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        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 General Board Posts >> having surgery today (Post-op Update)
        
(Message started by: Lizzie2 on Mar 8^th, 2005, 1:19am)

Title: having surgery today (Post-op Update)
Post by Lizzie2 on Mar 8^th, 2005, 1:19am

Well I can't sleep....and I have to be up in 4 hours. The worst part is that I can't take any of my freaking meds, and the cluster beast never lets the mind rest...

I have to be at the hospital at 7:15am because I'm having surgery on my nose. No...not a nose job. ;) 8 years ago, I had surgery to remove a tumor. That surgery caused a deviated septum and a lot of scar tissue on the left side of my nose. I have pretty much no airflow through the left side of my nose.

That leads to a whole lot of congestion which can actually trigger attacks for me. I'm a sinus infection magnet.

So tomorrow they are correcting the deviated septum. It's done through outpatient procedure, and it's no big deal really. I guess I'm just nervous because of all the med reactions I had recently from neuro. My mom will be there. :)

With any luck, I'll be home and posting by like 1pm hehe. We'll see. :)

At any rate, think happy thoughts! It is a happy surgery really since they are correcting damage done 8 years ago. :)

L2 :)

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by lionsound on Mar 8^th, 2005, 7:58am

Happy and wellness thoughts on the way to you!

-lionsound

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Opus on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:07am

Carrie,
Praying for a smooth surgery and a fast recovery.

Opus/Paul

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Frank_W on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:16am

What Opus said...

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by nani on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:25am

Sending prayers and quick recovery vibes, Carrie....
Hugggssss, nani

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Langa on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:27am

Carrie,
Praying for a smooth surgery and speedy recovery. [smiley=hug.gif]

Langa

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by rickyshot on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:31am

Add my prayers to the list.

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by LeLimey on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:48am

Me too.. Good luck!
love
Helen

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Kim Y. on Mar 8^th, 2005, 11:08am

Good luck on the surgery. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. :) [smiley=hug.gif]

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by E-Double on Mar 8^th, 2005, 11:26am

Hugs to you my dear friend!!

Breathe!!!

_E²

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by high_commander on Mar 8^th, 2005, 12:32pm

Prayers for no problems... ;;D ;;D

Danielle

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by broomhilda on Mar 8^th, 2005, 12:34pm

[smiley=hug.gif] and good wishes on over Carrie...

Thinking of you...

Andrea

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by cootie on Mar 8^th, 2005, 12:57pm

Wonderin how yer feelin rite about now.....it's almost 1:00 pm......do you know where yer spectrum is Pam ;)

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Gator on Mar 8^th, 2005, 1:14pm

Anxiously awaiting your report that all went well and you can actually breathe again. [smiley=hug.gif]

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Alien Space Babe on Mar 8^th, 2005, 1:42pm

(((((CARRIE)))))

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by ghost62 on Mar 8^th, 2005, 2:26pm

Love, Vibes, and happy thoughts. Get back to us asap

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Tim_w on Mar 8^th, 2005, 3:06pm

PF well wishs and prayers headed your way!
Your a CLUSTERHEAD you can do any thing! ;)
Happy Pappy

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by unsolved1 on Mar 8^th, 2005, 4:14pm

Goodluck Carrie. Keep us posted

Unsolved

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Edna on Mar 8^th, 2005, 4:22pm

Afternoon here already Carrie. Hoping all went well and you'll be here talking with us soon.

Rest well and vibes to you.

EDNA

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by firebrix on Mar 8^th, 2005, 4:52pm

All the best for a speedy recovery Lizzie2.
firebrix

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by clarence on Mar 8^th, 2005, 4:53pm

Carrie,

I hope you are doing well - and make sure they treat you right ;)

Casey

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by kissmyglass on Mar 8^th, 2005, 5:47pm

Hi L2,

Hope all went well!!
:-*

Kev

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Charlie on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:26pm

All the best Liz and lots of vibes.

Geeze there are a lot of these operations.

Charlie

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Donna_D. on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:33pm

Hope things went well Lil' Sis!!

Check in will ya?

DD

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Kris_in_SJ on Mar 8^th, 2005, 8:53pm

Kisses, hugs, and good vibes for a fast recover on the way!

Kris

Title: Re: having surgery today (Tuesday)
Post by Lizzie2 on Mar 9^th, 2005, 1:10pm

Hey gang,

Thanks for the well-wishes! As it turns out, I really needed them!! The surgery went very well. The surgeon told my mom that I had a very large amount of blockage from the deviated septum and scar tissue from the tumor surgery, so he feels that correcting this is going to be very helpful to me.

The attending anesthesiologist stayed in the operating room the entire time instead of floating around to the different surgical areas. This is because of how many med allergies I have and also my problems with the anticholinergics and phenothiazines. They tend to use a lot of drugs in those categories (and Benadryl which is one of two mega allergies I have), so it cut down on theire options for anesthesia greatly. However, they were great. I think at some point, they gave me a med that would help with pain, but it made my heart rate go too fast, so they had to stop that one.

The real problems began after surgery. When I woke up in the recovery room, not only did my nose hurt, but I had the worst headache I've ever experienced in my life. I had tears streaming down my face, but I wasn't really crying...yet. It hurt so unbelievably bad. They were giving me all the fentanyl I could take (heavy duty narcotic) but it wasn't touching the pain.

They took me back up to the short procedure unit once I was stable. There, I was put next to a guy where he and his son were talking very loudly. My parents got up there about 25 minutes after I was there, and I was in so much pain at that point that I burst into tears when I saw them. I asked my dad to see if he could tell my "neighbors" to keep it down, and he went out and talked to the nurses. They quickly moved me down to a different curtained cubicle where we could keep the lights off and the noise was down.

Well, I had two Lortab while I was up there (hydrocodone combined with tylenol), and it wasn't even touching the head pain. It was all down the trigeminal nerve area, and I seriously asked my mom about 20 times to shoot me. One of the ENT residents came up and asked me what he could prescribe to work on the headache. He had the nurse give me some zofran to premedicate, and then I got some DHE.

Well, not 5 minutes after getting the DHE, I threw up an entire stomach full of blood. And I proceeded to keep throwing up for about 5 more hours. That was not only KILLING my already sore throat (from the blood and breathing tube), but also making my headache even worse, and it was also causing the post-op bleeding in my nose to get worse from the pressure. I think I went through about 10 small emesis basins before I finally stopped throwing up.

Since we couldn't get the pain under control and I couldn't hold anything down, ENT had to admit me overnight. Finally, I got some relief from the vomiting. I also was given more pain meds for the surgical pain. Then, I got some meds specifically used for headache when I'm inpatient (Cogentin and Droperidol). Finally everything was tolerable.

It was a rough night. I was discharged this morning, fortunately. I feel a lot better right now, but I'm taking pain meds on and off for when the surgical pain gets worse. My nose is still bleeding, but not in a huge amount.

They told me that it should continue to bleed maybe through tomorrow. Then, I will still be congested (I think every sinus possible in my head is congested!) for about 2 weeks. A week from tomorrow I go back to the ENT who did my surgery so he can try to remove any blood clots, etc. Uck.

So...........that's why I didn't get to post after coming home! Wasn't quite as "easy" as I thought it was going to be! I asked my mom in the middle of all the pain and throwing up, etc..."Why can't ANYTHING ever just be easy?" She was great...even though she had no answer to that one. She stayed in the hospital all night with me.

One thing I have to say is that every single nurse, physician, resident, staff personnel was excellent with my care. I was really glad for that. They were very kind and caring, and I couldn't have been in better hands!

Thanks for all the well wishes, thoughts, etc. :) I know it helped me make it to today!!

Carrie :)

Editing due to a generic name mistake with Lortab....day I got out of the hospital...probably was more than a little foggy...my apologies

Title: Re: having surgery today (Post-op Update)
Post by Alien Space Babe on Mar 9^th, 2005, 2:00pm

Glad you made it home okay Carrie.... hopefully the worst is over and it'll be smooth sailing during your recovery...

[smiley=hug.gif] Lizzie

Title: Re: having surgery today (Post-op Update)
Post by Lizzie2 on Mar 9^th, 2005, 2:23pm

Thanks Lizzie,

I have to have bilateral knee surgery (open incisions) for core decompression drilling and also arthroscopic surgery on my right knee to repair a torn meniscus right after graduation (hopefully within days after graduation!)... I am now not excited about that! By the time I recover from this surgery, it'll be time for the next... I just hope I don't have the same post-op experience...that sucked so bad.

However, I'm glad to be home and in my own bed now. :)

Carrie :)

Title: Re: having surgery today (Post-op Update)
Post by unsolved1 on Mar 9^th, 2005, 4:33pm

Sounds like you had a heck of a ride. Hopefully all will be better from here on out.

I had a severe headache when I woke up in recovery after Lithotripsy (sp). Good thing they had Imitrex ready!

Best Wishes,

Unsolved

Title: Re: having surgery today (Post-op Update)
Post by Lizzie2 on Mar 9^th, 2005, 4:56pm

on 03/09/05 at 16:33:24, unsolved1 wrote:

Michael, Yes they asked me about taking imitrex, but I can't take it because it makes my heart race too fast. I didn't have my Amerge with me, which takes awhile to kick in, and I don't know if it would have even helped with how bad the pain was, but I honestly didn't think to bring it with me to the short procedure unit! I'm just glad they gave in and gave me the DHE...even though I proceeded to get a whole lot worse after that, but at least they were trying!!!

Gotta love it...

Carrie :)

Title: Re: having surgery today (Post-op Update)
Post by nani on Mar 9^th, 2005, 8:57pm

[smiley=hug.gif]
You are one of the strongest people I know, Carrie. You amaze me. :-* Hang tough, kid :)