surgery...

It's been well over a year since my surgery, and I think I'm finally ready to journal about it. It's something I don't like to think about, but is part of my history. Maybe it was for the best to wait this long to let my emotions die down a little! Here goes...

 

~ September 2012 ~

I met with Dr. Oconer, my Nephrologist, and he gave me the go-ahead to start working out. My blood pressure was under control and he wanted me to get serious about dropping some pounds. I left his office and drove straight to our local Anytime Fitness. I signed an annual contract and made an appointment to meet with one of their personal trainers for a free session. A few days later I met with the trainer Chris and had a great workout and signed a six-month contract with him as well! I knew I would have problems with accountability so I was relying on him to keep me in check. I was going to see him 2-3 times a week. And for the first couple of weeks it went great. I was extremely sore - like, I could hardly move my arms and walk down the stairs! No pain no gain, right?!

~ October 2012 ~

On Thursday the 11th, I was having a lot of pain. I came home from work and soaked in the tub all night, thinking it was just my hemorrhoids. The following day I could not make it in to work and spent the day in and out of the tub. Saturday and Sunday were spent between bed and the tub. By Monday morning, I couldn't take it anymore and realized it was something other than what I thought. I could feel it swelling and it was moving down the back of my leg. I was terrified. John took me to Mountain Vista Medical Center ER, where we waited more than two hours. I couldn't sit and I could barely stand. They hadn't called me back for triage even and when the nurse finally did, I broke into tears and began shaking uncontrollably. She admitted me immediately and got me into a room. The doctor determined it was an abcess and drained it - two syringes full. The pain was so unbearable. They had me stay for a while to make sure I was okay. I was so weak and felt sick, but we finally made it home. I had two strong antibiotics and a pain killer and orders to see my family physician on Wednesday. Two days go by and I have my appt. with Dr. Fischbeck. He takes one look at me, still weak and in pain, examines me and says that I should be doing much better with the drugs I'm on and tells me I need surgery. He makes an appt. for me with Dr. Buckmire the following afternoon. After a long and sleepless night, John gets me to my appt. I've now been off work for five days and thankfully John was able to stay home for work and help me. Dr. Buckmire examines me and says that I have a perianal abscess and I definitely need surgery. From there everything went into warp speed. I was scheduled to be at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center at 7pm. After checking in, I had the two most wonderful nurses I've ever met. They made me feel normal and comfortable and took great care of me while prepping for surgery. I don't remember much after the surgery except for John leaving to head home and be with the kids, and nurses coming in every hour or so. I spent the night and was feeling so much better by morning. I learned that I had two fistulas that the doctor repaired: one was tunneling toward my spine, and the other downwards that had become infected before breaking through the skin which caused the abscess. He cleaned those out and stitched them up and left me with a large open wound that had to be packed with stringy gauze to heal from the inside out and then gauze covering the wound. I was able to go home on Friday with orders of strict bed rest, home health nurses coming in, lots and lots of fiber, and John also taking on a caregiver role. I was so sick over the weekend. I thought I was going to die on Saturday. It was extremely scary. I had to swallow this fun cocktail every few hours...

and as long as I faithfully took my pain meds and kept on top of the pain, I was okay. That was the hardest part: taking pain pills when I didn't yet feel pain. That's just not the way I work!

My first home health nurse came and she was awesome. It's never fun to have your rear end up in someones face but she was so understanding and took great care of me. My other nurse was older but more than capable. They came every other day while John took care of me the rest of the time. I don't know what I would have done without him. I really credit him with saving my life!! Marriage is "for better or for worse" and this was a BIG worse. But he not only cared for me, he also cooked and did laundry and grocery shopped and cared for the kids and ran the household. I ended up spending two weeks on my bed - basically sleeping and watching Law & Order SVU and Food Network...

Boi and Lexi were so concerned about me! They wouldn't leave my side, which caused some problems when the nurses would come. We even had to bring food & water dishes up to my bathroom, because they wouldn't leave me to go downstairs to eat!

At my discharge appt. with the home health nurse, she couldn't believe how well my recovery was progressing. It was two weeks post-surgery and I was up walking and moving around and partially caring for myself. John was able to travel back to CA for work and left Kaisha in charge of me. I had many calls and well-wishes and even some beautiful flowers delivered from my parents & sisters...

At some point I met back with Dr. Buckmire to check on my recovery. He couldn't believe how well everything looked. I was already starting to "grow" skin over the wound but it was a bit too soon and he was worried it has happening too quickly. He kept me from working another two weeks with orders to stay down as much as possible. He also sent a release to the gym & trainer that put a medical hold on my account. He believed that the extreme strain at the gym had most likely caused the fistulas and abscess. And he also put an end to our plans of driving to Utah for Thanksgiving (we ended up missing family pictures with the Yorks, Alex's mission farewell, and had to reschedule patriarchal blessings for the kids - there was no way I could sit for a 12-hour drive). I was so glad to say goodbye to Dr. Buckmire and this office...

In the end, I was able to buy out of my contract with the trainers for a fraction of the charge. They had pity on me with the situation I had gone through! I was also able to the get the gym to hold my membership for 6-months, as John was laid off and I knew I was losing my job as well. After we moved to California I got out of that contract as I'd moved more than 30 miles from my home gym! It all worked out... and taught me a big lesson about signing contracts.

 

~ One last note ~

Something bad happened to my lip during surgery... 

it was swollen and had no feeling on the right side. I also developed this patch of dead skin, like the breathing tube was smashed on my face. Well, when you think about how this type of surgery is performed you understand what happened!! I was face down and the breathing tube was smashed on my lip! The skin fell off after a week but the sensation didn't come back for several months. I could also feel something in the back of my throat for the longest time. It felt like a big lump, like food would get stuck. It would cause me to have coughing fits and gag easily, all day long. I had Dr. Fischbeck look at my throat a few months later and he said it looked like it was from the breathing tube causing irritation. It was a good six months before that sensation disappeared.