Tuesday 20 February 2007

It's Been A While

As was recently pointed out to me, this blog has been particularly silent since my operation. Fortunately this is not because of anything bad, quite the opposite in fact.
The operation itself went smoothly. I got to the hospital at 6am on the Monday morning with the understanding that they'd be operating at 7. Unfortunately things took a bit longer, so I was sitting around in a backless gown and compression tights for a lot longer than I felt comfortable with.
When they did come get me I went through all the usual pre-op without any anxiety. I was amused when they gave me something to help me relax, within a few seconds of it being injected I felt like I'd had about six beers. Pretty soon after that they wheeled me into the operating room, all I really recall from there is a lot of bright light.
Eight hours later (four longer than I'd been expecting) I woke up in recovery. They did all the usual stuff like asking me to wiggle my toes, and then made sure I could press the button on my self-adminstered pain killer. I was incredibly thirsty (I'd had nil by mouth since the night before), and after what felt like an age they took me out for a brief chat with my parents before taking me to ICU, where they thankfully gave me some ice to suck on.
It was at this stage that I realised that not everything was as I expected. For one, I didn't seem to be in any pain. Secondly, I could actually seem to move my neck. Waking in the morning and talking to the nurses reaffirmed my suspicion - I'd come out of the whole thing magnificently. I was in no pain, I had no need for the morphine - the nurses couldn't believe that the only drugs I took the whole time I was there were some Panadol for a slight fever I had on the second night. People who visited me couldn't believe how healthy and mobile I was - especially those who'd seen me after my first operation.
Unfortunately, even though I was feeling so good I was stuck in ICU - simply because they were out of beds in the rest of the hospital. ICU isn't the greatest place for reting or privacy, so I was pretty happy when on the Wednesday I got taken to my own room. By this stage I was able to get up and walk about on my own (after having the horrible experience of having my catheter removed that morning). The only thng that felt wrong was some dizzy spells when I got up, apart form that I wanted out. Hospital is a funny place - if you told me I'd be able to lie around for a week reading, watching TV and having someone bring me food for hours, I'd be stoked. When it's reality and you're stuck in the hospital while that's taking plce, it's maddening.
I did get permission from the doctor to leave on Friday morning. I was dressed and ready to go about 30 seconds after he'd left the room. He'd also left me with an interesting piece of information - I was now four centimetres taller. I'd thought he was joking at first, but it was true - my neck had bowed so much over the previous years that when they rebuilt the structure with the titanium, it straightened up and gave me the extra height.
The next entry: On going home, X-Rays, recovery, and some of the stupider things I've done.