Surgery Update!

Alright, so it’s a few days later than I had anticipated. But I’ve got some reasons.

First, the hernia was much larger than they had expected, turning the 1.5 hour procedure into 2.5 hours. The good thing is that no extended damage had been done (such as strangulation or incarceration, which are much worse).

Second, the amount of anesthetic given to me was substantial because of my weight and the size of the hernia. As such, it knocked the holy hell out of me the days following the surgery.

In fact on Thursday night, while walking from the truck to the house, I had to stop for a minute because of how I felt. I stopped, began to feel dizzy and my body…man, I don’t know how to explain it. Ann grabbed me by the arm as I reached for the railing. She grabbed a chair and tried to sit me down. These were my exact words:

“I don’t know how…”

I barely remember that happening; amnesia is a common side-effect of being under sedation for such a long time. But I eventually sat down while she ran a few houses down for our neighbor George, whom we had previously made arrangements with for a situation just like this. He was there in a instant and helped me into bed and talked to me for a bit. He even came by the following day–twice–to check up on me. George, we thank you for everything, as well as Perry who also offered his assistance (but haven’t required just yet).

Early Friday morning was exciting. While still loopy from the anesthetic, Ann guided me into the bathroom and told me to call her if I needed her. After standing there for a minute and trying to, um…go, I felt dizzy again. I called for her.

By the time she got into the bathroom I had already fell forward and hit my forehead on a wire shelf above the toilet. From what I can recall, I fell backward into the bathtub but Ann had broken my fall. I recall trying to get out of the tub, screaming at the top of my lungs not knowing if what I was experiencing was real, dreamed, or if I was even dying. Ann later told me that the look on my face was completely blank. I mean, there was nothing on my face. I was literally out of my element.

But I’m pleased to say that as of now, I’m enough in my element to say that my extremities are still numb, I can walk without assistance (although my mom had brought over my Nana’s cane, which helped tremendously), and that I don’t know how people can stand being at home for more than a week. I’m closing in one one week and I’m getting cabin fever, people! Each day shows slight improvement and for that I’m extremely happy. I get the feeling that choosing to have this procedure done could be the best decision I’ve ever made. Aside from the numbness, I feel absolutely fantastic.

I think I’ll wrap it up here as I need more rest. Ozzie is now laying on my right arm as he has been the past few days. He’s been my constant companion throughout all of this and he’s been very careful not to walk on my wound, so for that I think there’ll be a few extra treats in his kitty paycheck tomorrow.

But let’s not forget my lovely wife Ann who has been my right arm during my recovery. She’s been doing a stupendous job and needs to be recognized.

And thanks again to my friends and family who have e-mailed me and responded to Ann’s e-mail update on my surgery (and to Russ for sending me a tin of Mrs. Fields’ cookies). As far as the surgery goes, here’s my take: the last thing I remember was being injected with a sedative and waking up what seemed like 5 minutes later.

Crazy stuff, man. But so far it’s been worth every post-op pain I’ve suffered.

Back to “watching” The Natural.