Fred’s Eviction Day

Well, I tried sleeping last night, but that really didn’t work out.  Too much was on my mind.  It’s crazy to think that modern medicine has advanced as much as it has over the years.  I probably got about 2 hours of sleep last night.  I kept waking up.  The nerves were starting to set in.  I don’t think anyone likes going to hospitals, or going to surgery.  Anesthesia is some powerful shit.

The day started a lot earlier than I wanted.  I started to hear the wife around 3:15am, my alarm was set for 3:45am.  I told myself to just get up.  I was fucking tired.  Today has come….

Not being able to drink anything sucked (yes I cheated a little), my mouth was a fucking desert.  Reluctantly, I dragged myself through the shower, and got ready.  It was a very chilly morning out, but I felt as ready as I’d ever be.  I kept the headphones on for awhile to distract myself from what was coming.

5:00am – The wife and I left the house and headed up to PSL downtown Denver.  The ride was quick, and there were absolutely no cars on the road.  After about 20 minutes we arrived at the ER entrance to PSL.  I have never seen a more empty ER in my life.  Every ER visit I’ve ever needed to do things were packed to overflowing.  We were greeted by security, and told him that we were here for surgery.  He sort of shrugged saying “We don’t do surgeries in the ER”.  After a short explanation of the instructions given to me, he popped open the door to the Pediatric ER.

Around 5:45am, the receptionist greeted us, took my name and info, and disappeared behind the 2 giant entrance doors into the pediatric ER.  The wife and I waited until about 6:15am, then she returned with my wristband, consent forms, and other paperwork.  After a short zig-zag walk through the Pediatric wing, we arrived at the main entrance to the Pediatric side of the hospital.  This was a very clean place.  Looked really nice, well kept.  We walked up a flight of stairs to the waiting area on the 2nd floor.  When 6:30am hit, I heard my name “John?”.  My heart sank to my feet, along with everything else.  There was no turning back from this now.  This needed to happen.

We were greeted by my staging nurse who was extremely friendly and nice.  It was a nice change from what I have come accustomed to at UC Health or Porter.  She let us through the surgical prep area for the pediatric side of the hospital.  Empty.  Not a soul there.  They don’t do surgeries on Saturday by the way, I was a special case.  I was lead to prep room 8, where I had to do the strip to nothing, then surgical wash myself.  For a hospital, it wasn’t cold at all.  After going through 3 packs of the cleansing wipes, I noticed my gown was broke, the damn tie string broke.  Nurse hurried off to grab me another one.

Then I had to start putting on the anti-clot socks.  For the record, those things are so damn uncomfortable.  After the 3 minute struggle was over, I ripped open the packaging for my 6th pair of no-slip socks.  LOL.  I have way too many of those.  At that point, I put on the air bags on my legs for use during surgery to aid with circulation.  Once this was all done, I took off my watch and wedding ring and watch and handed them to my wife.  During this time, I was answering all the pre-op questions again, confirming my allergies, and asking questions.  The nurse was so positive and helpful.  It made what was coming a lot easier to deal with.

I was fully prepped at 7am.  My IV went in, and fluids were started.  Then the pain started to hit me in waves.  I wasn’t able to take any painkillers.  My head at this point was pounding.  Wave after wave it just hurt.  Shortly after 7:10am, we were greeted by my ENT.  He was in a great mood.  Made a few fun jokes, but got straight to business.  We reviewed the procedure list, signatures were made, dates were placed.  By the way it was 4/20, easy day to remember :P.  After a brief discussion, he shuffled off to the scrub room.  After him, it was the main surgical nurse that would be assisting him.  Again, amazing people.  She was so nice, and funny.  She explained what we were going to do again, made sure all my questions were answered, then went off to assist my ENT to assist him in preparing.

The anesthesiologist showed up shortly after at about 7:20am.  He was a very nice guy, reviewed my medical history, once again exchanging signatures and dates we were ready.  I then asked him for something.  The anxiety was really starting to get to me.  I asked him for Ativan, to which he quipped back “That won’t work fast enough, I’ll bring you Versed instead”.  At about 7:25am the first nurse arrived with it, and informed us “It’s time”.  I gave my wife the biggest hug I could possibly give, told her that I loved her with all my heart, and that not to worry.  The nurse  then showed her out, and I was wheeled away by the surgical nurse.  It was hard to part like that.

The Versed hit me quick.  Everything went into fuck it mode fast.  I just remember going through a bunch of doors where I was met by both my ENT and my Anesthesiologist.  The sheer amount of equipment that they had had in that room was unreal.  I haven’t seen an operating room in a long time.  Just trays of utensils, tools, you name it, it was there.  My gurney butted up against the OR table.  I had to scoot over and get my head into position.  Once onto the OR table, they started to go to work.  Putting on all the things, turning up all the lights.  Basically tying me into position for the procedure.

My Anesthesiologist leaned over upside down and said “Hey remember me?”.  I just laughed.  I quipped back “The Versed is quite nice this time of morning”, he chuckled.  Then the usual language came out.  He showed me the anesthesia syringe, and held the “oxygen” above my face an asked me, if I was ready, I nodded.  After the mask went on, they turned up the music, and that was it for me.  Down on time at 7:30am.  The procedure went for 3 hours 20 minutes total.

For those who are curious, I did dream.  It’s the same dream I rarely have.  It’s coffee with mom.  No discussion.  Just the two of us sitting there, drinking coffee, and staring at each other.  She was there with me today, I felt it.

At around 11:43am, my ENT met with my wife and gave her the lowdown on the operation.  He told her that surgery went well, and due to the fact that the Trephination that was to be performed, was not, and that I would not be admitted to the hospital, and sent home.

By 12:15pm, I was starting to come in and out of it.  The nurse that prepped me in the beginning is who I had awoken to.  She gave me the same news, I was fucking ELATED.  No extra hole in my head.  I was so goddamn relieved.  I drank every bit of water that they put in front of me.  I was sooooooooooooo thirsty.  I didn’t even care about all the crap on my face, I was just glad to be back.  Shortly after, my ENT came in and told me all the good news.  He said that everything came out as expected, however, he used an “awful lot” of burs (surgical bits) to get the stubborn osteoma out.  He also mentioned that the osteoma did cause a lot of resorption of bone in the front of my left forehead, and has caused bone loss & thinning of my skull.  Outside of that, he said I was going home once I am awake.  I asked for the DVD of my procedure that they had recorded, and they gave me only a partial set of the footage.

At 1:00pm, the nurse who originally took care of me came in with all my discharge paperwork, prescriptions, and went over all the postoperative care instructions.  By about 1:30pm, I was ready to leave.  The wife and I gathered our things, and I was wheeled out to the car by 1:45pm.  On our way outta there, I ordered us food, as we went to Target to get my prescriptions filled, as well as get my saline flushes for my nose, and we were home by about 2:30pm.

Today went unexpectedly well.  All things considered.  I am doing ok.  The pain meds are working, and the bleeding has stopped for the most part.  I’m pretty sure tomorrow I’ll be more sore, however, I will be staying on the pain meds every 4 hours until its gone.

Prognosis:
Everything that was removed from my face will undergo testing for a battery of things, cancer included.  I will await the report of the findings of the pathology, and morphology of what was removed, and provide an update to that as well.  Also, right before my surgery, I logged into look at my labs drawn at IMMUNOe prior to the last IVIg infusion, and for the first time my IgG is at 800, so it seems that the IVIg will be playing a HUGE roll in my ongoing recovery.