It appears that people are enjoying my sister’s blogging sessions more than mine…I might have to fire her for upstaging me. Just kidding, she did an awesome job for her first time blogging.
I will do my best to recap the last 3 days as parts are really fuzzy.
After being admitted to St. Mary’s on Tuesday morning, they had me change into a double layer gown that allows you to hook yourself up to a machine with a tube which warms or cools your body.
Rose the admissions nurse warned me that I could be waiting a long time as Dr. Wigle was working on another patient, so knowing that, we are not allowed to spit, yell, or throw things at her. I thought this was a very specific warning but apparently some patients waited hours and became very frustrated.
Prior to surgery, you’re not allowed to eat or drink anything, this was the “treat” I was given while waiting. How generous of them :p
Luckily they were ready for me around 9:30. I said goodbye to Joanna and my family and walked with the nurse to the pre-op room where they double and triple checked that I was who I said I am and that they were doing the right procedure.
One of the surgeons told me that because the tumor was so large and resting on my heart, they were afraid that my tumor would relax too much and close off the superior vena cava preventing some of the IV fluids from reaching my heart. Their solution was to put an IV in my left foot.
I got into a gurney which they wheeled me into a very bright room. It sort of reminded me of the room that I got my biopsy in.
A nurse put heart monitors on me and a doctor told me to lay on my left side to prepare for the epidural which would numb my chest instead of the traditional epidural you would think of for a woman in labor. I asked the nurse what my heart rate was, she said it was above 120 which normal when patients get nervous right before starting surgery.
While laying on my side, they had an oxygen mask right next to my face and they inserted the epidural into my spine, it only briefly stung. My body felt numb and that’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
The next thing I remember was that my eyes were closed and someone was calling my name to my left side. The 12 hour long surgery just flew by and I found myself really hot, sweating, and very thirsty. I passed out again and woke up with like 6 doctors and nurses around me lifting me from one bed to another using a pulley system in the ceiling.
For the next few hours, I’d slip in and out of consciousness, they had to put large ice packs on the sides of my body to cool me down. The oxygen tube was in my nose and made me really itchy and annoyed with it to the point where I kept taking it off and the nurse would put it back in. I also had sleeves on my legs which contracted and expanded. I think they were supposed to prevent blood pooling in my legs.
The first night after surgery was really tough. I think it took at least 6 hours for the anesthesia to mostly wear off. Dad had to flip my pillow and adjust my body on the bed every hour or so because I would get so hot and they didn’t breathe very well. He would also make sure I drank plenty of water but when the nurses would scoot me up on the bed, it was enough to make me nauseous and I threw up water like a fountain.
I’m hooked up to a lot of things right now. I have 2 chest tubes that drain blood and lung fluid/lubricant from my chest. I’m allowed to administer fentanyl (pain medication) every 10 minutes via a button (This is my best friend right now), they’ve kept the epidural in my spine which slowly injects meds into me throughout the day. I also have a catheter but you can figure out what that looks like yourself.
I’m on 4 different pain meds (epidural, fentanyl, toradol, and Tylenol. I’m on zofran and they also put on a patch behind my ear to manage motion sickness. Because I’m not able to walk around a lot and am at risk for blood clots, they have to give me Lovenox, my most hated medication. I asked that they inject it in my arm instead of my stomach but it burns going in and is causing bruising.
Last night I was feeling super itchy. They said it’s a common side effect from the epidural so they prescribed me benadryl that they injected via IV. This worked so well because the itching went down and I was able to get some uninterrupted sleep for the first time in days.
Pain is being managed well after two days of adjustments, an entire part of my chest is completely numb, if it try to get up by myself, chest muscles and rib cage move around and it really hurts. My right shoulder and back hurt as well. I was told it’s a result of the chest tubes.
On day 1 after surgery they wanted me to get out of bed and onto the scale in the hallway. That was EXHAUSTING, just sitting up made me dizzy and motion sick. I had to take tiny baby steps to get to where I needed to go but after every walk I’ve taken so far, I’ve been able to walk farther each time.
Today (day 2) I met with the physical therapist to work on arm and leg strength. I felt really lame using resistance bands that were 2 lbs and on a stationary bike with no resistance on it either.
I’m looking at being discharged on Monday or Tuesday but it depends on how recovery goes and if they can wean me off the strongest narcotics.
The following images below are graphic
And now for the moment I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for…
The before and after pictures are pretty cool, being able to see the incision on my chest and looking at my guts under the skin. I’ve marked the organs to the best of my ability.
The surgeon said that my tumor was firm like a softball and was about the same size too. During the procedure, they needed to remove the middle lobe of my right lung, part of the superior vena cava , and the pericardium (sac) of the heart. They also found that my tumor had enveloped the phrenic nerve which controls the diaphragm of my right lung. Unfortunately they had to remove that as well so the diaphragm is now paralyzed. Surgery to replace it would be difficult as they have to get a nerve from another part of my body and the success rate is quite low. They explained that my day to day activities shouldn’t be impacted but if I want to do cardio intensive exercises I’ll get winded much more quickly.
I’m supposed to be doing lung exercises every few hours as they had to deflate both lungs to get at the tumor. Right now my total lung capacity is at 1.1 liters. Normal capacity is about 4.
I’m looking forward to continuing my progress while I’m here at the hospital even though I’m in a lot of pain. Thank you everyone who was thinking of me and praying during my procedure on Tuesday. It was very much appreciated for a surgery this serious.
