Surgery Day!

I awoke Monday morning, August 4th at 4:30 A.M. and began preparing for the surgery.  I applied a second round of Chlorheidine Gluconate Antiseptic Prep wipe.  A short 45 minutes later Joe and I left the hotel, walked across the street arriving at the surgical reception area around 5:20 A.M.  

Me at 5:20 A.M. just prior to checking in with the surgery receptionist. 

I checked in with receptionist. He assigned me a patient number and gave me my ID bracelet.  The patient number would allow Joe to follow the stages of my surgery on the reader board screen. 

Picture of the surgery reader board.  My patient number was 9450.  Joe was able to track my surgery progress here.  The first message Joe saw was "Patient in Surgery Prep", followed by "Patient in OR", "Surgery Started", "Patient in Recovery 6", and "Discharged from Recovery".  

After what seemed like a very short wait in the reception area a nurse came and took me back to the surgery prep area.  She had me changed into a hospital gown and put on some compression socks.  After checking my vitals she had me lie down on the hospital bed and covered me with this really interesting metallic appearing air-flow blanket.  She was able to easily adjust the temperature of the air to quickly heat or cool me.  



My sexy compression socks

 

Me under my air-circulating blanket. So Scifi. 

Then, in what seemed like a very quick and planned successive order I was greeted and prepped by my surgeon (Dr. Sethi), the OR nurse (Holly), the anesthesiologists (Dr. Lu and Chen, the physician assistants (Nicholas and Ken), and the neuro-physiologist (Craig).  Dr. Lu hooked me up to an IV and administered Valium.  The last thing I remember before my surgery is feeling totally relaxed.  

Most of my surgical team.  Dr. Sethi (my primary surgeon) is the one with his arm around me.




Me on my way to be moved out of the prep room to the surgery room. 

The surgery lasted approximately 6 hours, beginning around 7:30 A.M. and wrapping up at about 1:30 P.M. Midway through the surgery Dr. Lu came and spoke with Joe to inform him that everything was going well. Just after the surgery Dr. Sethi met with Joe.  He said he was very pleased that he had achieved better than expected results. Apparently my back was very flexible making it easier to bend it into the correct shape.  He said these were good indicators that I would have a better than expected recovery.  He told Joe that he was going to hold me in the Recovery room for an hour, possibly 2 hours at most before moving me into the Critical Care Unit (CCU).  Moving from Recovery to CCU is standard for all patients undergoing complex spine surgery.  Joe wouldn't be able to see me until I was in CCU, so when I was in Recovery for 3 hours Joe became considerably worried and frustrated. Thankfully Joe's long wait was broken up by a very appreciated visit from our next door neighbors Brad and Nellie.  I was so amazed they came to give their support.  I recall a physician assistant questioning why I was still waiting in recovery.  It seemed that I was being held there for no apparent reason. 

Brad and Nellie, the best neighbors anyone can ask for, came to wish me well during my surgery and support Joe as he waited. 

Me just after being moved to the Critical Care Unit (CCU).  At this point things weren't all that bad. 

I was moved from recovery to CCU just after 4 P.M.  Joe arrived sometime around 4:30 P.M. to find me in and out of sleep. I remember telling Joe how surprised I was that I wasn't in horrible pain.  I felt intense muscle tightness in my back, but it was tolerable.  It didn't take long for this to change for the worse. But at the moment I was excited that I had the ability to move my arms and put a spoon of ice in my mouth. I recall enjoying the soothing pressure of the blood circulation boots.  I was also able to relax thanks to my Hydro-Morphone pump button.  In my hand I held a little green light button that lit up every eight minutes reminding me to press it to receive another steady dose of powerful painkiller.  Eventually they had to shorten it to seven minutes as I continued to feel more and more pain.