It's Been a Week?

I can't believe that it has been a week since I had the surgery. The time really seemed to go quickly.

Teresa commented and asked about the surgery from the perspective of someone who is thinking about having the surgery. In my first post, that was the original intention of the blog, so maybe I should describe some of the experiences in more detail.

Before the surgery, I was very afraid of the surgery itself. It seemed that I was afraid of it all because there were so many unknowns. I was even afraid of getting the IV. Having gone through the surgery, anesthesia and recovery, I am not afraid now. I would be able to do this again with much less concern. The anesthesia was not scary. I don't remember anything at all about the surgery itself. I remember everything up to getting the Versed in the pre-op waiting area. I vaguely remember going down the hall into the elevator. I remember laying on the pre-op bed in the surgery room (they transfer you to the cradle while you are under). I looked around the room. There were about 4 people in there doing different things. I saw the big lights above the table to my right. Someone in dark blue scrubs was looking at my CT/MRI images on a monitor in the corner of the room.

Someone walked up to my gurney and asked how I was feeling. I said that I was nervous and that they gave me Versed in the room, but I didn't think it was working. They said they would give me more. Until writing this, I assumed they had. Now that I carefully look back on it, the next thing I remember is someone asking if I was ready to go to sleep. I said "ok". They said that they were going to start the medicine and that it might burn in my arm a little bit. I didn't feel anything at all.

The next thing I remember was an awareness that I was dreaming. I heard someone say, "Paco? You're in recovery. Your surgery is all done." I began to blink my eyes. Everything was blurry and my eyes felt sticky. I recalled the anesthesiologist saying that they would put an ointment in my eyes since we don't produce tears when under general anesthesia.

I could feel warm blankets covering me. I wiggled my right toes. I wiggled my left toes. They worked. I blinked until I could see better (didn't have my glasses or contacts) and saw a clock. I asked the nurse sitting to my right if it said "9:40". She confirmed and asked if I was in pain. I told her my back hurt where they did the surgery and that my left leg hurt. She said she had given me a powerful NSAID (anti-inflammatory) and asked if I wanted some morphine. I said yes.

By this time, I was fully awake and looking around the room. She injected the morphine and said it might burn a little bit. It didn't, but my arm started itching. I looked down and two of my blood veins in my arm were pinkish red. She said that the morphine triggers histamines and that's what caused the itching and pink veins.

The pain in my back was of two types. The first was a dull, pressure like pain similar to when getting an epidural steriod injection. The second was a more precise pain - very tender, like a cut. I assume the latter was from the incision and the former from swelling and bone removal. My leg did not have the shooting, buring pain like before. It was a moderate, overall ache from the knee down.

My voice was hoarse, my throat hurt and my mouth was really dry. I asked for a drink of water. She wouldn't give me water, but did give me crushed ice. I had at least 3 cups of crushed ice before I left. At some point, they labeled my recovery sufficient and discharged me from the PACU at 11:10. I was wheeled to a private room on the sixth floor. There was another nurse from the floor waiting for me. They lowered my gurney to the height of the bed in the room and asked if I could move myself over to the bed. I wasn't sure if I could, so I asked them if I should just try to crabwalk over there. So I raised my back off the gurney, and used my elbows and feet to scoot over to the other bed. It was uncomfortable and a little painful, but didn't feel damaging.

Before leaving the PACU, someone asked me if I had family waiting. I gave them Jane's full name and they indicated that she would be notified to join me in my room. At 11:30, she hadn't come to the room. I grabbed the room phone that was laying on my bed and called her mobile number. She was patiently waiting in the lobby - no one had contacted her. I gave her the room number and she arrived a few minutes later.

By 12:00, my neck was sore from sitting partially upright and my back and hips were achey. The nurse stopped by to ask how I was doing. I asked if I could try walking. She helped me get out of the bed which entailed rolling onto my side and scooting over until my knees poked over the edge. Then, I dropped my feet over the side and used my arms to 'roll' into a sitting position. At this point, I could scoot to the edge of the bed and get my feet to touch the floor. This technique would be used over and over during my recovery. In fact, I am still using it and will likely continue through my life because there is very little stress placed on the back.

Standing up was amazing. All of the aches and pains seemed to have been left on the bed. My leg didn't hurt at all. Zero pain. My lower back was fairly sore and my legs were shaky. I carefully and very slowly walked around the room. Jane and the nurse both asked several times if I wanted to sit or lay down. I didn't. Standing felt so good.

I choked down a hospital hamburger, some fries, orange jello, a lemon bar and apple juice for lunch. My mouth was so dry that I could barely eat. I had to take drinks of water to moisten the food just to be able to swallow it. I don't know which medication caused that, but it was very uncomfortable.

The remainder of my time at the hospital rotated between sitting in a chair (uncomfortable due to the pressure on the lower back), pacing around the room and laying in the hospital bed. Like before, the lower back pain was both dull in a broad area and sharp around the incision, but not unbearable in any way.

Although the following topic is a little gross, I am going for completeness in this entry. One thing that I was required to do was urinate by 6:00 PM. It doesn't seem like it would be difficult to do, but after at least a gallon of water and tons of ice, I didn't have the slightest urge to go. It seems that one of the medicines used during or after surgery causes this problem. Morphine? At any rate, it wasn't until around 3:30 that I was able to go. Thank god I was able to because the threat of catheterization was looming. The difficulty with urination lasted until the following morning. Oh, and the pee stinks! It has a nasty smell which I assume comes from the various medicines used.

The ride home was a little uncomfortable. My recommendation would be to choose a vehicle with leather seats or put a trashbag on the cloth seat to make it easier to slide around when getting in. The cloth seats grab your clothes and make it hard to get comfortable. Jane reclined the seat for me. Since then, I have preferred a more upright seat since there is less lumbar pressure from the seat back.

At home, I never felt confined to a bed or chair. It was usually easier to be up walking around even on the evening of the surgery. Jane's parents let me borrow a grabber which I consider essential for recovery since I'm not allowed to bend over. If I did the surgery again, I'd ask for a sleeping pill or determine if I could take a PM version of Tylenol or Advil on the first night. It was very difficult to sleep with the morphine, vicodin, etc combined with the discomfort in my lower back.

This post is getting long, so I will stop here for now. I'll continue next time with the days following the surgery and describe the aches and pains.

At this point, would I do it again? Absolutely. My only regret so far is that I did not do it sooner.