[runner]

Hi Maria,

No, I haven't been on here in a while. Let me do a quickie update (sort of).

Had surgery for L5/S1 in August, 2011. So I am a little less than two years--Oh, my how time flies--from my ProDisc L surgery. Yes, I got the ADR. I was in a lot of pain before I got that surgery, fighting for the surgery I thought would put me back in the game.

I have just been busy recovering, taking care of kids, doing things...

The surgery went well, but because they went back in through the abdomen (anterior), they encountered vessels that were -kind of stuck to the vertebrae bones ("scarred in"). My vascular surgeon was taking my iliac vein off and when he got to the last millimeter, the vein tore. He told me after the surgery, for a vein it bled a lot. He was able to repair it and what not. (I did have the dacron sheet over the bones but it did not extend down to L5/S1 so that didn't help.)

Indeed, I lost 3,200 cc's of blood. They were able to return half of that to me, I used up the unit of blood I had donated and whatever was left in the cell saver. My potassium level was down after that, they gave me K-riders to help that. Additionally, I spent a long time in recovery and I kept asking for pain control and some (sorry to say) stupid nurse gave me Valium injections instead of addressing my pain. I had a 7 am surgery, which I think lasted around four hours, and didn't get up to my room until around 7-8 pm.

My pain skyrocketed after getting to my room and it was way out of control. My day nurse, whose shift had ended, attempted to address the issue. The problem was that the PCA did not have a basal rate. And the PCA rate was low. This poor nurse, who didn't have the autonomy a critical care RN has, went the extra mile for me. She got a hold of one of the doctors that worked with my surgeon and got a basal rate. I was in so much pain and the next day, my pain doctor came in and took over. I was never very comfortable but things were better.

I was weak after surgery and had difficulty moving. And the mistake I made, was having surgery near a holiday. I was in the hospital a couple days and they determined I needed to go to rehab. So they have an in-hospital rehab that my surgeon wanted me to go to, but the rehab doctor examined me and decided I was not sick enough, so he would not admit me (mainly because of my insurance).
I had nurses, who obviously wanted to clear the floor because of the holiday, suggesting very strongly that I needed to get out of the hospital and go to rehab. They got me off the PCA--thanks a lot--barely weaned off, it was a joke--and onto P.O. meds.
Unfortunately, they wore me down. And off I was shipped to rehab. So, I get to rehab, they don't have my medications, my roommate has the loudest grating voice possible and there is no P.T. available. Since I had very little in terms of pain meds, I was up and down to the bathroom and was using my walker quite effectively.

Walking that much at night, I got very adept at using the walker and willed myself to get stronger. Yes, they did not have any of my medications and this is right after major surgery. They gave me I think one 10 mg dose of oxy or percocet from another patient and promised they would have medication soon. That first night, I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard loud voices. My roommate and a couple other people (staff) were talking very loud and I thought I was in some kind of dream. Then she kept asking for pain medicine repeatedly...I was going nuts.

I was there two days and they still didn't have my medication; I felt like an inmate from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. There was no P.T. person to help me rehabilitate, only an occupational therapist; I was getting Tylenol for pain and no other meds. So I planned my escape because I was in a lot of pain, I was not sleeping well and I thought I would go crazy. LOL.

I have never liked SNFs. Well, I packed my bags, got dressed and when my husband came to visit, I told him I was leaving. He was like, "No, no you have to stay here you are too weak to go home," etc... I told him, "If you don't take me out of here, I am hitting the streets and walking home."
He got quite upset at me because he had been told that I could not take care of myself.
Luckily, a couple from my church came to visit, and the wife was an RN and I spoke to them and she convinced my husband to take me home (AMA).

At home, I camped out on the couch and when the holiday ended, I called my surgeon's office to tell them my situation. I had no discharge papers, no hospital bed orders, etc...I spoke to the surgery scheduler/administrator and she was upset how I was treated by the hospital. She chewed them out for treating the doctor's patients like that (I was not the only one) and got me an in-home PT visit, ordered a hospital bed.
And that was how that part of recovery ended.

Runner