Stephanie's surgery/recovery update

I've been working on this blog entry over this whole week because with my recovery everything is exhausting. I must say that I'm feeling much better every day. My pain improving greatly and I have significantly weaned down on the narcotic pain medicaion. Swelling is reduced and the ugly bruises are moving down my neck and chest as my body gets rid of them. My endurance for even basic daily tasks is very little, but improving. This is not unexpected after such a major surgery. I am thankful and accepting of all the help from my family. I can now sit and type on my laptop, reclinced in my recliner without becoming nauseated. At first it was very difficult to type due to discoordination related to the medications.

Here's a little of what's been going on the last 12 days:


On Monday morning May 21st Matt and I did all my pre-op stuff at the doctor's office and then we went to have my last big meal for lunch at the Cheesecake factory--Chicken Maderia, my favorite! The hospital pre-op stuff took longer than expected, lots of waiting. We entertained ourselves in downtown a little bit in the evening, seeing the JFK shooting plaza, as well as some other fountains and walked around the area. FYI: Reunion tower is closed until 2009. We stayed overnight at the Baylor Hospital hotel the night before surgery and reported to the waiting area at 5:30am Tuesday morning. I think I was off to surgery at 7:30am, but they gave me some medicine to relax me as Matt left the "holding pen," (they actually do call it that), and I don't remember anything else until I woke up. Surgery went slightly more quickly, at 7 hours, than the doctor predicted. Matt was able to wait in his hospital hotel room and was not stuck in some cramped waiting area. The nurse called him by cell phone for updates ever couple of hours, giving him the progression as stages of the surgery were completed. He kept the family updated Matt did what limited work he was able due to the blocks on the hospital wireless internet and entertained himself as possible to pass the time.

I came out of anesthesia feeling ok. The nurse in recovery was just for me and was very helpful. Matt was able to come for 2 brief visits that afternoon and evening. They moved me to an overnight recovery area where a nurse shared me and 1 other patient. I couldn't see much because I didn't have glasses or contacts, and this was bothersome because I was bored and nosy about the other patients. My pain was well controlled, and I was fortunate to have little nausea as long as I remained still. I had a button I could push to release Morphine every 10 minutes. After Matt left at 10pm they moved me to an overnight recovery consolidation area with beds lined up and curtains only drawn as necessary. I took the tiny amounts of water that the nurse rationed me, as she was afraid it would upset my stomach. I was alert and able to communicate. It felt like the LONGEST NIGHT EVER because I was simply awake. I was like a kid on a car trip "what time is it?" The lights were sort of dimmed but they would turn on lights to do care as new patients came in from night-time surgery. This would further convince me that morning was near. (Matt spent that night in his hospital hotel room.) It was interesting to see a patient wheeled in and wake up after surgery and see the nurses laugh at the silly things people do/say when coming out of anesthesia. I don't remember doing any such things, but I expect I may have. He had fallen out of his attic and had leg surgery. Note to self: be careful climbing in and out of the attic. In the morning they moved 3 of us to another holding area with more room so they could move more cricitcal patients in our recovery spots. We were all just waiting for transportation to our room. Matt got a call to his cell phone saying they'd be moving me to my room and he could wait for me there. I think I waited 2.5 hours, while Matt also waited in my new room without me wondering why I was so late. I guess there is just a shortage of strong guys to push beds around the hospital.

There was a nice view from my room the 14th floor of the Baylor tower downtown, but I couldn't see very much without contacts. Overall nursing was pretty good, though lots of responsibility was pushed on Matt. Everyone was nice, but medication was often not prompt. I did what I could to get better, drinking, eating and taking short walks. Matt was my advocat and helped me infinitely. During my stay there Dr. Wolford, my surgeon, made rounds 3 times per day! I ended up leaving on Friday evening, which ended up much later than we expected as we waited several hours for wheel chair transportation down to the car. Dr. Wolford left it up to me to decide whether to leave then or Saturday morning. He suggested leaving because the longer you stay in the hospital the more likely you might catch something yucky from the hospital. So, we headed home and found an all-night Walgreens to fill my prescriptions. Everyone looked at me funny because I looked so terrible, and I wished I could have taken an poll on what they guessed happened to me.

We finally got home and settled in bed, and Matt started doing my round-the-clock medications by syringe. The meds come in pills that have to be dissolved or crushed to be taken as a liquid. It tastes awful, like sucking on an asprin. We quickly mastered a system of chasers and Matt and my mom worked out a system of organization. Matt set his alarm and actually woke up to fix my medications on schedule. The next morning we had to load up and go back down town to see Dr. Wolford in his office--should have just stayed the night in the hospital.

Last night was the first night I didn't need to take any meds in the night. I figured Matt would tell his co-workers that he looked so rested today because his wife finally slept through the night!

I'm doing much better but I've got a long way to do. I looked pretty gruesome at first and Matt took pictures, but I'm unsure if I'll post any or not. I look much better now as the swelling as gone way down, my black eye is improved and I even got the splint off my nose today (though now I have tape across my nose/face instead). I'm probably one of the few people who did not need to loose any weight but it's par for the course, even with my Mom preparing food specially for me and doting over me. My diet has progressed from being able to swallow only thin liquids all the way to coarse puree (which is quite a big improvement in palatability of food). I will continue on this level of soft diet for 3 months, I was told at the doctor today, because of fragility of the bones in my upper jaw healing. I also have a crazy splint wired in behind my front teeth which maked it difficult to speak clearly and is a terrible food trap. I've been able to talk functionally since immediately after surgery but it's not very clear. I also have some rubber bands attached between a few upper and lower teeth to align my bite and retrain my jaw muscles to work with my new bite. Everything is going as planned.

I'm a mouth breather for now because my nose was broken during surgery to line it up with my new jaw setup (because it had grown asymmetrical with my abnormal jaw growth). So my nose would have looked off center if they hadn't realigned it. While they were doing they also smoothed it out a little bit. I got to see my nose job today when the splint came off and it looked mostly like my nose (but still swollen), with which I previously had no complaints.

Today at the doctor I got copies of the x-rays taken last week showing all my new titanium hardware, invisible underneath my skin. The doctor says it won't set of airport metal detectors:)

I'm not bored, really. I've got lots of recorded TV shows that I've never had a chance to watch. But ultimately I stay pretty busy trying to slowly force food into myself, take naps, going to doctor's appointment, and do any tasks I'm able to from a recumbent position (paying bills on my laptop, etc). Daily things like hygiene take lots of time and energy and require frequent rest breaks. The day actually goes by quickly. My mom has been here all the time so far because for a while I needed help even moving around. I'm walking around on my own now, though. Hopefully Mom will have a little more freedom next week to leave me on my own some. Matt's parents are coming for the weekend, and that will be a nice break for my mom plus a chance for her to be away from my cat (which is really starting to aggrivate her allergies as it builds up in her body despite taking her allergy medicine).

Just call me "titanium woman."

I'm still debating about posting any pictures. I'll try to get Matt to scan the x-ray though.

Stephanie