I'm the Grumpy One With the Cane in this Episode
tl;dr - My life has been a very special episode of "House" for the last several months (only I'm the grumpy one with the cane). I have to have surgery next week. It's not horrible or anything, but I spoilered the details because it's girl stuff. I did sort of allude to this in another thread. But I wanted to wait until I had a straight answer as to what was going on about all this before I reclaimed my title as the Queen of TMI.
A lot of you have had to have surgery out there, so I have some general questions.
-- What's the deal with having to not eat garlic? This is going to be a long week. I can sort of see not doing the supplements, kind of. But I'm not supposed to eat it at all, and that's not going to be easy. Just walking into my kitchen gives you a +3 check modifier to Turn Undead due to the amount of it I usually cook with. I was under the impression it was good for you.
-- What should I bring with me to do once it's over? I have to stay in the hospital for at least a day, and while I was dithering about that I made some comment to my doctor about Plants vs Zombies on my iPad and she asked me if I was going to be the plant or the zombie. She gets a point for a good smart-alec comment, but on sober reflection I'm wondering if that is a better question than I gave her credit for. I've never had general anesthesia before. How debilitated are you, and for how long?
-- And there's nothing like having to review your Advance Directive and will to bring home the idea that while this is routine and they're going to do the best they can to minimize any risks, things happen. I already had done this stuff anyways years ago. Once the kids and I were on our own I thought it would be wise to make sure things were properly setup. Does anyone know of anything else I should take a look at?
I've been in and out of doctor's offices about this whole thing since last September. I have made it through all the myriad dignity-killers that are part of any visit to a gynecologist and after several visits with her, my endocrinologist, a dermatologist, my primary care physician, an ophthalmologist, and my dentist we've finally got some answers. We have a some names for what's going on: adenomyosis, fibroids, and some severe complications to my diabetes.This wasn't the first thing we came to. We tried some fancy IUD that might have helped for a few years but that has already failed rather quickly and spectacularly. I've healed up from that, but we can't try that again. I would have to just cope until menopause, and until whatever time that switch is scheduled to be thrown it will just go on and on. And my family has a demonstrated tendency to be very late with that - my mom was 57. Having to deal with my cycle for the last six months has been bad enough; not even going to contemplate 15 years. The fibroids are not in themselves uncommon, but they are growing very quickly and are placed in such a way to cause the maximum problems, and there's enough that even if we just removed them it would be basically doing the job anyways. While this is not cancer or anything, several members of my family have had cancer so the tendencies are there too.
To complicate matters, this whole mess has weakened my entire system in other ways and it looks like that may be causing my diabetic medications to affect my liver (that's where the dermatologist, dentist, and ophthalmologist come in in case you were wondering - making sure what was causing the presenting symptoms wasn't something else).
Once we got it all mapped out, it became obvious the smart money is on removing the source of the problem and it needs to be done fairly quickly before we go from impaired liver function to eye and liver damage. So today they set it all up, and first thing next Tuesday morning I go in for a hysterectomy. Then, after healing up for six weeks we see if that brings everything else back into balance or if I have to go off my medications and change my tactics on treating the diabetes.
I've vaguely known the surgery was probably going to have to happen for most of the last month. So I'd been getting things ready and dealing with the kids and warned work that I'd have to take time off and all that. But having dates and times is something else. Plus I thought it was outpatient until this afternoon, and it's not. I've got to chop and change on all my plans.
Practicalities aren't the only problem. I've been a mess all afternoon and I think I'm going to have to really sit down with this and kind of have a come-to-Jesus-meeting with myself.
It's not like I'm going to use that part of me for it's intended purpose ever again. Although I didn't know it, with this going on it hasn't worked properly that way for the last couple years anyways. WTHeck, it's not like I'm not keeping it for a souvenir or something. I'm getting older and that part of my life was going to be ending soon anyways. It's not like I don't already have children and on the scale of stupid stuff I could do, having another child is right up by the top of the list. But that doesn't make this easy. I have built a lot of my life and myself around my identity as a woman. This feels like purposely breaking that. Part of me is happy to think about the end of all this mess and pain, but other parts are feeling sad and hurt. And knowing that I'm being kind of an idiot here isn't making any of it go away.
And now that it's gotten "real" I'm starting to worry about the surgery itself. These guys are some of the best around and they've been very kind and cooperative and tried to answer all my questions. But I'm not even sure what to ask once we get past the where-to-go-and-what-to-wear parts. But I'm more than a little freaked out here in a way I didn't expect to be, and I feel dumb for that, too. While this is short notice I've had time to think about the possibilities.
I'll know this out, hopefully without too much in the way of stupidity.
Maybe this issue is best debated amongst the people who need to get off my lawn. - JoeBedurndurn
First, good luck, mom!
Second, make sure your girls or whoever is going to be a responsible party or w/e know what your wishes are. I'm sure it won't come up, but just in case. I have no idea what the law is up there, but in Texas, your spouse gets to make a lot of decisions regardless of what you may have written down. For example, if your spouse is reachable, in Texas, they will determine whether you donate organs or not.
As far as general anesthetic, I've only had it when I was in 4th grade, but I was "normal" that same day. I wasn't walking around, but I was fully aware and capable of being bored. So if you have an iPad, load it up with all the content you want beforehand. Games, video, etc. The hospital may have wi-fi, and you may be able to do things like stream Netflix, but I wouldn't want to plan for that and then have it not work.
Feel free to PM me if I can be of any help! Good luck, I'm sure it will be fine!
Diablo 3: Fedaykin98#1575
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The even LITTLER fremen!
Firstly, there is no way to exactly predict how your experience is going to go because each person is different, and the same person may as well be a different person, medically speaking, depending on when you see them. The reason for all the precautions and weird crap we have people do before surgery is so that it's as predictable (on the safe side, natch) as possible.
The garlic thing, IIRC, is so that you have less of that systemically on surgery day. If I recall my spices right, it's because it may have an effect on clotting. In general, it's good for you because the anti-clotting effect is otherwise negligible unless you have clogged arteries somewhere, and then it could help in the manner of a little aspirin. For the same reason, patients stop aspirin before surgery.
Debilitation after general anesthesia depends on how old you are, the meds they use, how they use them, and personal biochemistry. You probably don't have significant East Asian genes in you, so the bets on it being somewhat prolonged depending on the drugs. If they only use rapid-acting drugs, you can be alert within the hour after they stop stitching. The other question is, what kind of post-op pain drugs will you be using? If it's going to be mainly morphine, you can forget PvZ.
You can die from the surgery and from the anesthesia, but then again, you can die from a car accident, too; and that's presumably never stopped you from going out of the house. The magnitude of the risk is on the same order (it can be larger depending on how bad your diabetes is). Bottom line here is, you should be prepared to die on any day, even if you weren't going to have surgery, since you daily take on risks that are of commensurate danger just to function normally.
Re: the garlic thing, my wife - a clinical pharmacist in Hartford Hospital - says that it may cause problems with bleeding. In any case, good luck momgamer. You'll be in my thoughts.
Steam ID: Rallick
re: Anaesthesia
I had some minor surgery (pilonodeal cyst) last year that required me to go under. Once I was out of the recovery room, and they moved me to my hospital room, I was in and out of consciousness for about 60-90 minutes afterwards. Once that was done, I was pretty much completely recovered (barring a brief bout of vomiting about 4 hours after I came out of surgery.)
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Coldforged: This is merely conjecture, but I'd hazard that a bareboobed alien with a toothcooter is almost certainly NSFW.
Well I was glad to see that you pulled the punches on the TMI in the spoiler. The "girl stuff" lead in had me nervous.
As for general anesthetic. The only bad part of the whole thing is the anxiety of not being in control, just before. I deal fairly well with that.
I kind of use the, "Well how could you hurl yourself at 100 km/h down a road with nothing but a line of yellow paint stopping the cars, coming on, from slamming into you?" You just kinda do, and assume it's going to go as well as it can.
Usually, for me (on two occasions) it was a lot like, "I'm going to give you a needle. Count back from 10."
"Ten..."
"Mr Ghostship, it's time to wake up, you're in the recovery room. Your wife is here. We'll be moving you to your room soon."
There is no time in between. You don't have to worry about having time to wonder how things are going. It's not like being locked in a closet.
It's like how you wanted Christmas night to go by when you were nine.
My experience with surgery is probably not what you're needing to hear. After all, they only cut into my extremeties.
I would expect that Mr Sands has much more to offer.
Good luck.
I would guess that for a doctor, surgery is that thing that we like to do at our jobs. For me it would probably similar to doing the 3d model. It happens after the design is worked up, we have a good idea of where things are going, and its the part that when I start doing it, time has no meaning. I am at my highest productivity and what comes next happens in a kind of flow. The paper work after, the kick finish, all of that will be after the surgery. ..just my thoughts. I'm hoping they help, though I know it's not much to offer.
Miami, FLSeattle, WAYou're like the 6th woman I've talked to in the past two years who is getting/got a hysterectomy. Clover will be by in a bit to explain details as her mom had one late last year and she took care of her while she recovered. My impression is to think of it like wisdom teeth removal.
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My going under was cool. First, let the nurses in the OR know that you normally wear glasses. Otherwise, them seeing you squint all the time will cause concern. (It did for my nurses.) As they put the first part of the anaesthesia in, my arm went cold. Then, they said, "you will feel you arm get warm as the drug goes in. " The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room.
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Coldforged: This is merely conjecture, but I'd hazard that a bareboobed alien with a toothcooter is almost certainly NSFW.
I had major surgery a year and a half ago (well, I've had three of them, but this was the most recent) where they had to unzip me from groin to breastbone. I was in surgery for 3 hours longer than they intended due to some complications, but I remember none of it. I remember getting the epidural, then wheeling into the operating room where they made me count (I got to 7) and then I remember very groggily waking up as they were moving me back to the gurney from the operating table. They were surprised I woke up that early, but I remembered everything they said. The important thing to note is that there was still no pain. I dozed in and out for about an hour and they wheeled me back to the recovery room. For the most part the pain was manageable, and never got very bad. They were very good about monitoring it. I was in recovery for a week, and the worst part was on day two when my laptop video card died. I was forced to watch hospital tv.
The sooner you can get up and walk, the sooner you will get rid of the anesthesia left over in your system. I was a walking maniac. They finally had to tell me to get back to the bed. I had some severe swelling due to the nature of the surgery (removing quite a length of my intestines) and that was probably the most distressing part.
The human body heals quickly, and it's amazing how quickly the pain goes away.
Hoping it all goes smoothly!
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Shalalm Baskur
I hope everything goes as planned, mom! I'm glad we live in a time where this kind of thing is a daily occurance, and has been fairly perfected as to minimize risks.
Here's to an excellent recovery! *toast*
Torq - I can certainly see myself whipping it out for a quick solo on commutes though.
Good luck!
Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for Kung Fu treachery.
Possy Niblet Posse
After my post, I went to bed thinking, if it were without the inherent risk, I'd go under for a day or so, with a view to capturing the experience of the missing time, then write a science fiction bit about "cryo". If it were actually so safe as to be a casual drug, it would be an experience to go under across the change of a season. Just to wake up and see a significant change. Of course life is too short to just give up time.
Are you a fiction writer MomGamer?
Don't we have an Anesthesiologist here? Should ask if it can change the efficacy of the sedation if you activate your brain to specifically think about it and how its working.
And I'm back to feeling bad about thinking so casually about someone else's difficult situation. Sorry. But I guess I'm selfish enough to ask someone who can write, to record the experience. I should be flogged.
Sedatives work differently on anxious people compared to calm people. It's not a matter of what you're thinking, but how you're thinking it.
Or should I say, they work more or less the same biochemically, but since anxious people have an activated flight-or-fight response, the effect curve is usually noticeably different.
Good luck, momgamer!
Roo wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
Good luck!
Good luck.
My mom had that a few years back. I do think there was some hormone issues afterwards, and some emotional adjustment. But... as was said above...
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All I can say is Good luck, and you're in my prayers!
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"Publishers still speak in hushed tones about el bunny de la muerte." - *Legion*
Goodluck!
Ive had plenty of surgeries in the past... and the only real piece of advice I can give might not mean anything to you.
I have a habit of thinking too much. So, when I have a surgery that requires me to "go under", I usually start thinking and start freaking myself out. By the time I am in the room w/ the stupid robe on laying down on the medical bed and all ready to be wheeled to wherever it is they wheel you, I start to panic.
I've had my ACL done twice and my MCL done twice. Ive had my tonsils out, my appendix worked on and also had to go in for surgery due to a car flipping accident. In every one of these instances, I was to be given anesthetics and every time, right before things were to begin I started to panic. Its a really crappy feeling and it spirals.
So, my advice is, if this happens to you just make sure you are in full communication w/ the doctor AND the anesthesiologist. In every one of these instances I told the anesthesiologist and in every one of these instances they knocked me out early. Problem solved!
PAR
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For all who live in such times, it is not for them to decide. All we get to decide is what to do with the time given to us
I'll add my own voice to the chorus of "my mother had that surgery" - in this case, almost eleven years ago now.
One thing I remember was that Mom actually went online and found a support group, just a bunch of people she could talk and listen to so she could better understand what kinds of things to expect and what was "normal" after the fact. I don't know that it's something if you've considered, but she did seem really happy that she had found a place she could talk to other people that really understood what it was like.
LobsterMobster wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:
Just posting to say good luck and you'll do great!
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Good luck Momgamer. I hope that the only difficulty in your recovery is in deciding what games to play.
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One of my good friends is having a hysterectomy in a month's time too. She's in a similar boat - not menopausal (she's in her early 40's), but having some lady-part issues, and she doesn’t want kids anyway, so it's bye-bye uterus. She's also a nurse - we were chatting about the details of her recovery, and she mentioned that for her, the hardest part is letting other people help her. And she also mentioned the fact that she *will* need other people to help her.
That fact is bourne out by my experience of my mom having the same surgery when I was about 10 or 11. I remember that she was good-for-nothing for at least a couple of weeks. Us kids cooked and cleaned for her - she was about able to go to the bathroom by herself, and that was it.
So my advice is to be prepared to be all-but-useless for a couple of weeks. Rally your troops and prep them to be your servants for a few weeks, 'cos you're gonna need some servin'. You're going to be exhausted and sore. And that's OK. Getting nothing done yourself for a few weeks is about the smartest thing you can do. Letting folk fetch and carry for you is smart, not weak. Drill that fact into your head - the little I know of you suggests that self-reliance and stubborness run deep in you (me too for that matter
), and the best thing you can do is let go of those, at least temporarily.
Good luck, rest up, and come back stronger.
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LarryC wrote:
Best of luck, momgamer. I hope to see you kicking ass and taking names at PAX East!
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Quote:
Yeah, I did chicken a bit, Ghostship, even with the spoiler tag. But this was embarassing enough. And yeah, I do write fiction (not well enough for public consumption yet, but I do). I don't know why you would feel badly for asking about that, though. It's an interesting idea.
And don't worry - I'll be at PAXEast, gang. They say I'll be just fine by then. In fact, if all goes well I'll be much better.
Thanks for the advice about the paperwork, but I'm not married and Washington is downright tyrannical about the effects of an Advance Directive so as far as that goes I think we're good. The hospital has the paperwork, and so do all the kids. I was just wondering if there was anything I was missing.
Yes, Jonman, I am a stubborn old bat.
I know that. Even though I work from home I took a full week off of work. The kids are all right here. I told Claire and Fire, and she said since I was on her when she had those three bad disks and was running like a maniac in Expo Hall, she's already informed me she's going to return the favor. I'm going to do my best to sit down, shut up, and not to use people as an emotional chew-toy on this.
All of the advice about the anesthesia is appreciated. I've taken care of enough people to know it from the outside, but the perspective from the inside seems very different. I'll just try to go with the flow.
LarryC's point about comparing the anxiety to driving is interesting. But just to let you know I hate driving the same way Dr. McCoy hates the transporter and it takes an act of will for me to leave the house most days so using those things as a commensurate example is not as helpful as you might think. But your basic point is taken; I can man-up and do those things when I need to, and I will do that for this as well. Edwin/Clover said to think of it like removing my wisdom teeth. That was a lot of years ago, but I had all four of them removed and went to school the next day (though I did skip hockey practice). That doesn't jibe with the sit-down-and-stay-down vibe I'm getting everywhere else.
Par, I'll try to keep the head-game in mind. I've never met a situation I couldn't over-think and part of the reason for this post was me already doing that to myself. I already know they wouldn't be able to knock me out early though; I have to be awake all the way into the OR due to yet more TMI involving the reason I use the cane and the way you have to be positioned to do this. But maybe they can give me something to help with the stress without knocking me all the way out. I'll talk to them.
And Keldar, thank you. I knew I was being stupid. I should have done this a month ago. I'll look into that right away.
Maybe this issue is best debated amongst the people who need to get off my lawn. - JoeBedurndurn
As others have said, it really depends on the individual. One of my sisters and my mother have bad reactions to general anesthesia. Their typical response to it is a very long recovery time, which basically means they spend the entire day in the recovery room either sleeping or throwing up. It also makes them kind of loopy for the next couple of days. Since you're procedure isn't outpatient you really have nothing to worry about. If you everything goes well, you'll just be hanging out in a crappy hospital room for a day. If you have a bad reaction, you'll just be sleeping most of the time.
Like mudbunny, I had a pilonodeal cyst excised a few years ago. Luckily, I didn't have the same reaction as my sister or my mom. I was up walking around (gingerly, considering the procedure) as soon as I got to the recovery room. I left the hospital a few hours later.
The actual being put under part was nothing. They gave me a nice little sedative about 30 minutes before the procedure, which was perfect timing considering you're lying on a gurney, hooked up to machines and IVs, and doing nothing but thinking that someone is about ready cut a chunk out of you. It really took the edge off. Once they wheel you into the operating room and give you the general anesthetic you're pretty much out like a light. As others have said the only thing you remember is them asking you to count down from ten to them saying the procedure is over.
Oh yeah, the no-garlic rule is because garlic has anti-coagulant effects and it lowers your blood pressure. The first effect is bad because the doctors are going to be cutting you and the second effect is bad because the anesthetic itself is designed to lower your blood pressure to lessen bleeding during surgery. Lowering it too much, however, is very bad as it can starve organs of oxygen and send you into shock.
Either way, good luck with the surgery.
Yonder wrote:
Good luck Momgamer.
Glad to hear you will be at PAX East again this year. Drinks are on me this time.
"Accuracy by Volume!!!"
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Best of luck MG : )
Even China has a better concept of free market than dwarves do -Quintin Stone-
Rubb Ed on Glee: It's the TV equivalent of a Push-Up: nothing fancy, obviously fake, but satisfying in a way few other things are.
Best wishes!
"History is'a made at night! Character is what you are in the dark!" - Lord John Whorfin
Good luck. I'm winging whatever good karma I can scrape up your way.
So will you get months off with nothing to do but play games like Elysium had?
A Cigar, much like Scotch and Monogamy, is an acquired taste.
McChuck wrote:
I had some pretty substantial abdominal surgery five years ago (my scar is bigger than any C-section scars my female friends have acquired), and I went in for some minor follow-up surgery in December. I was young(24) and relatively healthy other than the infection and underlying autoimmune issue that necessitated the surgery for the first, so I'm not sure how things will match up with your experiences. You do have an [advantage|disadvantage] in that you know what's coming, whereas my experience was a surprise.
It depends on you, and how much mucking about they do in the surgery. With my first surgery, I spent ~10 days in the hospital recovering. I barely remember getting back into the hospital room, and I wasn't clear-headed for a few hours. The first two days, I was on a constant morphine drip; I was awake and alert, but in a lot of pain and not mobile. In my recent trip through, I was fully awake and clear-headed ~45 minutes after I was out of the OR, with relatively little pain to fog things up.
During my recovery stay, I rambled through some of my books and watched cooking shows (I hadn't eaten in about 2 weeks, I got a little obsessed). The hospital will almost certainly have TVs set up for each patient, so you'll have that as a fall-back. I'd definitely recommend bringing magazines or books over electronics, since there is less worry about caring for them (dropped on the floor, cracked when packed away with your clothes and such during the surgery, etc.). If you were looking at a longer stay, I'd say have a visitor bring something like that in when you are ready, rather than taking it in before.
Nothing really comes to mind. I'm sure you've got all of the other paperwork set up already. You might talk to someone about alternative arrangements (checking in on things/young'uns, covering bills, etc.) if you end up having a longer-than-expected stay.
I'd recommend asking about post-op wound care, limitations in activity, and a general timeline of what you should be able to do/when things should heal. Bonus points for making sure you have whatever you need to properly dress the wound and protect them while you shower. You might also want to have someone available to help you run errands (grocery shopping, trips to the pharmacist, etc.) should the need arise.
And take Jonman's advice on letting/making other people help out. When I had my first surgery, I was back in class three weeks later, and living alone. It was not pleasant. Don't do that if you can help it.
I hope everything goes well for you!
TheArtOfScience wrote:
Jonman wrote:
I'd recommend bringing some movies / tv seasons to watch if you've got an easy way of doing so - depending on just how you pull up, you might be feeling a bit sore/tired/loopy to concentrate on a game or book. It probably won't be an issue, but I'm a big believer in covering all the bases.
Good luck!
SpacePPoliceman wrote:
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