Post-Op Update

I know it has been a little bit of time already since my surgery. Sorry I have not written an update sooner. As you know, I had surgery on my back on 1-11-11 to remove one of the two metal rods that were in my back. I was having horrible pain caused by one of the screws actually working its way out of the bone. You could feel it, and even see it stick out. Surgery day was...eventful I guess I would say. I got to the hospital at about 7:45am, and was scheduled for surgery at 10:40am. I got there extra early to have a PIC line put in my upper arm, because I can be a difficult IV stick. The nurse in charge of the surgical waiting has come to recognize me from the many times I have been there, and also remembers mom. They usually have a policy that only one person can go back in the pre-op holding area, but the nurse said to be sure to let her know when my parents were coming and she would bring them back to see me :-). She is a very nice lady. Things were moving slowly, like they always seem to in that situation, and we were waiting for the anesthesiologists to come sign off so I could go to the OR. Right as he came to talk to me, he got called away on an emergency case which ended up taking over the OR I was about to be taken to. A while later we were finally told what was going on, and my surgeon came to let us know it was going to be a few hours because they had to re-sterilize the equipment and the whole room. There were also several transplants that occurred that day, which have to be done quickly so the organs stay viable. At about 5pm, the nurse I was speaking of earlier came down and did a double take. She could not believe that I was still waiting to be taken back to surgery. Close to 6pm, my surgeon finally came in (he had also been called to assist on one of the emergency cases that day) and said if I was still up for it he was getting together a team and we were still a go. He felt so bad that I had been there all day with no food or drink, just waiting... I had the option of rescheduling but we were already there and ready, so we said go for it. The surgery only took about 1.5hours, so it was relatively short. The nurses in pre-op were so happy to be able to cross my name off the board and a few clapped as I was finally rolled to the OR. I am so thankful to Josh and my parents for sitting with me through all of this. I felt so bad, feeling like I needed to entertain them, but they are so wonderful! Due to the craziness that happened in the GUH operating rooms that day, there were no open hospital rooms. I ended up spending the night in the recovery room. Mom and dad went home pretty soon after because the weather was bad. My nurse was really nice, and went and found a microwave dinner for me to eat. Josh is amazing too, he is such a trooper. They let him stay with me until about midnight, then he had to go. I guess he slept somewhere in the OR waiting area, and was allowed back down the next morning. We finally got moved into a room at about noon, but then I got discharged a few hours later. I think God had a hand in that timing, because right as I was leaving they brought another patient into the room who seemed to have quite an attitude. I am glad we were able to leave, and not have to experience that. We went home to my parents house, and stayed there for about 10 days. I went and saw my doctor 2 weeks post-op and he was very pleased. He is always nervous that things will not heal as well because of everything I have had done, but I am healing just fine. It did make me nervous that I can feel one of the screws on the other side, but he said that the skin and muscles have thinned because of everything and there is nothing we can do about that. As long as it is not causing me pain, everything was tight and secure. I am slowly getting back to things. The weather has kept me home a lot, because I do not want to slip and fall on any ice. I am still on the Nexavar. I was having really bad side effects right before Christmas, including vomiting a lot and horrible fatigue, but have finally gotten that pretty much under control with the help of my endocrinologist and our close family friend who is an oncologist. I have a PET/CT scheduled for next week to see how things are looking since I have been on the medication. I will be sure to write another update once I have those results. Just pray that my pain continues to subside, and that this medicine is working!
I am so tired of climbing uphill, I am ready to start heading down the other side!