You Are a Special Case

As said so wonderfully by my motility surgeon yesterday!!

😂🤣

Thanks, doc!

Let's start from the beginning.

We left our house this morning at 4AM!!!! We had to get checked in by 5:30AM.

My husband is used to this as he leaves for work each morning by this time. But I was NOT feeling it!

I was able to sleep just a little, but once again I awoke once I felt all the dips and bumps of the college town! The churning in my stomach grew as we got closer!

We parked and walked the bridge over to the operating room registration desk. I registered and then they sent me straight to the insurance desk, which they didn't do that before! After insurance and signing a form, I was then sent straight to the waiting room! I picked a seat and couldn't even sit down because I was called back! We went to my room, and she set the cup out and said if I can go then just pee in the cup. But that was the first and last time I heard of it! She then told me to get down to my birthday suit and put on the gown! I undressed and then the gown... oh, the dreaded gown... The sleeves weren't buttoned up so i couldn't figure it out! My husband tried helping me and tried to tie things and he was like, "nope." I started laughing so hard I was snorting!! We finally figured it out to start buttoning up the sleeves so I can figure out what was up and what was down. I finally got the gown on, and my husband helped with tying up the back, so my booty wasn't exposed!

I tried to go pee, but surprise! I couldn't. It was definitely not a big deal and since I couldn't drink anything and had nothing to drink that morning, it just wasn't happening!

My wonderful nurse came in and asked me some questions, she then said I would meet all the doctors and they would ask me the same thing. Safety first! One question I remember is, "what did you have for breakfast?" I replied, "nothing." She lightly touched my shoulder and said that was a good answer! I really can't remember ALL of what was asked, but after she hooked me up and put in my IV! She moved my bed to where she could get to my wrist and tied that band around my forearm. She started flicking my hand and wrist to get a vein popping and one did! It was the little vein on the outside of my wrist. She went ahead and put the needle in my vein, and she said that was great! I didn't even flinch. I said, "no worries, these don't bother me. Before my accident I took my embalming final!" She laughed and exclaimed that she can see why I didn't flinch. But I was the best patient that morning that she had to stick. I questioned her, "am I your first patient?" She laughed and said no! She then asked if I had metal in my body. I chuckled and looked at my husband. I said I have a gold weight, but aside from that, nada! She laughed too and wanted to make sure I didn't have a pacemaker.

Next up, I saw the OR RN and she was quick with checking things out.

I then saw my doctor and he exclaimed, "you are a very special case!" Because of the severity of my case, he wanted to do two different procedures. One to realign my eyeball, by shortening the outer muscle, and the other to take pieces of my strong vertical muscles and attach them horizontally to my weak eye muscles in hopes to help move my eye. He then signed his initial above my left eye to know that's the eye he was working on. I told him my other eye doctor said to be vocal about my right eye and don't touch it!

Afterwards I met with the anesthesia team. They were awkward in speech, but super polite! They checked everything over and said I would be taken back by around 7:30AM.

My doctor then came back with a concerning look on his face. I swear I thought he was going to tell me the surgery was off! But instead, he said because of the severity, and he didn't realize my eye blink was becoming a bit more severe, he wanted to only realign my eye and not do the muscle reattachments to help move my eyes. He said he didn't want to take the chance and damage my cornea because then I would be very upset with him as it would make me permanently blind in that eye. He asked if I was disappointed by this and I said, "no way!" We have to take this in steps. He approximated that we could do this next phase in procedure maybe in the fall. But it really depends on availability and what the other doctor thinks! He is very respectful of my other doctor and said that they would work together to come up with a good plan for me. His notes:

"...the initial plan of a modified Nishida transposition procedure OS was abandoned in favor of a recess resect procedure OS, due to very limited 7th nerve function of the left upper lid, dependent on an intact Bells phenomenon for adequate corneal lubrication. Any compromise of left superior rectus function was feared to exacerbate corneal exposure. The patient and her husband were both in agreement with this change in procedure."

I then got wheeled back into the OR. The eyepatch on my other eye was removed and the surgeon wanted to see the works of my eyelids being sewn together. He marveled at it and said it looks so good! The anesthesia nurse put an oxygen mask on me, and they verified who I was. She then called back the anesthesia doctor and they put in my sleepy time medicine and that was the last thing I remember!

My husband said that the doctor came to see him in the waiting room an hour later and the recovery room nurse called him at 9AM and said I was waking up.

Honestly, I don't remember waking up at 9AM ..

But when I finally awoke, I couldn't even open my eyelids. It hurt SO BAD. My pain level started at a 9. I heard other people talk about their surgeries and what was going on with other patients.

One lady had a cesarean and her baby was 4lbs 15oz.

Another lady broke her foot...or her leg...and the severity of it caused her to have surgery.

I kept trying to open my eyes and my nurse asked if anyone ever told me I had a low heartbeat. I said, "no." I know that I have a low blood pressure though! That has always been normal for me. But she said when I was under, asleep, and resting; my heartbeat was in the 50s. When I'm awake and oriented my heartbeat is in the 60s. I really don't know what's average!! Because of this she didn't want to give me pain medication by IV. She gave me tablets instead and some water here and there.

My post-op nurse came in and shined a light in my eyes and asked the other nurse to come see. She asked, "should we page the doctor?" Doctor was never paged so I'm assuming it's all a part of the healing process!

I asked what time it was, and they said 10:30AM. They called my husband and rolled me into the ONLY room they had available. They called it the 'presidential suite.' But my husband works in hospitals enough and have designed these types of rooms. They are actually isolation rooms ha-ha. There's a huge exhaust on the ceiling to suck out the contagious air of that patient. But this room has its own bathroom!! So, I was for it.

My nurse helped me up slowly and walked me into the bathroom and shut the door. She then turned around. After trying to pee a few times I asked her if she could just stand outside the door, and I would call her when I'm ready to get up. I told her I have stage fright. She laughed and said, "of course! I understand stage fright completely!" She stepped out and I heard my husband question on the other side, "stage fright?" He knows all about my inability to go under pressure! I finally heard the waterfall of goodness and then I called her back in! She helped me back to my bed as my eyes were still blurry!! The pain wasn't overbearing, so I could still recover well. She got me some ginger ale and my husband went to get the car to meet me up front. We waited a few minutes, and she then walked me to the wheelchair so I could get wheeled out.

Oh, and during that time before my husband left, I was able to get dressed in my regular clothes. He asked if I wanted to keep the hospital socks and I said, "of course!!" Hey, they may not be sexy, but they sure are sensible! So, he put them in his bag so we could take them.

Now back to being in my wheelchair...the nurse took me downstairs to the lobby and said the kind of car she was looking for. I said, "and it has black rims!" She found it immediately and wheeled me out to it where my husband met me and helped me into the car.

The doctor told him that I shouldn't eat the rest of the day, and that I could eat some dinner, but it needs to be light. That night I kept it light with just a little bit of shrimp!

My eyeball still hurts and there's dry blood on my eyeball. But I don't have any crazy restrictions! I still have to wait until Saturday to wash my face because of my other eye. But I can sleep lying flat! Yay!!

Below are a few pictures :)

My eyeball! My husband noticed that it's full pupil and my other eye is normal.

I'm guessing this is all the healing process!

I completely forgot my surgeon's initial while I was getting ready for bed!

Baby wipes saved the day :)

GOD IS GOOD!

Everything has been a success so far. This is MY year as my husband keep reminding me. It's going to be the best year, yes.