my surgery story
 

Hi there fellow tos'ers i thought i would try and document everything i go through so this may help other's who are awaiting or thinking about having surgery. So i well start with my pre-op visit to day and when i get home and i can i well update on how everything is going and all about the surgery. Ok Aug 27 2007 i arrived at QEll Victoria building for 8 am appointment. I signed in at the main desk then i was handed papers and three patient/family guide's. Same day surgery admission,Managing pain after surgery and Infection prevention. I then had a cardiogram which took a few minutes she put wires on me then turned the computer on it took like a min then that was it. I then saw a nurse who took my weight and hight,blood pressure and temp then asked questions about my health and the meds i am taking, allergies those type of questions. From there i went and had blood work done then i was off to see the anaesthetist who talked about the pain meds that i am taking and she told me to take them as i would every morning she also said that she would be ordering other meds that i well have to take before surgery to help prevent pain after surgery. Then last but not lest i saw the physiotherapist that i well see the day after surgery she went over where the incision well be. I thought that he went through the armpit but it is actually under the armpit and it well take the doctor between 1&2 hours to complete this and he does not stich the incision it is held to gethere with steri-strips which you wear for 10-14 days. She also went over the fact that you stay in the recovery room (post anaesthetic) for 4 to 6 hours then you are moved. She also said that i would have iv for up to 2 days. I well also be wearing a face mask for oxygen for the first 24 hours and well be given a special mask with medication called Ventolin to help open airways. And of course i well have to do deep breathing and coughing and sit up and go for a walk to help prevent blood clots. she well also show how to do pendular and gentle exercises for the shoulder joint. You are not allowed to use either hand to lift,push, or pull anything heavier then 5lbs for 3-4 weeks as well as no driving. This took me just a little over 2hr to finish seeing every one so i have to be back tuesday aug 28 at 11:30 am to check in. The surgery well be at 2:30 pm if all goes good. So i hope to feel good enough on the weekend to at lest say hi and let you's know i am home and all is well. Till then keep :)

Good Luck Mucker
 

Thanks for all the info from today Mucker. I will be paying close attention to everything you report. I really hope you make out fine and pain is not too bad. DId you get an idea when he will do the other side? Is it another 18 month wait? How long are you staying in the hospital? Why no stitches? Why no driving??

Sorry for all the questions....I just know what you go through will be similar to what I will go through.

Rach

Thanks for the post and good luck. I remember my surgery, there is alot of information. Do you have someone with you? I had someone all the time to push the button on the morphine pump. At one point it ran out and my sister told a nurse and they ignored her. She is a force not to be reckoned with. They actually called security to make her leave! Actually, for doing their job! When they found out I had Dr. Togut who told us to have someone there, they backed off very quickly. Just like in Terms of Endearment, you need to have someone at your back. Make sure someone is standing up for you when you can't. Good luck. It will go well but let us know. Linda

yes- nothing worse than needing something after surgery when you are helpless in bed adn not being able to get it. I have had that happen both times now, but that's a story for another day :)

my story:Home
 

Hi well i am home i got home Friday feels good to be in my own bed. I went in Tuesday at 11:30 and had my surgery at 3pm i had a good looking porter who walked me up to the waiting room where he put me on the gurney and wrapped me in a warm blanket and chatted with me till Rick the anesthetize came in and asked me more questions then took me off to the surgery room where i met the two nurses he was trying to be funny but i just didn't get his jokes. Any ways he put in my iv did a really good job hardly felt it. The next thing i new i was in the room where i would be staying for the next few days and there where some nurses and rick they were putting me in my bed and he asked how the pain was and told me everything was fine and back to sleep i went. It didn't seem long after that and i was a wake again and asking the nurses to call my boyfriend and as she was taking his name and number down i saw him standing by the door. I was very happy to see him there we chatted for a bit until i felt that i had to go to the bathroom so he got me the nurse and i got up and sat on the toilet it felt like for ever but it just wouldn't come. So back to bed visited with the man for a bit longer and fell a sleep i was up two more times through the night before i finely went pee and at that point i was being told through the door if i did not secede they would have to put a catheter in i guess just being told this was scary enough ha ha. The next day around 7:30 am the doctors where in to see me Doctor Bethune said that they removed the first rib and that the muscles they removed were three times larger then that of a normal persons he also said that my lung had collapsed so they had did a x-ray after the surgery and i would be getting another one done that morning. It would depend on how that was as to what they would have to do he figured that they would not have to do anything that it would heel on its own and if they did have to they would put a tube in. So lucky for me i did not need a tube but it still hurts with the breathing each day it doses get better. I was up and walking around Wednesday when i wasn't busy sleeping i was still in a lot of pain so i was getting hydromorphon every 3 hours as well as hydromorphon contin 9mg in morning and 12 mg at night still am taking the same. Thursday morning when they came to see me they asked if i thought i would be ready to go home i just gave them a big fat no. I did not tell them why but they didn't seem to care they just said fine see how you feel tomoral. But as for me i wasn't leaving until i wasn't having trouble getting in and out of bed by my self with out having to move the bed up or down. Any way i am still feeling pain and not sure if i am fixed which Bethune said is normal do to the swelling that there would be pressure still. But one new thing that i do feel is the back of my arm from the shoulder to the elbow has a strange feeling i don't even know how to describe it other then i know i am touching it but don't real feel it and the other area that hurts a lot is the fatty part under your tomb. I have some black and blue marks on my rib gage near the incision. My incision is around three to four inches long oh ya when i move a certain way it feels like it is popping,rubbing in that area but the doc says that it is air bubbles i don't think it is but i don't know ha ha. Any way i am ready for another nap that is all i seem to do is sleep for 1 to 3 hours then wake up for 3 to 5 i just took more pills for the pain. To be honest the pain is some what liked it felt when i had carpel tunnel realise done except it is lasting a little longer. well bye for now i well write agin when i feel up to it i hope the other girls are doing good.

mucker- glad to hear from you...stay rested and happy :)

I just got my drain out yesterday, and am starting to fell better....still lots of surgery pain, but much better than my last surgery overall.

take it easy, hope ot hear from you again soon :)

Hello Mucker so glad surgery is over and you are home again in your own bed. I hope with each day the pain will be less. Take it easy my friend.:wink:

Hi, Mucker
 

thanks so much for posting.

you have been through a lot; surgery is a huge trauma to the body. please, please take it easy and try not to type so much!:D but of course, we are dying to hear how it went with you and the others, too.

between the swelling and all the pain meds i don't know how you guys can tell which end is up (i couldn't, anyway) for the first several days after.

but i know it must feel great to be home and i am so glad you have someone there with you, taking care of you. icepacks are your new best friend, right? better than any pain med i ever took, i know that much!:cool:

not surprised to hear how enlarged your scalenes were with the type of work that you did. maybe you'll make the medical texbooks now... that would be a trip, mucker!:rolleyes:

probably they're still talkin' about ya at that hospital...

hahaha

alison
"Be Brave"

OK not happy i just spent the last hour typing and i lost all of it i can't believe it. Oh well i well try again the only resion it takes me so long is because i take my time so i wont get to sore. But i took my round of meds and pain is under control for now. OK i wonted to know Johannakat if you would be interested in doing a thread with me and i would also like to ask ihtos when she is feeling up to typing. I was hoping to do like a diary form were we tell every one about our surgery story. Like what was done what our stay was like more or less what i have already started to do this way people would have three different people and surgeries to compare because everyone is different but we do suffer from tos. I was thinking that this could be of help for others i know that it would have been much more help for me being my first time and all. Like for example i did not have a drain and i know you said that you just had yours removed so this is going to sound ignorant on my part but what was it for. Another example would be i explained what they did to me but not sure what they did to you like did they take your first rib and muscle as well? Let me know what you think i am going to keep up with my self i don't think it well be on a daily bases but i am going to try and write something once to twice a week could be more but it well depend on how i feel. I well keep doing this well i go through the healing processes and hope fully it well help others out a bit. So that is out of the way i well tell ya about my day i finely fell asleep around 4am this morning and got up at 7:30 am my side was in a great deal of pain and my lung was sore. I took my med's and exercised my arms and did my breathing exercises shortly afterwards i was ready for another nap my lung is slowly getting better it seems each time i do my breathing with the incentive spirometer i can hold it longer and i can breath deeper. My inscion is starting to itch a little there is no redness so i am thinking its just part of the healing. The rest of my pain is still in the arm like before the surgery and of coarse in the inscion and chest front and back. Well must sign off and go have a shower oh one other thing i do not use ice-packs they are so not my friend i wish i could i am sure that they would help but they also say in the booklets they gave me you are not to use ice or heat because you could hurt yourself something to do with the anatisea and not having full feeling for a few days after surgery. Any ways till later bye

Thanks so much Mucker for your informative posts! The info is helpful but please feel free to type when you feel better and to use shorthand. I wish you a complete healing and a very speedy and as full as possible recovery.