Recovery

The recovery process was so much worse than the actual surgery; not surprising, really, considering the fact that I missed the whole thing. But I was a little bit shocked at just how bad I felt, although oddly enough my neck really didn’t hurt much at all. It was that danged migraine that I still had.

When I finally came to in the recovery room, I found Rob and Mother there with me, along with the nurse assigned to take care of me. They all seemed to hover around me till they assured themselves that I was truly aware again. I don’t think I said much, just listened to all the activity around me.

The nurse gave Mother the instructions (both written and verbal) on how to take care of me post-op – and then, once I was stabilized enough, sent me home. All together, I was in the hospital for just 8 hours. My anesthesiologist had told me she had the same operation done back 20 years ago, and they made her stay in the hospital for 5 whole days!

To be completely honest here, perhaps I did go home a bit too soon. I was very glad to be home but was still quite nauseous, throwing up at least 6 more times throughout the night. I was finally able to keep liquids down by the following morning, though, and was even able to get up and walk around a bit without passing out.

As mentioned earlier, I still had that migraine however. That was worse than the surgery pain, actually. I really wanted to take my headache pills for it, but had been told not to (it’s a blood thinner, and may cause bleeding). That evening it was so bad I had mother call the doctor to ask what I should do. Thankfully they told me to go ahead and take my normal medication so I finally got some relief.

Also at that time, I stopped taking the pain pills the hospital had prescribed for me. Not only did they make me sick – they didn’t really even work. I am still taking the muscle relaxers, though. That operation really did a number on my neck and shoulders; two weeks later and they’re still so sore I can barely move, and I have a lump in my throat where the esophagus is still swollen.

What isn’t sore is the incision itself! The hospital put little butterfly bandages on the incision, with a gauze pad over the top; all of which was covered by what looked like a piece of plastic about 6” square. I left that whole ensemble on to keep the wound clean, but at my Wound Check appointment a week later that plastic wrap and the gauze bandage finally got taken off. Three days later, I had my niece Kate help me remove the butterfly bandages. Now I am Fully Exposed!

It is such a tiny little incision; hard to believe they did all that they did thru that tiny little opening. But I have the muscle soreness to prove it – they really did do what they told me they would.

My doctor said I am healing up quite nicely, and gave me permission to go back to work!