Monday, September 8, 1997
The big day had finally arrived.
I woke up at a little after 7:00 am and immediately went over to the computer and logged on. I wrote one last post to a listserv.
Here's that post:
My Last Post before Surgery
Hi, Well, this is it... My last post before surgery.
First of all I want to thank everyone for all the well-wishes and good lucks... They are much, much appreciated!! Believe me, your presence will be felt today in the OR!!!
Secondly, I am feeling fairly well this AM.. I just woke up from what little sleep I had... OK I am gonna sleep the rest of the day anyway. :-) I rarely sleep well the night before surgery anyway. I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't nervous.. I am a wee bit nervous this morning. Even us pros get nervous!!! But I feel pretty ready. I am just anxious to get this surgery done and over with. It's been a long time coming.
I will be online for a bit between 7:30 and 8:30 AM central time.
Someone from my family will be contacting Joanne after my surgery today.
I have to go for now..... See ya on the other side... The recovery side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then I went to take a bath and wash my hair.
I came back downstairs and logged on to AOL IM. I found two of my friends online. One of them, Chris from Australia, wrote the following prayer for me:
Now they lay *Kristi* down to sleep,
I pray Thee Lord her soul to keep.
And when she wakes,
Oh Lord I pray, You'll help her back on-line that day!
I spoke with two other friends before I left for the hospital. In between IMs, I got dressed.. I wore my pink Wide Smiles t-shirt and black sweats with white slip-on Keds. The prefect attire for hospitals. :-) I also gathered a few things together for my parents to bring to me later.
At 8:20, I logged off my ISP and went upstairs to finish getting ready.
Around 8:30 am, my parents and I left for the hospital. My oldest sister-in-law had come to watch my youngest niece. We arrived at the hospital a little before 9:00 am.
I checked in at the outpatient registration desk. I had some paperwork to fill out and sign. The lady asked me if I wanted a semi-private or private room. I said that I wanted a private room. Mom asked me if the PS needed to order it and the lady said it was only $25 a day extra. I said that I wanted a private room. She said that someone would be up to get me from preop. My parents and I sat in the lobby. Deloris came up and chatted with is for a couple of minutes and then a nurse from preop came up. I was still filling out a form when she came. We took the elevator down one floor.
In the preop area, she asked me questions about my health. I also finished filling out the form I had been giving at the outpatient registration desk. She gave me the op permit to sign. I was kind of surprised when I read it. :-) It talked about nasal endoscopy, nasal reconstruction, taking down the flap and revising it, and hardware removal. I didn't expect the nasal endoscopy. :-) Then it was time to change out of my street clothes and into a gown and robe. Then it was time to walk down to the holding room (the next step before going the OR).
In holding I was led a gurney by the doors to the OR suite. My parents were allowed to stay. YAY :-)) Various medical personnel came up and asked me questions and talked to me. My PS came by. Deloris came and spoke to me a couple of times. I got asked at least two times when the last time I ate or drink. Both times it was like I last ate at 6:30 PM and drank at midnight. I know they ask those questions for your own safety and I don't mind answering.
The big issue of the morning was controlling postop nausea. I hate vomiting after surgery. The anesthesiologist told me about a anti-nausea drug called Zofran. That's what they were gonna give me before, during, and after surgery. I would not have any meds to relax me because I needed to be alert to do the nasal endoscopy. (I don't like to be premedicated anyway.)
I got a lot of surprises in the holding room too:
- I would have to spend the night in ICU/Recovery Room because of airway issues.
- I would go to Pediatrics - That's where all the craniofacial reconstructive patients go.
- I would have a PCA (patient-controlled analgesic) pump.
- I would have a urinary catheter inserted.
As the PS was talking to us about his new daughter, the nurse anesthesist came to start my IV. I told her that I wanted it started in my right hand. She told me that he considered the IV to be my lifeline and that the PS would be operating from the right side of the table. While the PS was talking, he noticed that the IV popped out of my vein. Guess what?? It had to be restarted in a vein in the crook of my arm. I told the nurse anesthesist that she should have put the IV in my right hand. She said that she didn't like the location so she would restart it again after she put me under. She also told me that her son had a cleft and that he had undergone seven surgeries with a couple more to go. I couldn't believe my dad stayed with me while the nurse anesthesist started the two IVs. My dad does not like to see any of his kids or granddaughters be hurt.
Before I went to the OR, several people wanted to talk computers with me. LOL
Finally it was time to go to the OR. My parents and I told each other Good-bye and all. I was wheeled to the OR. I believe it was OR 7. As soon as I was transferred to the OR table, someone covered me with nice warm blankets that felt good. ORs are cold places. A couple of people put leads on me for the monitor. The OR was busy with people setting up for the surgery.
Before the nurse anesthesist could put me under, I had to have a nasal endoscopy. Again, my PS did the nasal endsocopy. First he squirted some foul- tasting local anesthesia into my left nostril and I snorted it. Did it ever taste awful!! He put the scope into my left nostril and threaded it thru the nasal passage to the pharyngeal flap. I had to say a couple of tongue-twisters. Then he pulled the scope out and put local anesthesia in my right nostril. This time I was careful about snorting it.
I had to give up my partial. (I didn't realize I would be giving it up for two weeks at the time. LOL) Then Deloris told me to think of good thoughts of my computer. LOL She clasped my right arm while I was going under. I love how they put me out... The nurse anesthesist slowly injected the meds to put me out and then puts a mask on my face.. The mask has oxygen. I was out.
The next thing I know I was waking up in the recovery room. I had my own cubicle, which was wonderful. There was a clock on a pole right outside the cubicle. No overhead lights were on in the cubicle.. Just the one behind the bed. I had tape on my nose where my PS had removed the wire. I had dissolvable stitches in the area of the revision. I was hooked up to all kinds of leads and equipment. The IV was in my left inner forearm. I still had the catheter in my bladder. I was hooked up to a monitor. I was also on oxygen. I had an pulse ox meter. The best part of it, I woke up laying on my right side.
My parents were there and that was very surprising to me because my parents have never been there so soon after I've come out of the OR. Mom told me that she had to go to the dentist.. She was having pain around one of her teeth. I told her to call my friend. She was going to call my friend Tracey in OH in the evening. I could barely talk. They left to go home for awhile.
From the time they left until they came back about 7:00 PM, I slept off and on. Around 4:15 PM, I woke up thirsty and wanted something to drink. But the nurse told me I couldn't have anything to drink. I woke up at 6:30 PM and sat up so the nurse could give me my antiseptic mouthwash to rinse my mouth out with. I then laid on my left side. My parents came in for visiting hours, which were from only 7 to 7:30 PM in the Recovery Room.
After they left, I slept off an on. At one point the nurse taking care of me on the evening shift came in and told me that my mom had called and told me that my friend Robyn from UT had called her. I believe that there was one other person staying in recovery all night. The only thing that bothered me was when that person was watching TV in the middle of the night. LOL But other than that things were quiet. I had only one gagging period at midnight. The night nurse injected Zofran into my IV. While I was in recovery, the nurses were in and out checking my IV, catheter, and vitals.
Tuesday, September 9, 1997Deloris came in at 6 AM sharp. She and the night nurse chatted a bit with me. Deloris told the night nurse about me and computers. LOL The night nurse is looking to get a new computer soon and so I told him about my new one. He wants a Gateway computer. During our little conversation, I started gagging so he gave me an injection of Zofran thru my IV.
Around 6:30 AM, I was transferred to Peds. I was already in a hospital bed so they just rolled the bed right into the room. I still had the IV, the urinary catheter, oxygen, and still connected to the oximeter. I had a small private room near the end of the hall. My window faced to the east and overlooked a beautiful park called Mill Creek Park. The room was painted royal blue and white. A border of sailboats ran around the top of the room. There was a clock right above the TV. I flipped thru the channels looking for something decent to watch. It was quiet there. No one was in the rooms on either side of me for the first 24 hrs. of my stay there.
I had to ask where my partial was. The nurse located it.. It was on a shelf in recovery. Good thing I asked about it. Actually I couldn't talk much so I wrote the question down on a piece of paper.
My parents came to see me between 9:30 and 10:00 AM. Not too long after they showed up, my PS came into see me. I drank some liquids before the PS came in. Big mistake LOL During surgery he had put a drainage tube from my left nostril to the back of my throat. It was called a red robinson tube. To help me drink better, PS decided to spray this terrible-tasting local anesthesia into the back of my throat. Big mistake
When I got up at 3:45 PM, the nurse who was taking care of me then asked me if I wanted to take a shower. I took my first-ever shower in a hospital. (It's usually a sponge bath for me.) It was pretty comical being hooked up to an IV with a IV pump and standing in the shower. The nurse took two rubber gloves and cut the fingers off and then slipped them over my IV site and taped them together so the site wouldn't get wet. That shower felt good!! I put on a KU t-shirt and my navy sweats after my shower. The perfect clothes for hospital stays.
I went back to my room and got back into my freshly made bed and flipped thru the channels on the TV. My parents came up about 6:30 PM. We walked around the halls.. Mom, Dad, the IV pump, and me.
My parents left between 8 and 8:30 PM. I took a couple of naps between 8:45 and 10:30 PM. Then I laid in bed and sort of watched but listened more to TV for 90 mins. I watched (or rather listened to) Roseanne, Grace under Fire, and M*A*S*H. I then laid awake til about 1:10 AM and then fell asleep.
Deloris came in around midnight because she was checking on another patient who had craniofacial reconstructive surgery that day. She talked about pulling the drainage tube. But first she had to call the PS to see if it was OK. She tried to contact him but he was already in bed. She said I could be disconnected from the oxygen and pulse ox meter. The nurse would check my oxygen levels once during the night and in the morning. Someone from the pain management team came by to see me.
The only time I put my call light on during my hospital stay was at 4:30 AM because I dumped a glass of Seven-Up on the over-the-bed table. LOL My IV line was laying across the table and I went to roll over onto my right side and the tubing knocked the glass over. The poor nurse had to come in and change my bed at that time.
Wednesday, September 10, 1997I woke up about 7:20 AM. I got out of bed and went into the bathroom. I got good at unplugging and plugging the IV pump.
A little after 9 AM, PS came in. He reluctantly pulled the drainage tube out of my nose. He really wanted to keep it in a couple more days. It looked like a worm when he pulled it out and he referred to it as a worm. LOL He told me that I would need to stay one more night and then I could be released in the morning. He would have the PS who assisted come by and see me before I was discharged. (He spends Thursdays at the children's hospital.) My IV would be heplocked later in the day. YAY :-) They finally discontinued my PCA, which I never used.
After he left, I watched a little more TV. The nurse came in and asked me if I wanted to take a shower. I was like "YES!!!!!" She helped me get a clean change of clothes and some shampoo. Taking a shower was another adventure with the IV and the pump.
Mom and I walked back to my room. My dad, mom, and I watched TV. They left about 11 so they could go home and feed my nieces. (My middle brother was off all week so he watched his daughter and my youngest niece while my parents came up to the hospital in the mornings.) I watched more TV.
I had lunch, which was very unexciting. I had broth and jello. I also drank some milk. The nurse taking care of me that day came in at one point and told me that I needed to eat and drink more of my lunch. I finally laid down for awhile. The nurse heplocked my IV around 1:45 PM. I laid down for an hour. I woke up because I was draining. I got up and looked out the window. I was VERY bored. Deloris came in a little after 3:00 PM and asked me if I wanted to be discharged. I was like "Yes." I had to have the nurse call my parents because I couldn't talk. For the next hour, I tried to wait patiently for them to show up. LOL I changed into different shirt and sweats.
About 4:30 PM, my parents came to pick me up. I had already started gathering my stuff up. Mom asked me if I wanted to take the local anesthesia spray home with me. LOL I was like "NO!!!"
Because it was rush hour, it took us about 30 minutes to get home. (The hospital is a 15- to 20-minute drive from home.)
Home
We got home about 5:15 PM. I was home for less than 10 minutes when I decided to come downstairs and get online.
Here's my first post after returning home:
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I am home... I already caught J. online.. Mom had called her this morning to tell her it would be tomorrow before I got released. The nurse practitioner walked in at a little after 3 and asked me if I wanted to go home today. I was like "YES!!"
Thank you all for the well-wishes!!! I am not even go to attempt to read all 358 messages in my box right now because I can't read my mail too well without my glasses.
Thank you for all the well-wishes and prayers and support!!!
Love and Hugs, Kristi... who is HAPPY to be home
I spent the rest of the evening online.
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