Morning of 10/26:
I was to arrive at
Dr. Delgado's office at 08:10. I got there at about 08:15 and ended up sitting in the waiting room for about an hour and a half due to an emergency he had to handle. That was fine since the mother of the guy with the emergency was in the room as well and we ended up talking about Hong Kong and China for almost the entire time.
The nurse came in and had me put my stuff in a locker and change into the gown and go through all that stuff...
Dr. Gaynor, came in and did the IV and pre-anesthesia questioner. He again went over the risks etc etc. I sat in the pre-op room for about 30 minutes waiting for the drugs to set in. During that time
Dr. Delgado came in and sketched me up and again talked about my higher than "normal" PT time. He said that just to be on the safe side he was going to leave the drains in for a couple extra days and wanted to see me the day after just to be safe. I wasn't too concerned since I spent the better part of the week going back and fourth to Kaiser consulting with my GP and hematologist and getting two dozen tests run to check into the underlying cause of my 1.1-1.3 INR PT. He aslo said that if he got in there, did one and there were any complications due to bleeding then he was going to stop. I agreed, obviously.
I was taken into the room and much to my chagrin I was stripped and sponge bathed from neck to toe with betadine. It was weird how I sometimes wouldn't go into a swimming pool or go topless at the beach, but didn't think twice about getting naked in front of a room full of female nurses. The drugs might have had something to do with it. I laid down on the table, got strapped in and covered in a sterile sheet.
Dr. Gaynor came in started working his magic. He asked me if I was cold and the next thing I remember is waking up and him asking me who my doctor was, where I was and what year it was. I sat in recovery for about two hours while my nurse made small talk with me. I honestly felt "aware" after about 10 minutes of deep breaths and started cracking jokes. I didn't feel dizzy or sick or anything, it was pretty cool.
Dr. Delgado came by after about an hour to see how I was doing. He said the surgery went great and there was no problem bleeding but that he put in drains and that I needed to pay careful attention to them due to my "problem" and the nurse would go over the exact details.
Got all my instructions, made an appointment for the next day and was on my way home. I wasn't in any pain except for some aching and the fact that my thumb and forefinger on my left hand were numb. Which made peeing, getting dressed and opening anything hard since I'm left handed.
I got home about 20:00, popped a vicodin for fun, emptied my drains and fell asleep sitting up on my couch.
Morning of 10/27:
So far so good. Just some more mild aching but and an occasional shooting pain (once an hour) that lasts about 5 seconds. Didn't take anymore vicodin because I'd rather be in mild pain than be in a total daze. By far not the worst pain I've ever felt so it was no problem at all.
Got to my appointment at 13:00 and the nurse took off the ace bandages, but left the foam.
Dr. Delgado came in and took off the foam, looked in and said it looked good. There was just a tiny speck of blood on the gauze over the right nipple but everything else seemed to be sealing great. We talked about the drains and due to the fact that I had quit a bit of drainage the night before and that morning he was going to leave them in until my next post op on Wednesday (~ six days total). He re-wrapped me up in a couple new ace bandages and sent me on my way.
For the rest of the day I sat around and watched TV and read. I would randomly fall asleep for a couple hours at a time and wake up with back aches. Luckily I spend a lot of time on an airplane for work and rigged up my home office chair like a plane seat and broke out my neck pillow and just pretended I was on a flight to New York for five hours. Seemed to work out fine.
The seepage in the drains got progressivly less throughout the day.
10/28:
Same as day before, just hung out and watched TV.
Dr. Delgado called me in the afternoon to see how I was doing. He asked about seepage and bleeding. I told him I was getting only about 5-10ccs in each, every 12 hours or so and that I didn't feel any seepage from the drain holes or anything. That was acceptable and what he expected apparently, so that was good news.
About 21:00 I walked two blocks to the video store and rented a movie. It was nice to get out in the cold SF air after being cooped up for two days. It took me about twice as long to get there and back, not due to pain, more because I just wasn't in any real hurry and enjoying the fresh air.
Slept in "airplane mode" again. No real pain to speak of, just some lower back pain after I wake up, but that seems to go away after about 20-30 deep breaths. Feeling and sensation has also returned to my thumb and finger.
10/29:
Still sitting around. Only taken 1 vicodin out of 30 prescribed so far. Sat out on my fire escape for about an hour this morning for the fresh air. Still only little aches, no more shooting pain. The bandages are the most annoying part, that and still not having seen my "new" chest. The drains are at a stand still now maybe 1-2CC of clear fluid every 12 hours.
I can't wait until Wednesday so I can wash my hair and get my shower on, this washcloth wipe down crap isn't cutting it.
Luckily I've remained regular throughout the last few days and have been eating normal meals of stuff like soup / crackers, toast, sandwiches, and gallons of water. I never got nauseous or threw up, which was nice.
So far it doesn't seem so bad, just the minor inconvenience of drains and not being able to fall asleep lying down. I'm anxious to see the results obviously, but in all honesty, anything is an improvement in my eyes. I also have a lot of confidence in
Dr. Delgado and team so if anyone could unlock the full potential of my chest, it would be him.
I'll post more as time passes.
Topic: Surgery with Dr. Delgado (Read 4983 times)
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