am home sun 5 pm
Hi keeping this short typing one handed. This surgery really kicks your butt more so than my back surgeries or other surgeries I have had, so I get very tired still. Muscles are trying hard to pull in - very tight, have to fight this with stretches.
Doc was great, saw him every day - he said I have shown positive signs so much faster & done it with less pain meds (I kept backing down the dosage & not taking 2 at once & spreading the time intervals, I asked to come off the morphine pump one day sooner.)
Am used to with my back, high levels of pain for many yr’s so for me any relief I can use less as I am used to having high pain not by choice but one of the perks is you build up a tolerance.
I slept in recovery & woke up every now & then. I heard the nurse call saying she is not asking for pain med’s, according to her I guess I am their 1st not too. I was in there for 6 hr’s waiting on a bed, but for me that cue ball was a HUGE help in this equation.
He used a cue ball, slang for a marcaine filled ball with a needle that laid over the nerves that is just ingenious - can be used for other surgeries & I highly recommend it. It anesthetized the nerves so when they would be normally at their worst - this covers up their screaming after surgery. Have to be careful of the frenal nerve. I had this for 2 days - down side to this is, you can’t feel your arm & it is dead weight so you look to see your arm hanging out the side bars of your bed & blood flow is all going to it & that makes it hurt. You try to pick up the dead weight with your other arm that has 5 tubes on it & short leash to the monitor so I had to ask for a sling to hold it in place up on the pillow as it kept falling off.
Had veins that looked good but rolled so got stuck a lot & blew out the IV & innervated had a big bubble due to IV running on full open - I was dehydrated but things got better from there, Machine errored out a few times til they replaced it.
I was in the hospital longer due to water on the lungs & still am working on that lung same side as surgery with a spirometer you blow in - had oxygen which I really miss helped that lung so much. I was kept comfortable.
As to the surgery he said things were very compressed I lost the anterior scalenes & some of the middle scalenes they were fibrotic & compressing so no choice, he notched the middle scalenes. The artery was flat & had a bubble in it due to the pressure, but d/n need an artery repair got this just in time, VERY happy about that.
I kept the pec minor muscles & lost ONLY the Cervical rib & the muscles above.
I have spasms on both sides at times, things settling. They leave pretty fast. Felt immed the relief of the problem area when I woke up & have had now a good pulse in my arm & can feel it being so much more alive. I have felt within hr’s of the surgery muscle tension leave & good feeling of cracking. I can sleep like there is no tomorrow & get tired easily. If I can get good lung back on this left side I wont get as tired. I cant drive til I see the doc again in 3 to 4 wk’s.
My doggies were all fine so happy to see them all they were confused by my long absence but got even tighter with each other & am glad they had each other & were not broken up. Was really glad to see my son who stayed here & hub is working from home for now. Other son is in the area, but have not seen him yet.
As to the big question am I glad I did this? YES is the answer. While I have a ways to go still, even as I am now yes due to the compression of my artery I had no choice & the fact that this intense pressure & pain is gone. I have some surgical pain & soreness & tiredness but even so I can sleep so much better than where I was b/4 & am better off even where I am at now. The fut l don’t know but will see - I have good arm strength so that is good. They said keeping up the PT til the end & trying to keep active as much as I could, helped.
For me, for my circumstances, this was the right approach, one I don’t take lightly & neither does the doc. I am glad I kept the 1st rib.
Doc feels too many are having surgery when not all should have surgery, so I like he is conservative. I felt he was not just talking about the up side to things.
I was VERY impressed with the vascular team & it was worth the expense of hotels etc & distance for me to keep my 1st rib. My issue was not my 1st rib but my cervical rib & severe artery & nerve compression that were mechanically being compressed. We have yet to see how the R side will do & will entrust that to Dr C. as well. Hoping if the Left is not flaring up maybe the right will settle or can be helped by injections so will see. I agree we need time to know on the right.
For me it was the right fit of all pieces coming together. I liked that he d/n do all patients the same in, what he removes. He had a great picture of anatomy coupled with being conservative in what he removes and is open minded. Our mind set was a good match. PT is well valued by doc & me in being important part of my recovery. He uses the Ellis man’s approach? Had not heard of the Barnes approach but is open to it.
My appreciation for the well wishes & prayers
Best
Jill
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