Judy.  I had a huge headache.  The tv was booming.  Judge Judy.  Not only was the tv booming, the roomate's husband's voice was booming. I should say that I was on the neurology floor and my first roomate had some sort of memory issue. 

Nurse to patient: Do you know this man?
My 1st roomate:  Oh yes, he is a good friend.
Husband: GOOD FRIEND?  I am your husband of ?? Years!! (Starting to freak out going on and on.)
Roomate:  Sorry I cant remember I dont know I dont know anything. (OVER AND OVER)
Husband:  I am your HUSBAND, HUSBAND (Over and over booming)
Roomate: I'm sorry, I don't remember, I don't remember (crying)
Husband: I AM YOUR HUSBAND!

Judge Judy was still booming in the background.

I don't know exactly what happened after that, my aunt was feeding me ice chips and I got an ice bag.  Finally the first roomate left and that was the best thing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I had peace and quiet for about 2 hours and then about 8:30pm I got a new roomate.  Her name was Vickie and she had a lumbar fusion.  More to come soon......

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