I was twenty-three (23) years old when I had surgery in 1987. I had the surgery at CMH. I felt right home even tho I was an adult in a kids' hospital. :-) And it has been the only surgery in more than 25 years that I requested pain meds.
For five years, I had a reprieve from surgery. Dr. Tessier usually came in the fall and that was not a good time for me because I was going to college.
In the fall of 1983, my parents and I thought that Dr. Tessier would release me. But he didn't. In the summer of 1984, I was told that I needed to have my jaw advancement redone. It was a terrible blow to me. But my parents and I made a decision.. I would not go thru another advancement. My parents did not want to see me go thru another one. I did not want to go thru the advancement again. The advancement in Oct. 1978 was enough for all of us. I've never regretted my decision of not doing a second jaw advancement even tho some people who are not even close to me questioned my decision.
It was hard going thru the rest of college knowing that others would be going to work or on to graduate school and I would be having more reconstructive surgery. A social worker at CMH suggested I go to France. I wouldn't do it. I told her and my mom that I would be afraid of losing control in another country. Besides my parents weren't sure if the insurance would cover any surgery out of the country.
I had decided that I was going to bank my own blood for this surgery. My PS and his nurse told me what I needed to do to get ready for it. I had to take iron pills and eat more red meat than usual. I had to go to the blood bank once a week for three weeks. I ended up banking 3 units of my own blood. Donating my own blood helped me get over my fear of needles in a big way. I would do an autologous blood donation in a heartbeat. I've known two other people who did it but they did not donate enough blood and ended up having transfusions.
I remember having to go down to CMH for skull x-rays during that month too. We knew that I would be having surgery on Fri., Oct. 16th.
On Oct. 11, 1987, my parents and I met with Dr. Tessier. I freaked over the hair shaving thing. It wasn't good because no one ever addressed that I had an issue with it. :: SIGH :: I talk a lot more about it today than I ever have. I credit that to my friend Tracey and her daughter, Ariel.
The night before I was admitted to the hospital, I went over to my next-to-the-oldest brother's house for dinner. I remember him offering me a beer. He was hesitant about letting me drinking it because he thought I was having surgery the next day. LOL
I granted my first ever television news interview two or three days before I went into the hospital. I granted another one a few months later. I don't think that I will do it again.
Thurs., Oct. 15, 1987
I was admitted 4 North. My usual floor, 5 North, was shut down for renovations. The hospital was expanding the Burn Unit as well as renovating 5 North. I was put in the first room as one enters the unit from the main elevators. That first night, I shared the room with a 10 yr. old. J. had suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall from a four-wheeler. A six year old was driving the four-wheeler and went up an embankment and J. fell off the four-wheeler.
It was a reunion of sorts. LOL I saw a lot of people that day that I had not seen in a long time. It was so funny. One of the nurses I had known for a long time came up to me and joked about me and anesthesia. LOL She said, "Aren't you immuned to that stuff?" LOL My mom and I showed some of the nurses the visro from the interview. There was a group of us standing in the hall watching the tape on one of the TVs with a VCR. LOL
It was soo funny when it came time to sign the op permit. Because I had made such a fuss over hair shaving, someone had written it into my op permit. LOL LOL I told you that I am not a perfect patient. LOL
During the evening, my parents visited with me. About the time that they are ready to leave, the anesthesiologist comes up. I made my mom stay. LOL Both my mom and I told him no premeds. I told him that I wanted to be put under with an IV. After the anesthesiologist left so did my parents.
I hung out in the lobby for a bit because the parents of the girl I was sharing the room with were driving me nuts with the TV. So I grabbed my cassette player and headed to the lobby. I laid out on one of the couches for a little while.
During the evening, the unit clerk and I ran some errands around the hospital. For some reasn, I just had on socks so I walked around in them. :-)
Later that evening I decided to take my shower. Well the nurse had to page the resident on-call to make sure it was OK. I got impatient and said that I would do it when I got up.
I tossed and turned all night knowing what was going to happen the next day. (I don't sleep well the night before a surgery.)
Fri., Oct. 16, 1987
My PS comes into my room aout 7:30 AM or so. He and Dr. Tessier are doing rounds with the residents. He was not too pleased with me over how I reacted to the hair shaving. I was kind of pissed because no one ever acknowledged that I had the problem with it except my family.
I finally got up because people were starting to come in and out of the room. A student nurse was taking care of J. J. was going to have surgery too.
I went and took my shower. After my shower, I sat out in the hallway. My parents came about 9:00 AM. I sat out in the hallway listening to my cassette player and talking to my mom and any of the staff that came by that we knew.
I had to have more blood drawn because the lab did not get enough for cross and type match. They still had to do it even tho I did an autologous blood donation. I know this was a result of the precaustions that the hospital had taken because of A. The nurse taking care of me drew the blood. She had to do in the head nurses' office because the treatment room was being used at the time. I will never forget that some of the blood squirted on the desk. LOL LOL
I finally went to holding around 11:00 AM. I got to sit in the waiting area with my parents for an hour before I was taken to the OR. During that hour, my PS came into the waiting room. He starts looking around on my head. I told him that he wasn't doing anything to me there.
Finally around noon, I went to the OR. I got to walk, which was cool. :-) I got taken to OR #2. I remember the anesthesiologist starting my IV in the OR. I was put under between 12:05 and 12:10 PM.
During the surgery, Dr. Tessier did major revisions around my left orbit. He took bone from my skull and shaped and placed it around that orbit. He pulled the tip of my nose up a lot. I was in the OR for nearly five hours.
When I woke up again, I was in Recovery. I woke up to an endotracheal tube in my throat. That freaked me out a little. I wasn't used to waking up with one still in me. I was freezing. My body temp was like 93 degrees so they had to put a heat lamp over me to warm me up.
Finally I was transferred to ICU. (I couldn't talk my way out of ICU that time.
It was funny because in the space next to me was a small baby.
It was not a good night that night. I was really sick. I got my last unit of blood sometime during that night. Don't ask me why they gave me that last unit. I slept off and on all night.
Sat., Oct. 17. 1987
Finally, morning came. Dr. Tessier, my PS, and the residents made rounds. My parents came in around 10 AM.
Around noontime, I was eventaully transferred to 4 North. I was pushed in a wheelchair. I ended up in a room with two other patients. One was a small girl who had had craniofacial reconstructive surgery done by Dr. Tessier. She and her parents were from IL. J. was the other person in the room. She did not get to have her surgery the day before because the neurosurgeon had an emergency. I had a choice of going to 2 South. But I opted for 4 North. People kept telling me that I could have gone to 2 South. I wanted a bed on 4 North. LOL The nurse on 4 North who was taking care of me that day had hurt her ankle somehow. The rest of the day passed uneventfully. My parents spent the rest of the day with me.
Sun., Oct. 18, 1987
The next morning was fun - NOT. The people from IL were trying to get clearance to fly home that day. They got to the hospital very early that morning. And they were out the door at a very early hour. I remember falling back asleep and sleeping until 10:45 AM. I would have slept longer if a nurse hadn't come in and woke me up. LOL
My parents came in not long after that. I remember having my first real meal since Thurs. night.
My oldest and youngest brothers came up to visit me. I had gotten my bladder catheter out so I was free to walk around the halls of 4 North. LOL The alarm on the IV pump, an IMED, kept going off. Apparently the battery in the pump was not keeping its charge. That was annoying when it kept going off. :: SIGH :: That night I gathered up my cassette player and pushed my IV pump out by the nurses' station. I didn't have anything else better to do. LOL
Mon., Oct. 19, 1987
Remember Black Monday when the stock market fell 500 points?? I certainly remember the day. I was still in the hospital. It was the day I got both the IV and the drain out.
Since I had all tubes out, I could roam the hospital. :-) Someone had told me that one of the other patients with craniofacial anomalies knew me. My mom and I walked down to his room on 2 South. We walked in the room and he was lying in bed. Sure enough I knew him. He graduated a year ahead of me. His mother was waiting on him. LOL
It was also a sad day because I had learned that one of the adults who had undergone craniofacial reconstructive surgery earlier in the week had died. I remember the head nurse of 5 North telling my mom and I. R. never woke up after his surgery. I was soo angry. I just wanted to run away. It was hard to deal with even tho I didn't know R.
Tues., Oct. 20, 1987
It was another day in the hospital.. It was funny because the resident who came and changed my bandage that day wrapped the new bandage really funny. LOL
I spent more time walking around the hospital. I didn't have anything better to do. :-)
J. finally had her surgery and she came thru in good shape. The doctor had originally told the family that J. would spend the night in ICU. But J. did so well that she was able to come back to the room. The night after her surgery, I got J. to wave for me. That was soo cool. :-)
J. and I got a new roommate that day. Our new roommate was a young baby. This is how the room situation was: a young baby, J. at ten (10 yrs.) of age and me at twenty-three (23) yrs. of age. What an age range. :-)
One of the nurses who had taken care of me several years back came by to see me. She was giving me the hardest time about being the oldest craniofacial patient around. LOL
My next-to-the-oldest brother came up that night. My mom left with him.
I got a dose of Benadryl around dinnertime because I was breaking out from the tape on my face. Talk about something that put me out later that evening. I don't do Benadryl anymore.
Wed., Oct. 21, 1987
I got released from the hospital that morning. Before I left, I got the bandages taken off my head and two dozen staples taken out of my head.
I had a really bad round of depression following this surgery. In fact, I had it before the surgery. I had a bad attitude about life at the time of the surgery.
My columella pulled away about two weeks after surgery. That was a terrible blow for me.
I had a two-second blackout one evening. I was walking off the front step holding my oldest niece who was about eighteen (18) months old at the time. My knees gave out. I fell to the sidewalk with her in my arms. It is amazing that neither one of us hit out heads on the sidewalk. It was pretty scary.
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