My surgery was scheduled for 9:30am in Portland at Legacy Emanuel Hospital. I've had all my surgeries at Legacy since Dr. Dierks has started reconstructing my cleft lip and palate. Like all of my surgeries we were asked to be at the hospital 2 hours prior which meant we had to be there by 7:30. Since we live in Salem we had to be ready to leave by 6:30. Usually it's just my mom, dad and I who go up to my surgeries, but Lauren, my older sister got to come along for this one! So we had a family trip up to the hospital! It's pretty much routine now checking into day surgery. My mom and I go to the check in desk where we go over all my information making sure everything is spelled correctly on my wrist band, signing consent forms...etc. The nurse took my mom and I back to my hospital room and got me set up. I'm only allowed to have one person come back with me while I get prepped, which meant my dad and Lauren had to wait to around for a bit. The hospital has these hospital gowns that are made to have a tube hook into it that blows either cold air or hot air into your gown. It's come in handy in the past when I was either over heating or too cold. It blows up the front of the gown which tends to bring jokes from my parents about my size :) Once I'm all dressed for surgery, a nurse comes in and weighs me, takes my blood pressure, listens to my lungs and heart. All the works. I had one of my doctor's assistance come in and review with my mom and I what exactly I was having done. In medical terms I was having the hardware removed, a bone allograft and PRP (plasma rich platelet)...translation: I was having the titanium screen and screws removed, some more bone graft using my blood platelets once again. I signed a consent form with this doctor and then next was the part of the pre-op that I fear the most. The IV.
I very much dislike IVs. A few surgeries ago it took a nurse 2-3 tries to get the IV in correctly and finally when she did get it in it was still uncomfortable that I just left it and woke up wanting it out immediately. The only plus side is that once I get the IV out, I can go home. This time I was so nervous and stressed out about it I started to cry a little and sweat alot. My mom just sat there with me and held my hand and talked to distract me through it all. I squeezed her hand so hard even after the nurse had finished getting the IV in. This time it only took one try thankfully, but the IV is my biggest fear going into a surgery.
Once I went to the bathroom and settled into my hospital bed, my dad and Lauren were able to join us in the room. Like many dads, mine kept cracking jokes. :) Talking about corn on the cob, juicy apples all things I wouldn't be allowed to eat when I woke up, and the fact that I didn't have my 5 front teeth in, the joke was even funnier to him and my family. :) My parents even sang and did a little dance to My Little Buttercup from the movie The Three Amigos! haha My family prayed over me before Dr. Dierks came in to talk to us. There's nothing to fear when you have complete faith in God. Many people were praying for this surgery, including my family and I.
Lauren and I before the surgery!
Dr. Dierks always visits us before the surgery. He reviewed with us what all was going to go down. It ended up being quite a blessing that we had split this surgery into two parts. Dr. Dierks saw in the x-ray that I needed more bone in a small pocket, so he planning to do a minor bone graft there holding it in with stitches this time rather than using the full mesh screen and screws. He explained to us what a PRP is, which is where they draw my blood and extract everything from it except for the blood platelets itself. Then they take those and condense it down into a gel like form. It's been proven that these platelets can actually speed up the healing process. Such as when you cut yourself the blood platelets rise to the surface to "clog" up the cut to keep yourself from bleeding to death. What's even more amazing is that when these platelets are combined with cadavar bone (bone allograft) they speed up the process of my body taking over the bone and becoming it's own. So with this all being said, he repeated this process from the last surgery, but this time he drew blood from my arm since he wouldn't need as much as he did the last time. When he came out of the O.R. and talked to my parents he said it was a good thing we came in now rather than waiting until March to do everything at once, because once he opened up my mouth he saw that some of the bone graft was coming apart and there wouldn't have been enough bone to put the base of the implants in. Doing this surgery on the 3rd allowed more time for the bone to grow. One of those God timings :)
My anasthetiologist visited me next and gave me the "happy medicine" which basically knocked me out in no time. Apparently my parents and sister said goodbye to me before they wheeled me out to the operating room, but I guess I was so out of it I didn't remember that!
My surgery was only a couple hours long, I woke up to an oxygen mask and a nurse removing all the square tape patches on me from where they had monitors connected to me. My mom said I had been asleep for a while, which meant it was about time I had woken up :) My throat was dry and sore from the breathing tube, finally got some ice water down my throat. My mom had to spoon it into my mouth and wipe any that I drooled back out! It was a pretty fast out from there. I was able to go to the bathroom with some assistance from my mom, but I was walking more stable than I usually do when I first try to walk. After a little bit I was coming more aware of what was going on and wasn't so out of it. My mom was able to help get me dressed and the nurse finally took out my IV. Since I passed all the tests of walking, bathroom, getting dressed and IV out, I was cleared to go home. They got a wheel chair for me and wheeled me out. We were on our way home around 2:15ish! The rest of the day and the next day I just vegged around and relaxed.
Right after surgery!
Why the nurses didn't clean me up better I have no idea! :)
Today I'm feeling much better, barely swollen and recovering fast. The swelling has gone down a lot and I graduated from liquids to more soft food after a full day! I'm back on my feet regaining my strength! The recovery from this surgery was the fastest I've had!
I am so thankful for everyone's prayers and the continual support of my family. We've gone through a lot in this past week as a family with an ER run last friday and a surgery on Tuesday. I'm amazed at how strong my parents are and how faithful our God is to us. He is who gets us through everything, every day He's here for us just waiting for us to call on him and surrender all of us to him day after day.
Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
