1980

When I was in ninth grade and fifteen (15) years old, Dr. Tessier did his second surgery on me. This surgery and hospitalization was not an easy time.

February and March 1980

The 1980 Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid, New York. The U.S. men's hockey team won the gold medal. I had surgery in late February.

My parents and I met with Dr. Tessier on Sun., Feb. 24, 1980.

I was admitted to the hospital on Tues., Feb. 26, 1980, the day before the surgery. I was admitted to PCU. My friend, A., and I were having surgery on the same day. I went thru all the admissions stuff, such as answering questions and labwork.

I got up the next morning. I was going to go visit the nursing staff on 5-North. I don't even think that I made it up there. If I did, I got called right back down to PCU. But something awful happened.. The little girl who was operated on that Monday ahd slipped into a coma after her surgery. They took her back to surgery that Wednesday (the day of my surgery) to try and relieve the pressure on her brain. A. was suppose to have surgery before me. But they switched the schedule around because of the little girl and had me go before her. I remember one of the nurses arguing with the OR about it. LOL LOL

I went to holding and eventually to the OR. I think that I went to OR #1.

During the surgery, Dr. Tessier did the following: He put the bone in my nose (took the bone from my right hip I think). He did some bonework work around my left orbit (took the bone from the right hip I think) and worked on my chin. He also did a lip revision to the right side of my lip since it had pulled up because of the abbe flap.

I went to Recovery and then to the mini ICU on 5-North. The mini ICU was just for the patients having surgery done by Dr. Tessier. I was in the mini unit for three days. During my stay in the mini unit, I shared a room with J. She was from Arkansas and has Treacher Collins Syndrome. She was part of the first group of patients in Oct. 1978.

While in the mini unit, I gave everyone a scare. The doctors thought that I had pneumonia at one point because I was not coughing. My dad was called at work and he came right to the hospital. I had to have a chest xray done and an arterial stick to check my blood gases. The doctor did the stick in my groin and was that ever fun - NOT. I didn't he flinch when he stuck me. As it turned out, I did not have pneumonia. But, with later surgeries, I was taught how to breathe deeply.

I was finally transferred to another room on 5-North. I shared it with a girl who was undergoing testing to find out why her blood pressure was high. She and her family were from Springfield MO. I remember when she had to drink castor oil the night before her heart catherization. ( After I became a volunteer for the hospital later in 1980, I met up with her and her family. The girl had to have one of her kidneys removed.)

On Sunday morning, a couple of the nurses got me up to walk. We were in the short hall in front of my room. I started to walk but I fainted. I blacked out for just a second and when I fell to the floor, I woke up. Talk about scaring everyone again!

Two days later I was finally released from the hospital.

A note here: The parents had withheld information from Dr. Tessier and the hospital staff.. The little girl had slipped into a coma before. This time the young girl did not make it. :-(

Spring 1980

I started wearing my glasses fulltime later that spring. I could wear my glasses because I had a nasal bridge to support them.

I was out of school for almost three months. I had homebound teaching from March on. My youngest brother and a friend passed a card around the school at one point. I went back to school for my last week of ninth grade and junior high.