Post-Op!

 Whoops! It’s been a minute since my last post. What has happened since? Well, I had the surgery!

It was like pulling teeth to get the surgeon’s office to move things along, and in the end it was approved by my insurance and confirmed mere days before the scheduled date. So, at the end of May, I went in for my surgery. The surgeon’s office told me to be at the hospital by 6am, so we were. After forking over a hefty co-pay, when it was time to sign in for the actual surgery, we were told my slot wasn’t until 5pm! The front desk told us to wait until the surgeon came in at 8am to see if there was a last minute change in the schedule or something. What other choice was there but to wait those two hours in the waiting room? Closer to 9am, the scheduling nurse for the hospital came out and told us my surgery was moved to noon-thirty, and that they should be calling me back for prep around 11am. And so, more waiting in the waiting room… did I mention that I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink ANYTHING, not even water, since midnight the night before (which was actually more like 10pm when I forced myself to chug a ton of water before TRYING to sleep… which I didn’t, so by this point I was VERY thirsty, hungry, and tired).

I ended up getting called back around 11:30am and I guess I knew then that there was little chance I was actually going to be wheeled away for surgery on time, since the prep took FOREVER. By this point I was massively dehydrated, so they had a very hard time finding a good vein for my IV. They actually had to use an ultrasound machine to find it, but still after some difficulty. Anyone that knows me can probably guess how that made me feel… Anyway, somehow I didn’t pass out and eventually I was all wired up and in my little gown, ready and waiting for the pre-surgery pep talk from the surgeon… and waiting… and waiting… Guys, he didn’t show up for another couple of hours! Then he dropped the bomb on me that I would probably have to spend the night in the hospital, which, shall I say, I politely declined.

Another hour or so goes by when they finally come to give me the “relaxing stuff” and wheel me off to the operating room. So, around 4pm it becomes a bing bang boom, I’m out like a light and next thing I know it’s over (I guess - drugs….). My earliest memory afterwards is of choking and I guess coughing because I heard someone say I couldn’t go home if I didn’t stop coughing. Bet your ass I pulled it together after that - I wasn’t cleared by insurance to spend the night, didn’t want to spend the extra money on it, and wanted to go the hell home! An angel of a nurse stayed with me, holding my hand, helping me drink water whilst my husband had to RUN to get my post-op prescriptions filled. Then again it was another bing bang boom, get her dressed and out of here ASAP! I felt like I was being punished for declaring earlier I was NOT interested in staying the night and they were kicking me the hell out.

But wait, you might be thinking where the surgeon is during all of this? That, dear reader, is a very good question! The answer is: I had/have no idea! I NEVER saw him again after the pre-op conversation many hours before (the surgery apparently took a little over two hours). I woke up in a neck brace with no idea how long I was supposed to wear it. No idea how long I was supposed to leave the bandages on the wound. I knew absolutely nothing, and neither did anyone else. We were told to call the surgeon’s office the next morning. HAH, if only they knew…

… Long story short-ish, we did in fact call, which you may not be surprised at this point to discover that no one called us back. So by late afternoon, my husband drove down for another visit to the office. He left there with most of the answers we were looking for (spoiler: I have to wear this neck brace 24/7 for SIX WEEKS total).

As for recovery, it was a bitch. Not going to lie in the slightest. I cried the first night because I was in so much pain in my throat I couldn’t swallow or talk at all. I also couldn’t lay in bed so I had to sleep on my back on our recliner couch every night for a good long while. Once I got past the first few nights that were incredibly hard, slowly it got just a little easier… I could talk better, swallow better, and even nibble on solid foods (liquid diets are the WORST). The good news is I’m just about fully recovered. I am still not supposed to twist or bend, raise my arms above my head, or lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk… and of course, I can’t move my head in any other direction that straight forward because of this brace.

The other good news is that it’s been five weeks now, so just over one more week to go before I see the surgeon for my post-op follow-up where hopefully he will tell me I can take the damn thing off. They used glue to seal up the wound on my throat, which has healed nicely from what I can tell, and most importantly meant NO STITCHES! 

Well, if you’ve made it this far, I thank you for reading. And I’d like to thank everyone that supported me in any way whilst I’ve been recovering. My husband has been AMAZING. Like, seriously. I’m just super grateful. 👻