...and here I am back, typing away on my blog. On the other side.
I'm doing well. Very well. The following is my experience of the surgery, and aftermath.
I awoke around 3 am last Thursday (July 21st). We needed to be in Iowa City by 5:30, so we left Grinnell at 4:30 am. I slept a few hours, but not too much. The ride up to Iowa City was fairly quiet with myself, my wife, and mother. I checked in right at 5:30, and was called back within minutes to change into my gown. Jackie (wife) came back with me and we waited for about 30-45 minutes after I changed for a nurse to come in. She had a series of questions for me, and took my vitals. After this the anesthesiologist came in and put in my IV. I said my "I love you's" to my family, and headed down the hall with the anesthesiologist. At this point I started to get a little nervous, but everything was seeming somewhat surreal. I walked into my operating room to a staff of about 10 different doctors that began getting me into place. At this point, the anesthesiologist gave some of the "good stuff" for nerves...the last thing I remember was talking to one of the doctors or nurses about the good microbrews out there, and then I was out.
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I awoke approximately 7 hours later to the doctors giving me the good news - they were able to extract the whole tumor. Unfortunately I did have to sacrifice my hearing on my right side, but I knew going in that this would probably happen.
The pain was not intolerable. I was just so...fatigued. The thing that hurt the most when I first woke up were actually my shoulders. Apparently it was because I was positioned for that 7 hours of surgery. This pain quickly subsided. It wasn't completely painless - it was kind of like having a migraine headache, but also the incision hurt a little bit. But again, it was tolerable. I had family come in and visit, and even though I was physically able to, I didn't say anything because it kind of hurt to talk.
The first four hours or so were not great fun. They tried to give me pain pills, but I wasn't able to hold them down and vomited. This hurt because of the pressure it put on my newly sewed up head, and the clean up was not fun either. However from this point on, things only got better. I tried the pain pills again probably about a few hours later, and they stayed down. Relief. I was in the ICU, so nurses come in every hour to take my vitals including my blood sugar...so it was tough to get any consistent sleep. Around 2 am, the nurses said they were going to move me to another ICU - they had to get someone in there that was in more serious condition, and I was the most stable. I had no problems with this - I was happy to give up my spot.
The night went by in somewhat of a haze. The dizziness and fatigue were pretty significant, BUT my nausea was gone. This was a huge win. Once my wife and mother showed up the next day, I was a new man. The nurse took the catheter out (which wasn't as bad as I had thought). I was talking just fine, without any additional pain. Later that day, I was moved to a regular room that I had to myself. Then, came another important milestone: my first post surgery meal! It had been almost 2 days since I had last eaten, and my stomach finally caught up with this. A lot of people have trouble tasting after surgery, but my taste was fine (thankfully). Friday I was able to sit up in the bed and actually stand up. I was a little surprised with how dizzy I actually was!
Saturday came, and I was rapidly improving. I was getting up to walk, and eating large amounts of food. The nursing staff was incredible. Not only were they accommodating, but they were there for optimism, and to really promote getting through this by utilizing activity. By the time Saturday night rolled around, they thought it was a possibility that I could leave the next day.
Sunday morning I wanted to make sure that I could go up and down a flight of stairs. This was the final test. Fortunately I came through with flying colors, and was headed back to Des Moines by noon. This week has been a delicate combination of rest and staying active enough to exercise my balance. Stairs aren't a problem at all. Today I walked the entire mall nearby without any issue. I did go home and crash on the couch for a couple hours afterwards, but I'm seeing progress!
This has been my experience thus far. I'm thankful for my family and friends that have made this experience so much easier!
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