Surgery update

Wednesday was surgery day! Tuesday night, the night before surgery, I did not sleep well at all. I guess I was nervous and excited! On Monday they told us to be at the hospital at 9:30 am for surgery at 11:30. On Tuesday they called and said they changed the time to 9:15 am. Haha really? Did they really just call to tell us to be there 15 minutes earlier? We thought that was really funny!

My brother went with us to the hospital and didn't have to go to school. He owes me big time. Because of my surgery he didn't have to go to school!

So Wednesday morning, we got to the hospital at 9:15 am. We filled out all the paper work and everything which took quite a while. I still don't understand why checking in takes so long. The lady checking me in was a little tired I think because she kept asking questions twice...it was funny!

When we checked in, the hospital gave me the bear on the left! How sweet of them. One of my friends brought a balloon with the frog!

While we were checking in, a couple of my friends came to the hospital! That helped passed time! They took blood while we were checking in and man did that hurt! She had to dig around to find my vein as always.

Finally after checking in we got to my room! I love the way this hospital is set up. Since it's a smaller hospital, you get your own huge room before surgery and the same one after! It's not like the hospitals with curtain areas. The rooms are very big and nice!

My nana got to the hospital right before we got to my room! Once we got to my room, several more people came! There were a couple of elders from church and some friends. My other grandparents came and brought donuts and drinks for everyone! Too bad I couldn't eat or drink. I almost kicked them out but I decided I shouldn't do that. Aren't I nice? I think so!

I was put in the same room as when I had my port surgery last October!

My nurse came in and said, "I remember you! I was your nurse when you had your port surgery. And you have Lyme Disease!". We laughed and couldn't believe she remembered me. But then we realized that she has probably never had a patient besides me with Lyme. She was so nice! We loved her.

She had a hard time getting my IV started and ended up putting it in a weird place. I'm used to getting IVs obviously and they usually don't bother me but this one hurt so much! The vein was deep in my arm and I thought the needle was going to come out of the other side of my arm!

Once she got the IV started and asked a million questions it was time to take me to the holding room. They took me to holding at 11. Only my mom and dad could go with me. The nurse who took me to holding was impressed with how many people were there for me. I told her how great our church family is!

The surgeon came to talk to us in holding. There was a problem because the only thing I'm not allergic to is alcohol to clean my skin with. They have to use 2 different solutions to prep with to make sure the incisions don't get infected. So we had to pick one that I was allergic to. Thankfully I haven't had any problems! I do have a little rash from the bandages they put on my incisions.

My surgeon looks and probably is very young so my parents joke that the only surgery he has ever done is with the game Operation. But so many people have said he is a great surgeon so we weren't too worried!

They wanted to make sure my heart would be okay with anesthesia so they did an EKG right before I went to the OR.

Next, the anesthesiologist came to talk to me. Then she asked the dreaded question. Why do you have a port? We told her I have Lyme and she immediately said I thought you couldn't get that here. Oh no! Here we go again... We explained that we have talked to one of the best tick specialists in the state who works at Oklahoma State University and travels the world studying ticks and she said that Lyme is definitely everywhere including here. Then the anesthesiologist changed completely. She said she went to school in the northeast and saw so many Lyme patients. Once she moved back to Oklahoma, she thought she had Lyme Disease because she got a tick bite and had the symptoms. So she went to a doctor here and they told her that was impossible. She believed them because they "know everything". We told her a little about my story and she said she now believes she actually could have Lyme. She said she would get tested. After we finished talking, we heard her telling all the other nurses and doctors that were in there about it!! We were so excited that she understands now and will help spread awareness!!!! We really liked her! I really hope she finds out if she has Lyme and starts treatment soon. We heard her say she is on some natural medicines to try and help her symptoms.

I told her that last time I had surgery I got sick afterwords from the anesthesia. She put a nausea patch behind me ear that would last for 24 hours!

At 11:30 the nurse came to give me some medicine to help me relax. Once it kicked in I said goodbye to my parents and they took me to the OR! I remember a lot from the OR. They all introduced themselves to me and I moved over to the operating table. They started to get things ready while I was still awake! We talked about random things while they positioned my arms. My right arm went straight out to the side and my left arm was down like normal. They they put things around my arms to make sure they didn't move. They did a few other things too while I was awake. Finally, they put the mask on me and I was out of it! I can't believe I stayed awake for that long and actually remember everything! I was awake for probably 10 minutes!

I woke up in recovery and was wide awake. Recovery is not what I expected it to look like! I also remember recovery very vividly. I woke up with oxygen and the nurse left it on me for quite a while. The only other time I've had surgery, I remember nothing from the recovery room. I remember waking up completely back in my room. But this time I was in recovery for 2 hours and was wide awake the whole time. My pain level was off the charts but they had given me all the medicine they could. They couldn't take me out of recovery until my pain was under control. I ate a whole cup of ice while I was in there! I always pictured recovery with curtain areas for each patient. This was just a huge room and the beds were side by side randomly spread out. I had fun watching the other patients who were not awake but were talking. It was entertaining! The nurse got mad at me because my pain wasn't under control after she had given me everything I could have. We think she might have been giving me pediatric doses because every time she gave me medicine, I didn't feel any different. Every other time I've had IV pain medicine, I can feel it make me heavy. I did not feel any different after several doses of what she gave me.

After a couple hours my pain was under control so I got to go back to my room! The pain came back so fast but the only medicine I could take was oral pain medicine. That meant that I would have to eat something. I started eating some crackers and got so nauseous. That did not go well!

After I was back in my room, my surgeon came to check on me! We thought that was so sweet! I was in surgery for a little over an hour I think. He said everything went as planned! They did cut off some adhesions from my liver too. He said inflammation can cause those.

We stayed at the hospital until my pain and nausea was under control. Before leaving the hospital I actually walked to the bathroom and changed into my clothes by myself! I'm not sure what time we came home but I think it was around 5 pm.

I got home and felt pretty good! Well, pretty good for just having surgery. I slept for a while when I got home and had several people visit.

I'm not allowed to go upstairs for a while so I've made my home in the recliner in the living room. Wednesday night I slept for probably a total of 2 hours.

Thursday, several people came to visit which was good! I had a pretty good day on Thursday. I've been getting up and walking a little each day to help get the air out of my shoulders and neck. My mom washed my hair in the sink so that made me feel better!

Thursday night and last night I actually slept some! But yesterday and today have been the hardest days so far. I've had problems breathing and can't seem to get the pain under control. I've tried to sleep all day but I can only stay asleep for 10 minutes at a time. It's very frustrating!

I'm trying to enjoy just being at home and doing nothing but I'm having a hard time with it. So please continue to keep me and my family in your prayers.

My friend Rebecca brought this balloon to me while I was in the hospital! I love it!

Thank you for all the prayers, encouragement, cards, food, visits, calls, and texts! We really appreciate it!!

I'm going to try to post more about non medical things in the next few days since I haven't done that in a while!