The Day After...

I almost titled this, "Here We Go Again..."

For those that visited me 6 month ago, you may recognize this room/couch/position. This is me... back at my parents... lying on the couch.

I'm still in a bit of a fog... but I figured it's time to try and clear the cobwebs and put my brain to use. Therefore, here goes an "attempt" to bring everyone up to speed.

We left the house about 7:30 AM for the hospital. Passed 2 different wrecks on 75... Joel missed the exit to the hospital... freaked me out numerous times while driving in traffic... Therefore, it should come as no surprise that my blood pressure was 146/94 when they took it.

They put us in a general waiting area for about 30 minutes, then had me come into a semi-private room to get on the gurney. Then the 3 of us plus the guy pushing my gurney went from the 2nd to the 3rd floor to the room where everyone waits in "stalls" for their surgeries. And we waited...

And waited and waited and waited. Surgery was supposed to be at 9:30. They hooked me up to the IV about that time, but I just laid on the gurney for an hour. Joel did his best to stay interested... God Bless Him... but he was ready for the show to get on the road. My Mom was extremely patient... and I think a little nervous.

Me? It was my 2nd time in this rodeo, so I was raring to go! The sooner they sealed me up, the sooner my recovery would start! At least that's what I was thinking...

The anaesthesiologist arrived and said I could wear my contacts - I wanted to see this time, you know? Joel asked her if she was going to give me the "Michael Jackson" drug and she said yes, and then explained that he didn't have an anaesthesiologist with him like I'll have. Ha! She was pretty feisty! She then said she was going to give me a little "Margarita" for my short ride to the O.R. - mmm... tasty. It was just a relaxer and not the big one.

So I said goodbye to the folks, saw my Mom's worried eyes, and off I went. Before I went into the room, the margarita had kicked in. Unfortunately, too much.

One thing I have been adament about during this whole process is, "I want my wires back!" I paid for them, in more ways than one, and I want to see what has been causing me all of this pain for 6 months. Well, Dr. Rutherford, even though I told him multiple times, said he'd forget and to remind him when I was in there. Sure as anything, I didn't see him... and the margarita didn't help... nor did it help when within seconds I was out for good.

I awoke in another room similar to the holding area. However, it was much quieter due to it just having patients, nurses, and doctors. The nurse that was sitting by my side asked my pain level, and I thought it was about a 7. I instinctively felt down towards my leg to see if I could feel the brace, but they had so many dang blankets on me that I couldn't tell.

Every once in a while an alarm would go off on the machine I was hooked up to. Apparently I wasn't breathing right... when you're in pain, you take shallower breaths... so this was telling me to take bigger ones. Let's just say it and the nurse let me know multiple times to do a better job of this.

The pain was pretty rough for a while. They gave me something and that didn't work. She then gave me Demerol and that started to work. I had a headache, too. This would stay with me until I went to bed last night...

A doctor showed up and looked at my leg (not my doctor) and was surprised there wasn't a brace. He asked me what I knew about that, and I told him the 2 different stories from Rutherford and his Physician's Assistant, Jackie. So he got on the phone and called Dr. Rutherford and he confirmed, "No brace." That actually made me feel pretty good...

After I was in there for a while, I asked, "What number gets me out of here?" She said anything below 4... so I said, "OK... I think it's a 3 now." I wasn't really lying... compared to what I've had in the past, this was a 3. :-)

So we said our goodbyes and I was wheeled back down to the 2nd floor and into a Day Surgery room where Mom and Joel were waiting. I asked what Dr. Rutherford said to them, and they said he never showed up. Apparently after a long time waiting and seeing on the screen that I was still in the Recovery Room, Joel got on the phone and talked with Jackie and asked if Rutherford was going to come speak to them. She seemed surprised he hadn't and covered for him (according to Joel) that something must have come up.

Anyway, we had a list of questions and waited in the room while they gave me juice, water, and crackers. I wasn't very happy about all of this... communication is a BIG thing in my book when dealing with people, and for him not to come by just didn't sit well. Plus, I wanted those dang wires! I was told by the nurses that he probably just threw them away. Nice.

After about an hour, I asked, "Is anyone coming to speak with us?" The answer was no... apparently everyone was waiting for me to go pee. Seriously... that's how you exit. If your pain isn't killing you and you can pee, you can go home.

So I got up... with assistance... and had a wobbily walk (on both legs... no crutches but holding onto the nurse) to the restroom. Everything came out swimingly... when I came out, Joel was ecstatic. "Let's go!" Unfortunately, I had taken a pain pill and they said we had to wait another 30 minutes. Ha... Joel wasn't happy.

Wheelchair came, we headed out, and I climbed into the back seat. Oh, remember way back on that Monday after the accident when I was checking into the hospital, there was a nurse that wheeled me around and got me food? She was the one that took me to Joel's car. I told her who I was and that she had done that... she's super nice. She said she remembered me (due to the story).

After another scary ride back to Plano, Joel helped support me while I made my way into the house. My head was not right - the meds were just messing up my balance, vision, etc. I just sat in a chair while Mom went to Walgreens and Sonic.

I ate... took a pill... and then felt nausiated. I fell asleep for about an hour, and awoke feeling about the same I felt prior to sleep. Anyway, that was par for the course... I felt miserable last night. The pain was either coming from the wound, or my head was woozy, or I felt like I was going to throw up everywhere. Vastly different situation from my last surgery... not sure why other than I was pretty stationary in that hospital bed last time.

Sleeping wasn't great last night... crazy dreams, sleeping for about an hour or 2... and lots of urination. I have 2 of those hospital "urination jugs" from last time. Well, my kidneys must have kicked in something fierce because I filled up 4 of those last night! They're 32 oz each! I told mom about that this morning, and of course that concerned her. I've continued a few more times this morning, but I think I'm finally drained...

My head is still woozy. It's a weird feeling... like you turn your head and then your brain follows about 2 seconds later. I took an hour and a half nap this morning... until the phone rang. Awesome.

I've taken one pain pill. I'm on a walker... yesterday I was able to walk on both legs fine because the knee was juiced up. Today, not so much. Last time it was more on the bone, but this time it's totally on the skin. In May I had to pause like 30 seconds when I stood up because it was so painful... this time, it's like a few seconds and then I can get moving...

I have another nap calling me this afternoon... and tonight I'm hoping to make it up the stairs so I can sleep in a bed. We'll see...

This was a long one... hope I answered your questions. Shoot me an email - probably won't feel up to talking until tomorrow.