I just wanted to tell you guys my first surgical procedure is over and here is how it went. The doctors and nurses assured me it would be a 'piece of cake' and I had NOTHING to worry about. Oh, really? That was my first clue to sit up and pay attention. My very smart Egyptian doctor came in and explained, in detail and broken English, everything he planned to do to make my injuries heal enough, in one month, for the next step in preparation for repair of my neck fractures. Important things like "we put anti-static shoes on you feet to prevent static electricity, a head cover to keep the surgical area sterile, (nobody told me I was having a brain transplant), a needle with tube will be inserted in back of your hand so we can give you anesthesia when we get to operating room. Nurse fill tube with saline to keep tube open to run anesthesia during surgery." Major details like that were not what I wanted to know. As he stood up to leave the room I asked him to give me five minutes to pray before the nurse came to wheel me to the operating room. He said, "I give you time to pray to YOUR God for help then I send you to OR." FOR HELP?!! My piece of cake was quickly losing its flavor.
The nurse came in with a wheelchair and my chart. As we were going to the prep room, she stopped in the hall and checked my ID bracelet and read the procedure aloud. "Mrs. Bug we will be doing surgery on your lower back this morning." I asked her to read it again; she did and didn't change a word. I got up out of the wheelchair and backed my butt against the wall and refused to move, not saying a word. I started peeling tape, removing needles, and watched the blood fly as I threw the crap down on the floor. She grabbed me by the arm and asked her most intelligent question of the day, "Mrs. Bug, what's wrong, are you okay? Please come sit down!" I said, "No, YOU need to be the one sitting down right now. You have just violated every rule of the medical profession in existence and I just saved the jobs of everyone involved in my care. I don't have a back injury, I am not scheduled for back surgery, and you are one of the luckiest people alive right now. If anyone had done back surgery on me, I would own this whole freaking hospital and you would be working for me for the rest of your life. If you had read my chart like you were supposed to you would have been familiar with my case and not had someone else's orders in my chart."
I looked over at my husband who had stood by silently, his eyes the size of huge cups of coffee. Nurses were running all over each other, some looking for records, others trying to pamper me. Within 5-10 minutes they had everything in order and I was in the operating room. I wasn't afraid because I knew, after my explosion, I would be getting some very good care.
Fast forward....the doctors had to use a mixture of steroids and two other meds to make the splintered nerves heal. That is liquid fire! They explained the side effects and I thought, 'after all I've been through, this will be another 'piece of cake.' I lay in bed all night staring at the ceiling with my eyelids stuck on "OPEN." My nerves were wound up as tight as a $2 Timex and I'll swear I think I heard the Russian army marching through my head. Then the hiccups started right on cue and lasted for 8 days and nights; they were accompanied by acid reflux that seemed to be dripping out of every orifice. I felt a weird kind of heat start in my chest area and spread throughout my body, I was hotter than Clint Eastwood's handgun. First I threw off the quilt, later the blanket, then the sheet. Next went my gown and I was still roasting from the inside out. I was naked as a picked bird and had nothing else I could remove unless I shaved my head and eyebrows.
Ahh! I remembered there was plenty of snow outside so I got up and held to the wall to sneak out onto the patio. My husband heard me and came to see where I was going in the middle of the night, barefoot, naked, and walking around in the snow. I told him I was just looking for an igloo to sleep in. Bless his sweet heart; he offered me a blanket to keep me warm.
Thanks to everyone who prayed for me and please keep me on your prayer list because this has only been the first of 4 steps in the process. The toughest is yet to come.
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Originally Posted by psprowler
J/K
