The Stolen Olive

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December 31, 2005

I Survived

Thursday morning, December 29th, 6:45 am. My mother calls and wakes me up. She said they were in Waxahachie and would be at my apartment by 8am. They actually got there about 7:45 and unloaded the car. We left a little after 8am and headed to Grapevine Surgical Center where my bursectomy was to be performed.

We arrived a little before 9am and I filled out some paperwork. And then I went back to put on those darn paper gowns and answer about 10,000 medical questions. My nurse then gave me a numbing shot in my hand and put my IV in on the inside edge of my right wrist.

I then faced the absolute worst part of this entire ordeal, waiting. It was about 9:20 and I didn't get wheeled back into the OR until after 11:15. The bed I was laying on was horribly uncomfortable. Those adjustable beds always sound like a good idea, until you have to sit on one for 2 hours nervous as heck.

The anesthesiologist and another nurse wheeled me into the OR and asked me to move over to the other table. This table felt like it was about 6 inches wide and that I was falling off of it. They started to strap me in and put an oxygen mask on my face and the thoughts of claustorphobia started to set in. Then the anesthesiologist said that I would start to feel something burning as it went into my veins. He told me to take three deep breaths and that is the last thing I remember.

When they woke me up I was freeziing. They wrapped me in warm blankets that hooked up to some machine that warmed me up pretty quick. I told the nurse my IV was hurting my hand and she took it out. My veins have never liked IVs and the only vein that decided to rear its ugly head was right in the bend of my wrist and my hand had decided to swell since the IV was put in. Combined with my polyneuropathy, I was ready to have that needle out of my hand.

Then my nurse brought me some grape juice and animal crackers. Now that I was all nice and toasty under the blankets, and the fact that I had just woken up from surgery, this was probably not the best combination of snacks I could have picked. I started to feel nausous and I ended up getting sick. After that I felt all hunky dory and was ready to go home and get some lunch.

My nurse helped me get dressed, and told my parents to pull the car around to the ramp so it would be easier to wheel me out in the wheelchair. It sat there a few minutes wondering what was taking so long.

What are the odds, that I move up to Dallas, fall and bust my bursa sac, find a doctor to do my surgery and that after a quick introduction between my parents and my nurse... they realize that my nurse's great uncle was one of, my grandfather, Peep's closest and dearest old friends and that they used to work together for years and years at GT.?

Anyway, I slid into the backseat of my parent's car and we started home. I think the first words out of my mouth were, "I'm hungry." After thinking a few minutes I decided that I wanted a baked potato. We went to Dickey's BBQ and I had a Baked Potato and asked them to put the Brisket and the BBQ Sauce on the side until I could see how my stomach was gonna handle food. I ended up putting it all together and it tasted wonderful. It was nearly 4pm and I hadn't had anything since about 8pm the night before.

My dad helped me walk into my condo (Smart me found a place with 6 concrete steps between the parking lot and my front door) and then I laid down in bed. My dad left to go back home as he had to work the next day. I slept until about 645pm and then I movedto the rocking chair in the living room where I sat and watched TV for a few hours.

CricketYank came over about 8pm and brought me his laptop for me to use while I recovered over the next few days. Thank you CY! I have really enjoyed having a laptop and it just makes me want one that much more. My mom baked me a sweet potato and a pork chop and steamed some broccoli. It was a good and satisfing dinner. I was proud of her, since she hates pork chops to begin with.

Friday by about 6am I was tired of sleeping and ready to get up but I decided to be nice and go back to sleep until about 9am and let my mom get some more sleep. About 9am we got up, had breakfast, watched TV and played on the computers all day. When I woke up I notced that the ace bandage and dressing on my knee (that was supposed to stay in place until Sunday) was down by my ankles. It wasn't wrapped very well. This was the first time I saw the actual incision site. I have one long incision down the middle of my knee with 8 black stiches holding it closed. I ended up taking off most of the gauze and cotton padding and just leaving one big bandaid and the ace bandage in place.

Except for a few trips to the bathroom, I didn't leave the rocking chair until after 11pm last night. There was not much of anything on TV and I actually worked on a contract for work from about 7pm - 10pm.

About 11pm I sent my mother to bed so hopefully she could get some rest before I got in there and started snoring. I think I finally went to bed about 3am. We slept until about 10am today and then made the decision that my dad would come get my mom tomorrow instead of today. I am starting to get a bad case of stir-crazy and am not really ready to get out and drive myself around town.

About 1pm, after some breakfast and Saran Wrapping my ace bandage and putting a 40gallon ice chest in the tub, I sat down and took a shower. My doc's PA made a big deal about not standing up in the shower because if I slipped, planted that leg too hard I could tear my ACL and then I would really be having some knee surgery.

Now, I am sitting here back in my rocking chair, laptop in my lap, finally updating my blog while my mother gets dressed. We are going to get out in a little while and go get something to eat, anything to get out of the house.

I still don't have the camera dock and stuff unpacked. Actually right now I cant even get to that side of the computer desk and I wouldn't be able to crawl behind my computer to plug it in anyway.

I survived the surgery. Thank you to those of you who stopped by and commented and left your wellwishes and thoughts and prayers (and e-postcard.. thanks Ness(a)lee).

I will be backblogging a little later this evening after we go eat and posting a special tribute to a great friend that I lost 12 years ago tonight. Until then... someone get the disco ball off of me please.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at December 31, 2005 02:35 PM

Comments

Glad you survived! Hope to see you soon.

Aren't laptops the bestest?

Posted by: Kami at January 1, 2006 12:45 AM