The drama began almost immediately as we waited for 30 minutes for our dinner pass that my surgeon had told me he would add as an order. Then we headed out for one last good meal before an unknown amount of time with hospital food. Upon our return from dinner, the nursing staff came in to start my IV. After 5 attempts, my husband had to leave the room. When the 2 nurses asked me if he was okay, I responded with "Well, he can hit an IV in a helicopter and you two are having trouble with me lying on this bed." Now, I know I am not a hard stick-so this comment was funny to me. Maybe I wasn't doing the best bonding with my nurses....The sixth stick was a success so we were set. My husband stayed with me in the room all night and we shared the little bed and tried desperately to sleep with all the vital sign checks and normal hospital sounds.
Morning came, and they came to get me and wheel me to the pre-op area. I met with anesthesia and got some more IV lines. This time with no problem! My nerves were thru the roof, but I tried to remain calm. At this point, I really had no other choice.
I remember being taken into the OR after kissing my hubby for good luck and lifted onto the OR table, but then the drugs kicked in and apparently they kicked in too well because I don't remember anything until sometime late Friday!
From what I am told, my surgery lasted about 8 hours total. Then 4 hours post-op my cerebellum sagged (that is the bottom part of your brain that is involved in the coordination of voluntary motor movement, balance and equilibrium and muscle tone). This sagging caused some of the vessels to tear causing a brain bleed-like a stroke. Not exactly what you want to happen after we just did a surgery to prevent a brain bleed! The crazy part is that this was diagnosed by my husband-not any of the ICU staff. So, he went out and yelled for someone to page Neuro and get me a CT. In my opinion, he saved my life. I am not sure how long it would have been before someone else would have checked my neuro signs and noticed it. Thank God for very talented Army Medics :-). So, I had a CT, they changed the position of my bed and pulled out a drain that had been inserted and the bleeding was able to repair itself. But, the damage had been done-even today, I can not stand with my eyes closed without nearly falling. But, that is getting better with physical therapy.
I was blessed to have my mom, younger brother, in-laws, husband and brother in law all there to support me! Oh, and Archie the German Shepherd therapy dog at the hospital.
That little brain bleed combined with the trouble I had waking up from anesthesia earned me a 5 day stay in ICU before I was moved to a regular floor.
When I was allowed to get up, I learned that I had a lot of trouble standing and walking so I was given a cane if I had to walk or a wheel chair. This was all extremely hard on me being that a week before I had run 8 miles!
Finally, it was time to be released from the hospital. My mom had been amazing enough to bring Trevor up to my in-laws who were nice enough to keep him. They live much closer to the hospital, so we headed there until I was strong enough for 6 hours on I-95!
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