Jen-2's Journey

Jen-2

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Joined
Dec 15, 2014
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362
Sunday, Feb. 1 - day before surgery:

My husband and I left PA and drove to NJ to a hotel near the hospital. We left sometime around 4:30 pm. My parents were shooing us out of the house as soon as one snowflake fell or we may have stayed longer. Turns out the storm didn't amount to much. My mom and dad stayed with our kids for a few days while my husband stayed with me. I managed to stay goodbye to the kids without them or me getting emotional. I kept my nerves to myself. @robs477 - I did buy my girls bracelets with infinity symbols on them and reminded them my love for them is infinite. That was sort of my take on the goodbye letters you decided to write. I knew I couldn't handle writing those letters. I just asked the girls to wear them the week I was gone and think of me.

After we checked in our hotel I contacted @Barbara and @Elizabeth N. to see if they were available to meet. I met up w Barbara as EN got caught up w some work issues that kept her from meeting with us. Meeting @Barbara was wonderful. She is so sweet, funny and articulate. Thank you Barbara for taking time out of your night to meet with me. It was so great to meet you and share our stories and concerns and support each other through this process!

After I met with Barbara I got a message from EN. I ended up talking on the phone with her for nearly an hour as she answered all my questions, shared her story and put my mind at ease. Thank you @Elizabeth N. For all of your help and support that evening!

Talking with both ladies that night was just what I needed. They calmed my nerves and didn't let me dwell on my surgery the next morning. Surprisingly I did get a few hours sleep that night!
 
YAY! So glad you're feeling up to looking at a screen long enough to say hello :). I had hoped to drop by yesterday or today, but it was not in the cards. You're likely to take a bit longer to feel like you're in full control of your head again, since you got knocked out twice in a row. So don't fret about being "normal" in your recovery time.
 
Monday, Feb. 2 - surgery day

I was up bright and early and took a nice long shower since the hospital said I wouldn't get another one until Friday! Ugh. Called the kids then headed to the hospital. Arrived at 7:30. Admissions was a breeze bc the hospital was on top of things and had already completed pre-admission the week before. Following admissions they took me back to don the requisite hospital gown and give a urine specimen. The placement of my PICC line started closer to 9. Let me just say that SUCKED! Hurt like hell. Prior to the PICC and after I met the surgical team, doctor, anesthesiologist, etc. lots of very personable and competent professionals that explained their roles and put my mind at ease. Some even had the good drugs. :) I remember being wheeled back to surgery. I remember moving onto the surgical table. I remember getting two doses of drugs to relax me. The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery.

They moved me to ICU as that is Dr. Greenbaum's protocol following DS surgeries. I think the surgery ended up being closer to 4 hours. He performed the traditional DS using the Hess method, removed my gallbladder and appendix, repaired a sliding hiatal hernia and performed a liver biopsy. I woke up to a million tubes and monitors connected to me. Many more than I expected and they have remained all week. I did manage to walk a few times that night. That was very painful despite having a binder on my abdomen. I slept a lot and had a million examinations and checks from various doctors and nurses. Dr. G did come in to check on me and discuss the surgery. He said after measuring he made my CC 75 cm, my A limb at 180 and my stomach at 4 ounces.

I spoke to Andy briefly each time I woke up and I'm pretty sure I called the kids. There wasn't much in the way of good sleep as I was constantly awakened for various reasons by different nurses. There was no food or liquids of any kind except for the liquids through my PICC line.

I was happy to be on the other side but it was a pretty painful and miserable day.
 
Tuesday, Feb. 3 - day after surgery.

Tuesday was another miserable day. I did some walking and sat in the chair and followed orders regarding the use of the spirometer, etc. my pain wasn't managed well. They had me on dilaudid w my own pain pump but it didn't help diminish my pain it would just make me sleep briefly. They told me I couldn't have other pain meds yet bc I had bled too much during surgery so Dr. G was being cautious. He gave me several bags of iron and I avoided a transfusion but he held the heparin shots until my drainage decreased quite a bit. Finally he gave me Toradol and that started to make a difference. They took me down for my UGI/leak test a little after lunchtime and unfortunately that came back with bad news. There were no leaks but during the hernia repair he placed a stitch or two that were too tight and they were causing my esophagus to spasm or twist. He said it was also narrowed at the one end. He wanted to go back in and remove those stitches so back to surgery I went.

Luckily I didn't have too much time to dwell on it. He performed the surgery and I spent an extra day in ICU.
 
OMG, you had to go back into surgery - well, hope to hear you are home today and feeling better. and that the worst part is OVER.

congratulations on reaching the good side!
 
Sorry you are having a tough time of it, but hopefully the worst is now behind you and you can feel better every day, and soon start to experience the benefits of what you have put yourself through. Hang in there!
 
@robs477 - I did buy my girls bracelets with infinity symbols on them and reminded them my love for them is infinite. That was sort of my take on the goodbye letters you decided to write. I knew I couldn't handle writing those letters. I just asked the girls to wear them the week I was gone and think of me.

Hi @Jen-2 !!!!!! are u home yet? Yeah, I completed those letters a few days ago. It was really hard, a lot of re-writes, but, I kept it positive, short and sweet. Short part being extremly rare for me! My baby is probably older than yours though, she is 12. Yours? I think about you several times a day and hope you are over the worst part.
 
@robs477 yep I'm home. Got discharged on Friday and was home by 2:30 pm. It was great to see my girls and finally be out of the hospital.

How are you doing? Less than 2 days for you now!! Do you know what time your surgery is?
 

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