Monday, September 22, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Surgery completed..
I had my surgery last Thursday at 2:30ish. My appt was originally scheduled for 12:30p but the docs weren't ready for me until two hours later.
Hospitals are like assembly lines. The hospital coordinator called my name where I sat for two hours in the waiting room. My mom, who was with me, and I were led to the fourth floor surgery pre-op room. There was a white board with a list of surgeries scheduled for that day. I saw my name and was assigned gurney #27. There were 30 gurneys lined up wall to wall with only curtains between each in that one room and most were filled with other patients waiting to go into surgery. We all looked frightened.
A nurse came by, told me to change into a hospital gown, took my stats, and asked me several questions about my health. My anesthesiologist arrived, asked me a dozen more questions, told me they will shove a breathing tube down my throat once I'm knocked out, and he will be in charge of monitoring my vitals during surgery. Another nurse came by, prepared the IV and wasn't too successful in getting the needle inserted because my veins kept collapsing. She finally got it in and started pumping me with anesthesia. Several residents and the head surgeon came by to explain exactly what they will do to me. I asked my questions and voiced my concerns before finally getting a "there's a 50/50 change that the arch won't stay up and in that case, we'll have to consider other options to stabilize the arch which means incisions in your face." Oh, joy..
They asked if I was ready to go, and started wheeling me to the elevator. Then I passed out.
I woke up groggy and my head hurt. My hair was caked with dried blood from the incision they made and there was a splint taped to my face to protect the zygomatic arch. I was still lying on my gurney but in another room with an attending nurse keeping an eye on me. This was the Post Anesthesia Care Unit. The nurse woke me every hour to see how I was doing.
My mom and several friends greeted me and extended their visit until I was fully awake. I kept asking how I looked and everyone said I looked great but no one offered to give me a mirror. Bad sign. I was told the surgery was successful and the actual procedure took about 15 minutes. There were no major complications. My heart rate did drop to 40 which caused some concern while I was on the operating table. I had mentioned to one of the residents earlier that I was going to play dead and see how low my heart rate can go while in a deep sleep. I guess I wasn't completely joking.
I was discharged around 9p and went home to rest. I was still high from the anesthesia and whatever anti-anxiety meds they gave me earlier.
The next morning, I was depressed. I took one look at my face and went into freak mode. It looked liked the arch collapsed and I called the hospital and left a frantic message. My face was swollen so I couldn't really tell if the arch collapsed or not but I thought it did. I refused to get up out of bed and spent the whole day feeling sorry for myself.
I tried to sleep with my head hanging off the side of the bed, hoping gravity will pull the arch back in place but all that did was give me a migraine, swell the left side of my head up, and make my neck ache.
I removed the splint and washed off the dried blood from my hair. My face is still swollen and my head throbs every so often but I'm feeling better today.
Hospitals are like assembly lines. The hospital coordinator called my name where I sat for two hours in the waiting room. My mom, who was with me, and I were led to the fourth floor surgery pre-op room. There was a white board with a list of surgeries scheduled for that day. I saw my name and was assigned gurney #27. There were 30 gurneys lined up wall to wall with only curtains between each in that one room and most were filled with other patients waiting to go into surgery. We all looked frightened.
A nurse came by, told me to change into a hospital gown, took my stats, and asked me several questions about my health. My anesthesiologist arrived, asked me a dozen more questions, told me they will shove a breathing tube down my throat once I'm knocked out, and he will be in charge of monitoring my vitals during surgery. Another nurse came by, prepared the IV and wasn't too successful in getting the needle inserted because my veins kept collapsing. She finally got it in and started pumping me with anesthesia. Several residents and the head surgeon came by to explain exactly what they will do to me. I asked my questions and voiced my concerns before finally getting a "there's a 50/50 change that the arch won't stay up and in that case, we'll have to consider other options to stabilize the arch which means incisions in your face." Oh, joy..
They asked if I was ready to go, and started wheeling me to the elevator. Then I passed out.
I woke up groggy and my head hurt. My hair was caked with dried blood from the incision they made and there was a splint taped to my face to protect the zygomatic arch. I was still lying on my gurney but in another room with an attending nurse keeping an eye on me. This was the Post Anesthesia Care Unit. The nurse woke me every hour to see how I was doing.
My mom and several friends greeted me and extended their visit until I was fully awake. I kept asking how I looked and everyone said I looked great but no one offered to give me a mirror. Bad sign. I was told the surgery was successful and the actual procedure took about 15 minutes. There were no major complications. My heart rate did drop to 40 which caused some concern while I was on the operating table. I had mentioned to one of the residents earlier that I was going to play dead and see how low my heart rate can go while in a deep sleep. I guess I wasn't completely joking.
I was discharged around 9p and went home to rest. I was still high from the anesthesia and whatever anti-anxiety meds they gave me earlier.
The next morning, I was depressed. I took one look at my face and went into freak mode. It looked liked the arch collapsed and I called the hospital and left a frantic message. My face was swollen so I couldn't really tell if the arch collapsed or not but I thought it did. I refused to get up out of bed and spent the whole day feeling sorry for myself.
I tried to sleep with my head hanging off the side of the bed, hoping gravity will pull the arch back in place but all that did was give me a migraine, swell the left side of my head up, and make my neck ache.
I removed the splint and washed off the dried blood from my hair. My face is still swollen and my head throbs every so often but I'm feeling better today.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
what the surgeon will be doing to me tomorrow...
A 3-cm incision placed 4 cm superior to the zygomatic arch and posterior to the temporal hairline can be fashioned to allow direct access to the arch. This approach (ie, Gillies approach) allows accurate fracture reduction via a bimanual technique. After creating a skin incision, the dissection is carried down through the superficial temporal fascia and the temporalis muscle fascia (deep temporal fascia). A plane is carried forward, superior to the temporalis muscle to the zygomatic arch.
Once this conduit is created, a periosteal elevator is positioned beneath the zygoma. Lateral traction is placed on the elevator while the surgeon's free hand palpates the fracture site during reduction. Once hemostasis is ensured, the fascia and skin are closed in the usual fashion. Take care to close the wound with all layers reanastomosed to their respective anatomic partners. Advantages of the Gillies approach include a scar camouflaged by the patient's hair; accurate, bimanual fracture reduction; and a remote chance of injury to the temporal branch of cranial nerve VII.
Once this conduit is created, a periosteal elevator is positioned beneath the zygoma. Lateral traction is placed on the elevator while the surgeon's free hand palpates the fracture site during reduction. Once hemostasis is ensured, the fascia and skin are closed in the usual fashion. Take care to close the wound with all layers reanastomosed to their respective anatomic partners. Advantages of the Gillies approach include a scar camouflaged by the patient's hair; accurate, bimanual fracture reduction; and a remote chance of injury to the temporal branch of cranial nerve VII.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
if only I ran instead of biked..
There are days when you look back and think about the decisions you made and all the what ifs that could have changed your current predicament. Today is one of those days.
What if I decided to go for a run instead of a bike ride? What if I chose to walk my dog or hop in my car and drive to the beach instead. What if I wore my bike gloves and kept my sweatshirt on while biking down Illinois St. rather than stop earlier on 3rd St. and resort to wearing my tank top because it was getting warm?
Of course, it's pointless to think about the what ifs because the damage is already done. I had a bike accident.
I left my house that Sunday morning around 10:30a and rode down Geneva to Bayshore to the blocked off streets designated by the Sunday Streets event. Once I arrived, I felt safer and more confident riding without worrying about vehicles. Maybe the false sense of security made me too confident.
I was standing to the left when this photo was taken before I rode ahead ten minutes later. When I reached Illinois St., there were old train tracks criss-crossing the road. I tried to cross perpendicular to the tracks and failed miserably when my front tire fell into the track groove. I fell down on my left and my face managed to break my fall first. My helmet was unscathed and probably saved me from a concussion. I suffered various lacerations to my hands, shoulder, side and wrist as well as bruising along my thigh, hip and arm.
My left side of my face received the worse damage. I fractured my left cheek bone and dented it inward. There's minimal road rash on my face but I'll have a huge black and blue mark around my eye and cheek. There's likely nerve damage because my face is still numb from below the eye socket down to my upper lip.
I can't open my mouth that much without feeling a dull pain. There's a constant smell of dry blood from my left nostril. I have one of those freakish half smiles that looks more like an evil smirk. If I stand up or move my head around too quickly, I can feel the blood flowing through my face. It leaves a tingling sensation like crawling ants and I have to let the feeling subside before I get too lightheaded.
Since the accident, I'm down to 128lbs. That's fairly slight for my frame. I think I lost most of the weight from throwing up all day in the emergency room Sunday. Everything made me nauseous. I'm eating more now but it'll be a while before I can gain the weight back. I can already tell that my body is breaking down muscle mass for energy.
I'm currently taking Augmentin, a penicillin type of antibiotic. And I was also given Phenergan to treat nausea and vomiting as well as Vicodin. Despite the dull pain in my face, I'm not taking Vicodin for the time being. I figure after surgery, I'll need it but right now, I can deal with the discomfort.
What if I decided to go for a run instead of a bike ride? What if I chose to walk my dog or hop in my car and drive to the beach instead. What if I wore my bike gloves and kept my sweatshirt on while biking down Illinois St. rather than stop earlier on 3rd St. and resort to wearing my tank top because it was getting warm?
Of course, it's pointless to think about the what ifs because the damage is already done. I had a bike accident.
I left my house that Sunday morning around 10:30a and rode down Geneva to Bayshore to the blocked off streets designated by the Sunday Streets event. Once I arrived, I felt safer and more confident riding without worrying about vehicles. Maybe the false sense of security made me too confident.
I was standing to the left when this photo was taken before I rode ahead ten minutes later. When I reached Illinois St., there were old train tracks criss-crossing the road. I tried to cross perpendicular to the tracks and failed miserably when my front tire fell into the track groove. I fell down on my left and my face managed to break my fall first. My helmet was unscathed and probably saved me from a concussion. I suffered various lacerations to my hands, shoulder, side and wrist as well as bruising along my thigh, hip and arm.
My left side of my face received the worse damage. I fractured my left cheek bone and dented it inward. There's minimal road rash on my face but I'll have a huge black and blue mark around my eye and cheek. There's likely nerve damage because my face is still numb from below the eye socket down to my upper lip.
I can't open my mouth that much without feeling a dull pain. There's a constant smell of dry blood from my left nostril. I have one of those freakish half smiles that looks more like an evil smirk. If I stand up or move my head around too quickly, I can feel the blood flowing through my face. It leaves a tingling sensation like crawling ants and I have to let the feeling subside before I get too lightheaded.
Since the accident, I'm down to 128lbs. That's fairly slight for my frame. I think I lost most of the weight from throwing up all day in the emergency room Sunday. Everything made me nauseous. I'm eating more now but it'll be a while before I can gain the weight back. I can already tell that my body is breaking down muscle mass for energy.
I'm currently taking Augmentin, a penicillin type of antibiotic. And I was also given Phenergan to treat nausea and vomiting as well as Vicodin. Despite the dull pain in my face, I'm not taking Vicodin for the time being. I figure after surgery, I'll need it but right now, I can deal with the discomfort.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)