Surgery or something like it....
For those of you who don't know, after months of decisions and planning, I did finally have my surgery on December 20, 2004 at 1:00 in the afternoon. And let me tell you, if you ever have surgery in the future, ask for Verced before they take you away. I was, quite honestly, a wreck when they pulled me into the little room to put me in the gown, hook up my iv's, etc. But then the wonderful, lovely anesthesiologist gave me the miracle drug Verced and I went from crying to laughing hysterically in the space of about 30 seconds. I could have cared less that they were wheeling me into a freezing cold room and strapping me down to a hard, purple table. I was, however, very concerned that the lights looked blue (the poor nurse had no idea what I was talking about).
Flash forward (at least to me)... I woke up really out of it in the recovery room and all I could think about was how much my jaw hurt and what time it was. When I was finally able to make the words from my brain leave my mouth, I found out that it was 6:30 pm and the surgery had been five hours long. No wonder my jaw hurt, I had it pried open for 5 hours straight because they had to intubate me during the surgery. When I heard how long the whole thing took, I got a little scared because the surgeon had said it would only be a couple hours; I thought for sure something had gone wrong. After a couple doses of morphine, they took me up to my room, and I was never more glad to see my Mom and Nick. My Mom immediately filled me in on what happened. Apparently, the surgeon was concerned about me bleeding a lot, so he went really, really slowly and carefully through the whole procedure, which is why it took so long. But she said that everything went fine and it was done, so that was a big relief to me. The first thing I did when I got to my room was take off the God awful hospital gown and put on my stylin' plaid shirt (courtesy of Nick) and my snowflake pajama pants and I instantly felt better. I wasn't really groggy the first night, so I stayed up for a while and talked to Nick and my family. It was a long day for them, but it had gone by quickly for me (Sorry, Guys!).
That night, after everybody left, I realized that my pain was about to begin, and funnily enough it wasn't because my neck was hurting me. My roomate, a wretch of a woman, from podunk Missouri, made it her personal responsibility and goal to torture me. As if her cave troll snoring weren't enough, she woke up several times during the night to use the bathroom. Everytime she got up, she knocked over something on her bedside table and then huffed and puffed and muttered obscentites to herself as she tried to retrieve it. Although it was funny at first, it quickly got old. Finally, I was able to fall asleep around 2:30, but sure enough at 4:00 her farming habits kicked in and she was up for the day. She turned the blaring overhead light on, and then turned the tv on to get her fill of crossword puzzles and Jesus. As the hours wore on, Jesus turned into Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy, followed up by an all star lineup of soap operas. I lied to you before when I said that I wasn't ever happier to see Nick then right after surgery, because by 10:00 the next morning when he showed up, I was ready for some relief.
Nick, my Mom, and Gilligan kept me company most of the morning. But not just any Gilligan, the Real Gilligan's Island (a reality show on TBS). I got lucky, because the season finale was on that Tuesday night, so I had the pleasure and company of an all day marathon. Nick did the intelligent thing and read all day, but I got really into the show (ahhh...I miss cable). Then, around lunchtime, my two favorite co-workers, Mike (otherwise known as the Jebus) and Andy (otherwise known as Black Andy), showed up with a snowman balloon and flowers, and the day was saved. The day only improved from there, Nick and I started a game of Trivial Pursuit, but we gave that up when I started winning. Then his parents showed up. They brought me this amazing new thing called Fom. It is the best pillow I have ever encountered (although technically you're not supposed to sleep on it because of a risk of suffocation). It forms completely around you, which was perfect because I was really feeling the pain in my neck since the anesthesia had worn off completely. The nurses kept offering me oxycodone, and let me tell you I was a fool not to take it that first day, everything would have been a lot better if I had. After Nick's parents left, it went back to Nick and my family there and I got to see my finale of Gilligan (surprise ending and all). Overall, the day was alright, although I was wishing the whole time that I wasn't in the hospital. But as night came I freaked out a little bit about being there again, finally my Mom convinced me to take the oxycodone and I was able to sleep for 8 hours straight.
The next morning, the wonderful doctors came in and told me I was cleared to go and it was glorious. I did, however, have to go home with a drain (that had been there since surgery) still hanging out of my neck (I'll spare you the gory details). Once I got home and had on real clothes, I felt about 6,000,000,000 times better, I took a nap that afternoon and was able to get some stuff done around the house. After that things started to get back to normal, and Christmas was fast approaching. On Wednesday night, Mike came over and he, Nick, Ben, and I watched the 4 and 1/2 hour The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition (of course, I use the term "watched" loosely in my case).
Thursday morning, things only got better because I went to the surgeon's office at 8:30 and they removed the drain from my neck (once again, sparing details). With that infernal thing gone, I could actually move without being afraid I was going to hurt something and I could shower. Nick was happy about the second part. The rest of Thursday and all day Friday were spent hanging out watching movies and playing video games.
Then Christmas Eve, we went over to my parents house, for a wonderfully delicious meal of Roast, mashed potato casserole, brocolli casserole, rolls, and carrots (all wonderfully prepared by my Mom, who is an excellent cook). Then more movies and a couple games of Trivial Pursuit, and all was right with the world (except the lack of snow, a topic which deserves its own post).
Christmas morning, even before presents, Nick, my Mom, and I went to the hospital to have my stitches removed. It went quickly and didn't hurt, so I didn't mind too much. Then we came back and had another excellent meal of waffles, eggs, etc. Then presents. Nick and I made out with the DVD's (not a fun job to alphabetize all the new ones in, but oh well). He also came out with a spiffy new wardrobe. It was a very nice Christmas in general.
Christmas night, we made the trek from Columbia to Blue Springs to have our second Christmas with Nick's family, which was also very nice. More DVD's, more clothes. We did brave the mall the day after Christmas to make exchanges, but overall it wasn't too too bad.
I have to admit, that most of my "Christmas" came after the actual day, I spent the whole next week shopping the sales, and spending gift certificates. But that's my favorite thing to do anyway, so it worked out. Now I have a stack of books to get through.
Well, if you've made it this far, I'll cut you some slack and cut myself off from this hellaciously long post. I commend your bravery and willpower for having gotten this far. You get a gold star for effort!! Hope everyone's new year is going well.
Megan...January 1, 2004 @ 1:15 pm
Flash forward (at least to me)... I woke up really out of it in the recovery room and all I could think about was how much my jaw hurt and what time it was. When I was finally able to make the words from my brain leave my mouth, I found out that it was 6:30 pm and the surgery had been five hours long. No wonder my jaw hurt, I had it pried open for 5 hours straight because they had to intubate me during the surgery. When I heard how long the whole thing took, I got a little scared because the surgeon had said it would only be a couple hours; I thought for sure something had gone wrong. After a couple doses of morphine, they took me up to my room, and I was never more glad to see my Mom and Nick. My Mom immediately filled me in on what happened. Apparently, the surgeon was concerned about me bleeding a lot, so he went really, really slowly and carefully through the whole procedure, which is why it took so long. But she said that everything went fine and it was done, so that was a big relief to me. The first thing I did when I got to my room was take off the God awful hospital gown and put on my stylin' plaid shirt (courtesy of Nick) and my snowflake pajama pants and I instantly felt better. I wasn't really groggy the first night, so I stayed up for a while and talked to Nick and my family. It was a long day for them, but it had gone by quickly for me (Sorry, Guys!).
That night, after everybody left, I realized that my pain was about to begin, and funnily enough it wasn't because my neck was hurting me. My roomate, a wretch of a woman, from podunk Missouri, made it her personal responsibility and goal to torture me. As if her cave troll snoring weren't enough, she woke up several times during the night to use the bathroom. Everytime she got up, she knocked over something on her bedside table and then huffed and puffed and muttered obscentites to herself as she tried to retrieve it. Although it was funny at first, it quickly got old. Finally, I was able to fall asleep around 2:30, but sure enough at 4:00 her farming habits kicked in and she was up for the day. She turned the blaring overhead light on, and then turned the tv on to get her fill of crossword puzzles and Jesus. As the hours wore on, Jesus turned into Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy, followed up by an all star lineup of soap operas. I lied to you before when I said that I wasn't ever happier to see Nick then right after surgery, because by 10:00 the next morning when he showed up, I was ready for some relief.
Nick, my Mom, and Gilligan kept me company most of the morning. But not just any Gilligan, the Real Gilligan's Island (a reality show on TBS). I got lucky, because the season finale was on that Tuesday night, so I had the pleasure and company of an all day marathon. Nick did the intelligent thing and read all day, but I got really into the show (ahhh...I miss cable). Then, around lunchtime, my two favorite co-workers, Mike (otherwise known as the Jebus) and Andy (otherwise known as Black Andy), showed up with a snowman balloon and flowers, and the day was saved. The day only improved from there, Nick and I started a game of Trivial Pursuit, but we gave that up when I started winning. Then his parents showed up. They brought me this amazing new thing called Fom. It is the best pillow I have ever encountered (although technically you're not supposed to sleep on it because of a risk of suffocation). It forms completely around you, which was perfect because I was really feeling the pain in my neck since the anesthesia had worn off completely. The nurses kept offering me oxycodone, and let me tell you I was a fool not to take it that first day, everything would have been a lot better if I had. After Nick's parents left, it went back to Nick and my family there and I got to see my finale of Gilligan (surprise ending and all). Overall, the day was alright, although I was wishing the whole time that I wasn't in the hospital. But as night came I freaked out a little bit about being there again, finally my Mom convinced me to take the oxycodone and I was able to sleep for 8 hours straight.
The next morning, the wonderful doctors came in and told me I was cleared to go and it was glorious. I did, however, have to go home with a drain (that had been there since surgery) still hanging out of my neck (I'll spare you the gory details). Once I got home and had on real clothes, I felt about 6,000,000,000 times better, I took a nap that afternoon and was able to get some stuff done around the house. After that things started to get back to normal, and Christmas was fast approaching. On Wednesday night, Mike came over and he, Nick, Ben, and I watched the 4 and 1/2 hour The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition (of course, I use the term "watched" loosely in my case).
Thursday morning, things only got better because I went to the surgeon's office at 8:30 and they removed the drain from my neck (once again, sparing details). With that infernal thing gone, I could actually move without being afraid I was going to hurt something and I could shower. Nick was happy about the second part. The rest of Thursday and all day Friday were spent hanging out watching movies and playing video games.
Then Christmas Eve, we went over to my parents house, for a wonderfully delicious meal of Roast, mashed potato casserole, brocolli casserole, rolls, and carrots (all wonderfully prepared by my Mom, who is an excellent cook). Then more movies and a couple games of Trivial Pursuit, and all was right with the world (except the lack of snow, a topic which deserves its own post).
Christmas morning, even before presents, Nick, my Mom, and I went to the hospital to have my stitches removed. It went quickly and didn't hurt, so I didn't mind too much. Then we came back and had another excellent meal of waffles, eggs, etc. Then presents. Nick and I made out with the DVD's (not a fun job to alphabetize all the new ones in, but oh well). He also came out with a spiffy new wardrobe. It was a very nice Christmas in general.
Christmas night, we made the trek from Columbia to Blue Springs to have our second Christmas with Nick's family, which was also very nice. More DVD's, more clothes. We did brave the mall the day after Christmas to make exchanges, but overall it wasn't too too bad.
I have to admit, that most of my "Christmas" came after the actual day, I spent the whole next week shopping the sales, and spending gift certificates. But that's my favorite thing to do anyway, so it worked out. Now I have a stack of books to get through.
Well, if you've made it this far, I'll cut you some slack and cut myself off from this hellaciously long post. I commend your bravery and willpower for having gotten this far. You get a gold star for effort!! Hope everyone's new year is going well.
Megan...January 1, 2004 @ 1:15 pm
posted by Megan at 1:15 PM
1 Comments:
Retro comment, w00t!
Post a Comment
<< Home