More Pain, Back Spasms, and Nausea

Joe stayed with me until about 10:30 in the evening.  He reluctantly went back to the hotel to sleep for a while.  I tried to sleep that night but an annoying alarm went off every time I fell asleep because apparently I wasn't breathing deeply enough.  They had a breathing sensor placed in front of my mouth.  And just as I began to sleep restfully, "BEEP - BEEP - BEEP!"  Needless to say it made life miserable.  I wish this had been the only problem I had to deal with my first night.  I don't remember exactly when, but I recall waking up feeling cold.  I asked the nurse for an extra blanket.  Within a few minutes I started shaking uncontrollably. I started to panic when I realized that I had a feeling of numbness spreading throughout my body.  It started in my arms and spread into my neck and face. There was a nurse outside my door that heard me becoming upset.  She came in and offered to call for the doctor. The doctor came in and completed a neurological sensory exam.  He was with me for over an hour checking all my fluids and trying to figure out what was wrong.  The numbness lasted for many hours and eventually faded.  Before moving me to a regular hospital room, they had me sit and stand. I was told by my surgeon prior to surgery that I would be up and moving a day after surgery to promote healing and to wake up my digestive system.  Let me just tell you, it was scary and painful standing so soon after my surgery!

After surviving the night I was moved from CCU to the 17th floor, room 1765.  Later that day and throughout the remainder of the week they began to ween me off the Hydro-Morphone pump.  They wanted me taking oral pain killers as soon as possible saying that it would lead to a speedier recovery.  Plus it would allow me to be more mobile so I could do physical therapy.  As they eased me off the pump my muscle spasms and pain increased quickly.  For the next several days I had long periods of excruciating pain that could only be effectively combated with an IV dose of painkiller and muscle relaxants, as opposed to oral medications.  I remember the dreadful spasms that started in my lower back and wrapped around my waist going up through my chest and entire upper body.  They were horrible.  I got up several times a night and walked the halls to relax my muscles.  For whatever reason my muscle spasms got really bad at night.  The anesthesiologists continued to tweak my medications trying to find the perfect balance of effective pain relief without causing excessive drowsiness.  For awhile there I was so out of it during the day because of all the medications that I couldn't eat and it made doing physical therapy very difficult.  During the first few days I also experienced a great deal of nausea when trying to eat.  Joe put a cold washcloth on my forehead and gave me a steady supply of ice to chew and water to drink.  I was also given anti-nausea medication and a barf bag just in case.  Thankfully I never had to use the barf bag.  

I was either awake and in pain or completely out of it.  Here I am trying to brush my hair and falling asleep in the process.  Finding the right balance of treating my pain effectively and not over drugging me to the point of loopiness was difficult. 

Here I am fighting the pain and holding onto my barf bag!

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.  

The Night Before Surgery

So, here I am, acting as Melissa's temporary Editor-in-Chief of her blog "Straightening My Scoliosis". Melissa is coherent now but is still unable to concentrate for more then a few minutes due to pain, soreness, and her medications. Plus she isn't able to sit for more than 10-15 minutes. Even then it is a very uncomfortable 10-15 minutes. Melissa is driven to write this blog as is evident by her daily pleas that I "get on it". She is determined to share her experiences with scoliosis and the surgery in hopes of being a resource to other scoliosis sufferers. And in this process I believe she has also found the cathartic and liberating effect of sharing her problems and pain with others. Sharing has given meaning and purpose to her adversity. She had hidden her pain for so long that very few knew what she was going through. And even those who were aware didn't realize the extent of it, because she chose not to call attention to it. Her friendships with family and friends were far more important than her pain, and has always been the case. For Melissa to come to the point of opening herself to share some intimate details of her life is nothing short of monumental. She may never admit it, or even recognize it, but I believe this statement to be true. Still, in sharing she would not want it to become the focal point of her relationships, but more of a bridge to understanding who, what, and why she is who she is.

So where does this leave us? What will follow is a timeline of events as dictated by Melissa and typed by me.  Melissa asked that we begin with the night before surgery continuing up through the current date.  Hopefully if all goes right we will have the blog up-to-date very soon.

Night Before Surgery

Sunday evening, knowing I wouldn't be able to eat after midnight I enjoyed my last delicious supper. I had a very yummy giant Chipotle Barbacoa Burrito stuffed with black beans, cilantro lime rice, guacamole, pico de gallo, roasted chili corn salsa, sour cream, and the spicy tender shredded Barbacoa beef. It was soooooo good, but so big that I only managed to eat half of it. After enjoying the food we wandered back to our ridiculously hot, un-airconditioned hotel, The Baronness.

The Baroness Hotel across the street from Virginia Mason Hospital

The hotel was across the street from Virginia Mason Hospital where I would have my surgery, so I thought it would be the perfect place to stay the night before my surgery. And it just so happens that the hotel is owned by Virgina Mason Hospital.  But the heat was unbearable. After an unsuccessful attempt to rest we decided to escape the heat. We went across the street to the hospital and gave ourselves a self-guided tour. We found the hospital to have modern updates, like a cell phone charging station.  I was able to recharge my iPhone. So awesome.

One of several cell phone charging station in Virginia Mason Hospital

We then took to the streets of Seattle, as we wanted to give the hotel room more time to cool down. As we walked around looking at cool buildings we found a Catholic Cathedral open to the public.  We went inside and enjoyed the beautiful architecture and the quiet serentity.  At approximately 8 P.M., we figured the temperature in the hotel room would be tolerable so we went back. It was slightly cooler than earlier, but still very hot. We tried to make the best of it by positioning a fan provided by the hotel in an open window. It was frustrating to me that the hotel had fastened wire to the windows only allowing an opening of 2-4 inches. Before bed I was required to prepare my skin for surgery by showering and wiping down my body with a Chlorheidine Gluconate Antiseptic Prep Cloth. I enjoyed my last bite of chocolate before I had to begin my food fast. I could however drink water and clear liquids up to two hours before check-in. The inconvenience of not being able to sleep very well because of the heat proved to be a blessing because I was up all night drinking water making it so I wasn't so parched before surgery.

The Reality of Pain

Weeks before Melissa went into surgery (I'm writing this 3 days post surgery as Melissa sleeps restfully in her hospital bed after an agonizing day 2 and night of pain) she said to me, "You have to keep my blog up-to-date because I'm going to be so out of it." Little did I realize at the time how `on point` she would be with her statement. But being out of it is only a small fraction of the story. The subsequent pain and back spasms that developed on the second day incapacitated her to levels I am still in shock over. Had I begun updating her blog the first day of surgery my words would have been full of naivety. Shortly after her surgery I was briefed by her surgeon and told the procedure had gone very well, even better than expected. Further more he expected a better than normal recovery. My mind translated this into, "Oh, what a relief. Her pain will be less than anticipated." My naivety was only reinforced when I saw a smiling, albeit groggy Melissa a few short hours post surgery. She remarked how well she was feeling and went as far as to say it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. We quietly cheered together. 

Melissa a few hours post surgery feeling fine on her HydroMorphone drip.

Little did we realize how much her powerful painkillers were fighting back a body tormented in pain ready to strike out in a raging frenzy. You think I'm exaggerating but I am not. Ok, well, Melissa has accused me of being extreme in expression from time to time.

I may be speaking for myself, but I also believe Melissa would agree that she could not have comprehended the level of pain she would experience beginning on day two. From pure observation it was excruciating. Melissa later described her pain as being a 12 out of a 10 point maximum. And how is it ever possible to prepare yourself to observe the gut wrenching cries and pleas for relief from someone who is your heart and soul. As I watched, doing everything within my power to comfort her, I was completely helpless. Helpless! Every nerve and impulse in by body screamed, "Someone please do something to stop her pain, now!" I wanted the medical team at her side to stop the pain yesterday. In the heat of the moment, a 5 second response time from medical staff would have felt woefully inadequate. But in hindsight the medical staff moved quickly to alleviate her pain. They tried a number of things that eventually worked. But never has time gone so slow. Halfway through the pain Melissa said, "This is going to be the longest day of my life." How right she was!

Joe

Successful Surgery

The surgery was a success.  She went into surgery at 730am and the surgery was completed at 130pm.  The doctor says he got better results than what he anticipated.   Melissa is in recovery at the Critical Care Unit in Virginia Mason.  She should me moved into a regular hospital unit tomorrow.  She's out of it most of the time, which is to be expected given the power painkiller she is on.  More information will be forth coming soon...

Joe

Taller and Stronger

Tomorrow I will be taller.  I don't know why the prospect of being taller is so exciting to me,  but it is.  I was told I'll grow 1 1\2-2 inches.  I've actually lost 1 1\2 inches since high school so that will be nice getting that height back.

Tomorrow morning I check -in at 5:30 am for surgery.  Super early and I'm not sure I'm really going to sleep tonight.  Although,  right now I'm feeling remarkably calm.  I was able to receive a priesthood blessing from my dad today.  It was wonderful and brought me even greater peace.  A reminder of my Father in Heaven's love for me.

I've had a hymn running through my head for several weeks.  It also brings me peace and strength.  It is "How Firm a Foundation".   The 3rd verse being my favorite right now:  Fear not, I am with thee: Oh, be not dismayed, for I am thy God and will still give thee aid.  I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Up held by my righteous omnipotent hand.

There is a bookmark in my scriptures that I've had since I was a child.  It speaks my faith with simplicity: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheth me." -Philippians 4:13

Goodnight all.  Tomorrow's a new day!

This is How I Wear My Scoliosis

It's time to post my before pictures.  I haven't been looking forward to this.  However, I hope after surgery I'll look back at these and be amazed at my new back! :)

This is my forward bend.  I know...super freaky! The rotation of the spine pushes my shoulder way out of places but it is especially noticeable while bending.

The curve and rotation of my spine cause my waist to be uneven and one side of my rib to protrude. It's the opposite side of the shoulder that sticks out.

There you go.  Scoliosis and how it effects my physical appearance.