My surgery now seems like it is years away although in reality it is only 65 days 16 hours and 43 minutes away according to the new countdown timer that I have installed on the upper right hand side of the blog. I booked my sleep study yesterday and go in on this Saturday July the 16th.
I guess I should probably explain why I need a sleep study. Christie spilled the beans to the pre-op team at Hamilton General Hospital that I have undiagnosed sleep apnea. According to the Anesthesiologist sleep apnea and general anesthesia can be a very unfriendly combination. When you have sleep apnea your airway becomes obstructed and your breathing becomes repressed. Anesthesia and opioid narcotics such as morphine also repress breathing. In short during your recovery in hospital they worry that you could stop breathing in your sleep because you have so many factors repressing your breathing if you have sleep apnea.
And that is why I am having a sleep study done. Actually I have thought for years that I should have one done. If I do have sleep apnea and have it treated I would probably function that much better. One of the things that can help with sleep apnea is losing weight because the fat deposits in the pharynx either bring on sleep apnea or worsen the effects.
I have been working on a healthier lifestyle for myself for about a month now which includes eating in a way that will prevent me from gaining any more weight and hopefully lose some. This works out well for me with the sleep apnea but the reason I started this was that I will be laid up and not doing very much at all for a couple of month post surgery. The last thing I need is to gain a bunch of weight in recovery. Either way I have lost 12 pounds so far and intend on losing another 30. And hopefully the weight will keep dropping as the clock keeps ticking.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
From spinal fusion to appendectomy...
When it rains it pours. On Tuesday July 5th, two days before surgery I got all of my business sorted out. I went to the union hall and let them know that I would not be available for some time. Then I checked in at the benefit office and got my paperwork in order for short term disability. My last visit was to the doctors office to have my paperwork filled out for disability and EI. Once at home again I did everything I needed to do online ending with filling out my EI for sick benefits. I literally just pushed send for my claim and got up to go to the bathroom and the phone rang. It was the surgeons office calling to cancel my spinal fusion surgery and re-book for September 19th. Of course I was absolutely mortified. That kind of news completely takes the wind out of your sails. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't two days before surgery. I had put off getting all my paperwork sorted out because I wanted to be sure that we were close enough to the surgery date that it was going to happen. It also doesn't help that I was psyching myself up for months, this is not an easy decision to make or take lightly. And then to be that close to the date and have the rug pulled out from under you. Unfortunately the surgeon has had a family emergency and taken the rest of July off.
So with the bad news in hand I was reeling. It felt like a downhill slide was happening. I couldn't believe that the news was hitting me so hard. I felt absolutely horrible. It even seemed like it was affecting me physically. I was almost feeling sick to my stomach. As the afternoon started to pass I started to feel worse. I figured I had to get up and moving and busy to make myself feel better. Nothing better than slow cooking ribs on the BBQ to make a man feel better, so I got dinner started. Then I went for a walk to the hardware store to pass some time and get some air. I ran into a friend on the way, who commented that I didn't look to good. Of course I didn't look too good, I'd just received a giant blow, my spirit was broken. By the time I got home from the hardware store I was in misery, so I turned off the BBQ and crawled up to bed.
The next thing I remember is Christie rubbing my back and trying to get me up. She seemed concerned that something was wrong. I'm not sure what I told her but I knew that I had a bellyache. I needed to go potty and managed to make my way downstairs even though I felt like I was going to pass out several times on the short journey.
After that the first thing I remember is being on the bathroom floor with Christie and her mom Pam over me trying to get me up and talking some nonsense about calling an ambulance. I just wanted her to stop nagging me and let me sleep. At this point some time had passed, it was pushing toward 9pm and the last I remember was maybe 5:30ish and Christie get home from work around 6. So I have no idea how long I was on the bathroom floor, but Christie was sounding pretty upset. I figured I had better make an attempt to get up if she was ever going to stop nagging me.
The pain getting up was excruciating but I managed with a chair. I made it to the couch and laid down again. Christie kept talking some gibberish about going to the hospital and I kept telling her she was crazy, or something along those lines. Then she told me that if I didn't go that she was going to stay up all night and watch over me. At this point I realized two things, one was that she must be really worried which means that I must look pretty bad, and two was that I would be quite happy just going to sleep but I was not going to let her stay up all night.
So at that point I go myself back up and said, "if we're going we're going now". We got in the car and headed for West Lincoln Memorial Hospital. I'm not sure how long we sat in the triage area (last time we were 3 hours before being triaged)but at some point I just couldn't take it anymore and collapsed to the floor. At that point I heard something about 'code red in room 14' and I was instantly greeted by a nurse that was telling me that I couldn't stay on the floor. They helped me up and into the triage area where they gave me a barf bag (I must have looked ill). Within a short period they had me in a room.
Diagnosis was slow and painful. The bloodwork showed that my white cell counts were down and poking and prodding along with the xray suggested that my appendix was inflamed. But they needed an ultra-sound to confirm and being a small town hospital they didn't have a technician until the next morning. If that wasn't bad enough they didn't even have a surgeon on staff that could deal with me if it was my appendix. If it was my appendix they where going to have to ship me off to the Hamilton General Hospital.
The next morning appendicitis was confirmed by the radiologist. So it was off to Hamilton with me. Now I had to wait until 2pm for the transfer ambulance to retrieve me and take me to the Hamilton General. Once we arrived at the General and got situated at the emergency desk the fire alarm went off. Poor Christie and her sister Ann were darting through all the zoned doors trying to catch up to me so they could find out where they were taking me, but as they caught up they were told that they had to exit the hospital until the alarm issue was settled. Luckily the hospital was still accepting emergencies, but everything elective was cancelled. At least I was in.
Of course I had to go through whole process of poking and prodding by the Hamilton doctors. Once they were satisfied that my appendix had to come out they had me sign the consent forms. Then they broke the bad news, I'd have to wait until 11pm and it was only about 4:30. So I was going to have to suffer for another six and a half hours. At least there was enough time for Christie to go home, have some dinner, grab her car and come back before I went in for surgery. The decision was made, they were off.
Forty minutes later the head resident was back to inform me that a spot opened up in the O.R. and I was being taken in immediately. I called poor Christie to inform her, the poor girl was panicked and half way home. They turned back and made it just before they wheeled me into the O.R.
Everyone in the O.R. introduced themselves to me and gave me an understanding of what was going to happen. The anaethetist put me to sleep and the next thing I know someone was calling my name as I woke up and immediately puked into the tray they were holding in front of me. I never would have believed it but you really do puke when you come out of the anaesthetic.
I fell asleep right away and the next thing I remember is Christie and Ann standing over me. It was all uphill from there. Sleep, awake, sleep, awake, it was a groggy mess for the next 6 or 8 hours. Thursday morning I woke up and felt great. My tummy was sore, but compared to how I felt before surgery I felt fantastic. Before long I was up and walking laps around the ward. Every doctor and resident that I ran into that had something to do with my surgery was quite surprised at how well I looked and how much walking I was doing. I ran into the head resident who told me that my appendix looked 'very angry'. I asked him if it was perforated and he said that it was not but didn't look far off.
I went from clear fluids to fluids to full diet in a matter of a few hours. Once Christie showed up we went for lunch in the cafeteria and a big walk around the hospital. We got back and the nurse told me that I had been discharged.
So we hurried and got me packed up and got out of there just before 2pm. What an experience to be checking out from an appendectomy on the very day that I should have been getting my spinal fusion on the same floor of the same hospital.
So with the bad news in hand I was reeling. It felt like a downhill slide was happening. I couldn't believe that the news was hitting me so hard. I felt absolutely horrible. It even seemed like it was affecting me physically. I was almost feeling sick to my stomach. As the afternoon started to pass I started to feel worse. I figured I had to get up and moving and busy to make myself feel better. Nothing better than slow cooking ribs on the BBQ to make a man feel better, so I got dinner started. Then I went for a walk to the hardware store to pass some time and get some air. I ran into a friend on the way, who commented that I didn't look to good. Of course I didn't look too good, I'd just received a giant blow, my spirit was broken. By the time I got home from the hardware store I was in misery, so I turned off the BBQ and crawled up to bed.
The next thing I remember is Christie rubbing my back and trying to get me up. She seemed concerned that something was wrong. I'm not sure what I told her but I knew that I had a bellyache. I needed to go potty and managed to make my way downstairs even though I felt like I was going to pass out several times on the short journey.
After that the first thing I remember is being on the bathroom floor with Christie and her mom Pam over me trying to get me up and talking some nonsense about calling an ambulance. I just wanted her to stop nagging me and let me sleep. At this point some time had passed, it was pushing toward 9pm and the last I remember was maybe 5:30ish and Christie get home from work around 6. So I have no idea how long I was on the bathroom floor, but Christie was sounding pretty upset. I figured I had better make an attempt to get up if she was ever going to stop nagging me.
The pain getting up was excruciating but I managed with a chair. I made it to the couch and laid down again. Christie kept talking some gibberish about going to the hospital and I kept telling her she was crazy, or something along those lines. Then she told me that if I didn't go that she was going to stay up all night and watch over me. At this point I realized two things, one was that she must be really worried which means that I must look pretty bad, and two was that I would be quite happy just going to sleep but I was not going to let her stay up all night.
So at that point I go myself back up and said, "if we're going we're going now". We got in the car and headed for West Lincoln Memorial Hospital. I'm not sure how long we sat in the triage area (last time we were 3 hours before being triaged)but at some point I just couldn't take it anymore and collapsed to the floor. At that point I heard something about 'code red in room 14' and I was instantly greeted by a nurse that was telling me that I couldn't stay on the floor. They helped me up and into the triage area where they gave me a barf bag (I must have looked ill). Within a short period they had me in a room.
Diagnosis was slow and painful. The bloodwork showed that my white cell counts were down and poking and prodding along with the xray suggested that my appendix was inflamed. But they needed an ultra-sound to confirm and being a small town hospital they didn't have a technician until the next morning. If that wasn't bad enough they didn't even have a surgeon on staff that could deal with me if it was my appendix. If it was my appendix they where going to have to ship me off to the Hamilton General Hospital.
The next morning appendicitis was confirmed by the radiologist. So it was off to Hamilton with me. Now I had to wait until 2pm for the transfer ambulance to retrieve me and take me to the Hamilton General. Once we arrived at the General and got situated at the emergency desk the fire alarm went off. Poor Christie and her sister Ann were darting through all the zoned doors trying to catch up to me so they could find out where they were taking me, but as they caught up they were told that they had to exit the hospital until the alarm issue was settled. Luckily the hospital was still accepting emergencies, but everything elective was cancelled. At least I was in.
Of course I had to go through whole process of poking and prodding by the Hamilton doctors. Once they were satisfied that my appendix had to come out they had me sign the consent forms. Then they broke the bad news, I'd have to wait until 11pm and it was only about 4:30. So I was going to have to suffer for another six and a half hours. At least there was enough time for Christie to go home, have some dinner, grab her car and come back before I went in for surgery. The decision was made, they were off.
Forty minutes later the head resident was back to inform me that a spot opened up in the O.R. and I was being taken in immediately. I called poor Christie to inform her, the poor girl was panicked and half way home. They turned back and made it just before they wheeled me into the O.R.
Everyone in the O.R. introduced themselves to me and gave me an understanding of what was going to happen. The anaethetist put me to sleep and the next thing I know someone was calling my name as I woke up and immediately puked into the tray they were holding in front of me. I never would have believed it but you really do puke when you come out of the anaesthetic.
I fell asleep right away and the next thing I remember is Christie and Ann standing over me. It was all uphill from there. Sleep, awake, sleep, awake, it was a groggy mess for the next 6 or 8 hours. Thursday morning I woke up and felt great. My tummy was sore, but compared to how I felt before surgery I felt fantastic. Before long I was up and walking laps around the ward. Every doctor and resident that I ran into that had something to do with my surgery was quite surprised at how well I looked and how much walking I was doing. I ran into the head resident who told me that my appendix looked 'very angry'. I asked him if it was perforated and he said that it was not but didn't look far off.
I went from clear fluids to fluids to full diet in a matter of a few hours. Once Christie showed up we went for lunch in the cafeteria and a big walk around the hospital. We got back and the nurse told me that I had been discharged.
So we hurried and got me packed up and got out of there just before 2pm. What an experience to be checking out from an appendectomy on the very day that I should have been getting my spinal fusion on the same floor of the same hospital.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Pre-Op
Went to pre-op today. Lots of poking and prodding. Tons of questions, with paperwork out the wazoo. The day started out with registering at admitting, who then sent us up to the lab where they took my pee along with 4 vials of my blood and an ecg. They then sent us over to the pre-op clinic where we registered once again and headed for the waiting room. Eventually a nurse came and got us to weigh and measure me, then send us back to the waiting room. Along came another nurse who took me into a small room to interrogate me...errr, I mean ask me relevant medical questions. Once she was finished her routine she sent us back to the waiting room. Then the anaethetist came and got us to beat me down some more. Once we were done with her we were free to go. Of course it was now 11:30 (two hours later) and we were starving because we had not yet eaten. So we tried on the cafeteria food for size.
Over all things went pretty well. I learned a few things, including the fact that a pre-op takes two hours not 30 minutes, surgery is on schedule for 8 am on Thursday and I will have a self administered pain pump post surgery. So I will legally and at no cost be able to stay as high as I want until they pull the plug on it. And I almost forgot, the surgeon has me booked in hospital for 4 days not three, and the surgery for 4 hours.
Now the clock is ticking faster than ever and the nerves are building.
Over all things went pretty well. I learned a few things, including the fact that a pre-op takes two hours not 30 minutes, surgery is on schedule for 8 am on Thursday and I will have a self administered pain pump post surgery. So I will legally and at no cost be able to stay as high as I want until they pull the plug on it. And I almost forgot, the surgeon has me booked in hospital for 4 days not three, and the surgery for 4 hours.
Now the clock is ticking faster than ever and the nerves are building.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Mobile blogging
I'm now set up to update this blog mobile style. I've got an app for my iPhone which I am testing while watching a lightning storm. I figure that I won't be able to bring my computer in the hospital and after I get home I won't be very mobile. So blogging from my phone will be the best option. :)
Preparations
I finally opened my pre op package yesterday from the hospital. Surgery is at 8:00am on Thursday. We have to be there at least 2 hours ahead of time. Christie is not very excited about this, being there at 6 means we will be leaving by 5-5:30 and she doesn't do mornings very well. I don't mind because I'll be going back to sleep at 8. The thing that bothers me is that my stomach has to be empty so I can't have a morning coffee.
We've been getting things ready for post surgery. Most things aren't too exciting, but everything is making me feel old. Things like this.
Of course I am finding my own fun with the grabber, the cat and dog don't seem to appreciate my fun and neither does Christie. There is plenty to prepare and I'm sure that I will forget or not even think of many things. Thankfully I have Christie and she seems to think of everything. In the end we will probably never be prepared enough but we'll get through it.
I wish there was more to write about pre-op but there just isn't, aside from boredom that is. I'm sure post-op there will be plenty to write about. The problem will be that I just may be in too much pain or too dopey from the pain meds to do much writing. I guess we will just have to let time tell the story.
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