1981

I had two surgeries in 1981. I had one on March 6, 1981. The other was on Thurs., October 29, 1981.

March 1981

I was in tenth grade and sixteen (16) years old when I had this surgery.

By this time, I was volunteering at the hospital where I had been having my latest surgeries. The staff on 5-North was fairly familiar with me.

Again I was admitted to PCU. I went thru all the usual admission stuff. After I got done, I went up to 5-North with my mom. I remember the nurses giving me such a hard time about being a patient. LOL LOL By this time, I was fairly well-known around the hospital.

I had my surgery on March 6th. I don't even remember what OR I was taken to. During the surgery, Dr. Tessier did some revisions to my lip and nose. He also did my pharyngeal flap. He did more bonework around my left eye and the left side of my nose. He took the bone from my left hip, I think.

After surgery, I was taken to Recovery and then to the mini ICU unit on 5-North. I stayed in the same room for the remainder of my stay.

After I was able to get up and move around, I met L., another patient of Dr. Tessier's. L. was five years old at the time and lived in the metro area. She had a form of craniosyntostosis and hypertelorism. Dr. Tessier did a ten-hour plus craniofacial reconstructive surgery on her a couple of days before my surgery. L. had bonegrafting and she was not eager to get up and move around. I finally got L. to get up and walk. She walked to the end of the hall so she could see her sister thru the window. Her sister was much too young to come on the floor

I was out of school for about six weeks. I had homebound teaching for about six weeks or so.

October 1981

This surgery changed the way I would view any future surgeries. I was in the eleventh grade and seventeen (17) years old when I had the surgery.

I went into the hospital on Wed., Oct. 28, 1981. Again I was admitted to PCU. I believe that I was in 228-L. I remember it had a view facing towards the south. I went thru all the usual admissions stuff. I met a new Tessier patient and her mom. C. was nine years old and had Apert's Syndrome. She and her family lived right outside of the metro area. C. and her mom got a tour of the hospital from the clinical nurse specialist. I went along too because I was bored. LOL LOL I remember the World Series was on.

I got up the next morning, Thurs., Oct. 29, 1981. C. went to surgery early. I was allowed to have a liquid breakfast because my surgery was not scheduled until later in the day. After breakfast, I was under NPO orders. C. was having a big surgery (cranial and orbital work). She wouldn't be out of surgery until late in the afternoon. I had the whole day to think about my turn. LOL I just hung out. LOL I remember one of the nurses calling the anesthesiologist and asking if I could have ice chips. That was at like around 12:30 PM or so.

I think that I was finally taken to holding between 3:30 and 4:00 PM. While I was waiting, they wheeled C. out of surgery. I was finally taken to OR #1 at about 4:45 PM, I think. I remember the anesthesiologist talking to me as I was going under. He was talking about swimming. He had put the image of floating on my back in a swimming pool. And you now what? ? I felt like I was floating on my back. I remember waking up for two seconds in the OR while they were finishing up. I remember them vaguely wheeling me out of the OR.

During the surgery, Dr. Tessier did more nose and lip revisions. It was one of my less involved surgeries.

When I worke up, I was in ICU. When my mom came in, I told her to get me out of there because I didn't like being in ICU. So they finally transferred me to the mini ICU unit on 5-North later that evening. I was soo sick that night.

The next day was very bad. A. was having her surgery that day. During her surgery, a terrible mistake was made in the OR. A. was given the wrong blood. Blood leftover from the previous surgery in that OR had been left in the room. A.'s temperature started rising and that's when the mistake was discovered. The operation was immediately stopped. A. was rushed to ICU in very critical condition. A. was not expected to live. A. lived but suffered some permanent damage from the incompatiable transfusion. C.'s mom came into my room to tell my mom about A. I asked my mom what was going on and she told me. Later that night, Maggie, my PS' surgical nurse, came up to my room and talked to me. I can still remember I was laying in bed watching the network version of the movie "Halloween." The room was semi-dark. I was the only person in the room. A. was going to share the room with me after her surgery.

On Sat., Oct. 31, 1981, I was transferred out of the mini unit and was released on Sunday.

Whenever I was volunteering, I would go visit A. She spent about three weeks in the hospital. It was soo great when A. was finally released from the hospital.

I went back to my volunteering duties before I went back to school. :-) I was out of school for a month. I only had a couple of weeks of homebound teaching. My Latin teacher did my homebound teaching that year.