Thursday, May 15, 2008

Surgery

So I had surgery yesterday on my right leg. I went in to have my meniscus in my knee fixed and to tighten up the ligaments in my ankle, all damage from a car accident I was in 6 months ago. It turns out that my meniscus wasn't torn, but I had some bone spurs type things under my knee cap that were aggrivating the cartilage and causing fluid to build up in my knee. So fortunately after about two weeks I will get the stitches out of my knee and it will be much better. My ankle on the other hand did still have to be fixed and I now have a cast on my ankle for a while. I go in to see the doctor in a week and a half and will then find out what is happening there. But let me tell you about my surgery.
I was told to be there at 930 for my 1000 surgery, so I arrive on time and was taken to my room where I had to put on the fun gown. Any of you who have ever had to put one of these on know what I am talking about, the worst part is that the person who was occupying the other bed in my room was gone to surgery, but her husband was in there. He left for a while, but came back cause he didn't have anywhere else to be. So those who know me know how awkward it was for me to be sitting there with this little thin gown on and nothing else while he was in there room. Anyway so this guy was gone for about an hour and a half and comes back in to tell us that we may be waiting a while, we had already be waiting an hour from when the surgery was supposed to have started. He tells us his wife's surgery was supposed to start at 730 but she didn't go in until almost 930 and it was only supposed to be 45 minutes and she had been in there and hour and half already. So we waited and waited and waited and at about 1:00 they finally came and got me. I got my meds right before I left the room so I actually remember everything from this surgery. I remember going into the operating room moving to the table, joking around with the nurses, and then talking to the anesthesiologist about how annoying verizon wireless customer service was because he was talking to them when he came in. Then I got the meds and was out. I woke up about 3 hours later in recovery and was struggling a bit to wake up, but the lady in the bed next to me made me realize that I needed to get out of there quick cause she was whinning and moaning and just being annoying. I realize that she had just had surgery, but so had I and I was being quiet. Anyway so after about 30 minutes in recovery they took me back to my room where I slept on and off for about 2 hours and then they decided that I needed to eat something so I could take some pain meds although I told them I didn't need any. By this time it was about 630 pm and I was just ready to go home. So I gave in and they brought me some toast. I took about 3 bites of toast and felt like I was going to throw up. I was hot and dizzy and nauseous and couldn't figure out why. Well the nurse said I had to get better before they would release me to go home. So I slept and tried to feel better, but the headache and everything just got worse. They told me this was all probably due to the anesthesia, but I had never had a problem with it before. I finally convinced them all that I felt better and got ready to leave and when I could see I saw that the thermostat was set at 76. Now I hate the heat and tend to get migraines when it gets too hot. My house is set at 60-65 in the Summer and 68 in the Winter so 76 was way too hot for me and apparently that is why I was so sick. Well Mom decided that since I got so sick she didn't want me to stay at my house by myself so she took me to her house, which was a good thing cause I did need a lot of help last night cause moving around on crutches when you are dizzy is not a safe thing. I felt kinda bad cause I couldn't do anything myself so I had to keep asking mom and dad to help. I couldn't even get off the couch without help cause their foot rest things that come up don't go back down and stay put without a lot of force which I just couldn't muster with just one leg, so everytime I needed to go to the bathroom I had to have one of them come in and hold the foot rest down while I got up. I kept them up until almost midnight just getting me settled and getting all of their stuff that they usually do done cause they had to put it all of to help me. So this morning mom dropped me off at my house on her way to work and I am doing pretty well. My headache is finally almost gone and my leg had stopped aching, thank you Hydrocodone. So anyway this is my surgery experience. I am currently heavily medicated so if some of this does not make sense then I am sorry.

5 comments:

meg said...

Oh Jess! I am so sorry! You call me if you need anything tommorrow or any time! What books are you reading. Isn't the fourth twilight book out yet? Well take care - we are glad everything turned out okay from surgery - all things considered!

Mark said...

Hey! easy on the dope! just because they cut your leg to pieces doesn't mean you get to stay home and be a crack-head!!!!! get feeling well soon ;)

lisa h. said...

jess, that stinks. being in the hospital is never a fun thing. i hope you heal fast. crutches are miserable, but you'll have some nice arms after it's over! i'm planning to get my tonsils out in Dec....so i'll be in the same boat having people helping me do everything. get better!

lisa h. said...

ps
if you need a good book to read...i just read The Scarlet Pimpernel and Kane and Able (Jeffrey Archer), both were page turners. the latter had a few scenes...i don't know what you like to read...

nicilee said...

I hope you get better soon. I had to laugh though while reading this post. You should of told the moaning lady next to you to suck it up, especially if you had still been semi out of it. Some people just can't handle anything basically.