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The Hard Part Is Over
Nov. 23rd, 2013 04:17 pmHome from surgery, in one piece (even if I'm held in that status by screws and bone plates), and doing my best to rest comfortably. Thankfully, everything went well.
Brigham & Women's, for all that I had trouble with one or two of their departments, is overall an amazing hospital. Everyone I worked with yesterday was thoughtful, friendly, and incredibly good at their jobs. Also, their surgery waiting lounge includes an enormous library and boxes of yarn and knitting and crochet supplies for anyone who wants to keep their hands busy.
My surgery was a couple hours late starting, since the procedure using the same room before me apparently had some complications and ran over, but that wasn't anybody's fault. So I waited and I waited and I chatted with the nurses about their dogs, and then it was my turn.
Once I was wheeled down to the OR, I started to feel like a racecar at a pit stop - suddenly a half-dozen or more people were bustling around me - buckling my legs down, putting a mask over my face, wrapping a BP cuff around one arm and putting an oxygenation probe on my other hand, and injecting meds into my IV.....
....and then I was in a quiet, dark room and someone was gently telling me it was time to wake up. Seriously, it was that smooth. And after a couple of post-op x-rays I was set up in my overnight room.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
umbran was there for a few hours, until I was morphined back to sleep.
I passed all my tests today, mostly making sure that all of the parts that worked when I came in still worked this morning, and now I'm home with orders to rest as much as I can. The worst problem I'm dealing with is actually an anesthetic reaction - apparently extended use of sevoflurane, combined with having to yank my breathing tube to one side to get at my spine, left me with a ridiculous sore throat and some loss of function in the nerves in my mouth and epiglottis, making eating and drinking a challenge. But the doctors say this is common and temporary, and they've got me on some meds to help. And in the meantime, I live off tiny sips and mushy food.
It's hard to tell if the pain is any better, since I'm currently dealing with the similar pain of the surgery itself, but all in all I'm really hopeful. And, ultimately, the scariest part of all this is over....
Brigham & Women's, for all that I had trouble with one or two of their departments, is overall an amazing hospital. Everyone I worked with yesterday was thoughtful, friendly, and incredibly good at their jobs. Also, their surgery waiting lounge includes an enormous library and boxes of yarn and knitting and crochet supplies for anyone who wants to keep their hands busy.
My surgery was a couple hours late starting, since the procedure using the same room before me apparently had some complications and ran over, but that wasn't anybody's fault. So I waited and I waited and I chatted with the nurses about their dogs, and then it was my turn.
Once I was wheeled down to the OR, I started to feel like a racecar at a pit stop - suddenly a half-dozen or more people were bustling around me - buckling my legs down, putting a mask over my face, wrapping a BP cuff around one arm and putting an oxygenation probe on my other hand, and injecting meds into my IV.....
....and then I was in a quiet, dark room and someone was gently telling me it was time to wake up. Seriously, it was that smooth. And after a couple of post-op x-rays I was set up in my overnight room.
umbran was there for a few hours, until I was morphined back to sleep.I passed all my tests today, mostly making sure that all of the parts that worked when I came in still worked this morning, and now I'm home with orders to rest as much as I can. The worst problem I'm dealing with is actually an anesthetic reaction - apparently extended use of sevoflurane, combined with having to yank my breathing tube to one side to get at my spine, left me with a ridiculous sore throat and some loss of function in the nerves in my mouth and epiglottis, making eating and drinking a challenge. But the doctors say this is common and temporary, and they've got me on some meds to help. And in the meantime, I live off tiny sips and mushy food.
It's hard to tell if the pain is any better, since I'm currently dealing with the similar pain of the surgery itself, but all in all I'm really hopeful. And, ultimately, the scariest part of all this is over....
