Surgery was scheduled for 3:00 Monday. I spent the morning weeding the garden, figuring I wouldn't be able to do this after surgery, before we arrived at the hospital at 1:00. Once I got into the prep area, I learned that they were running about two hours behind.
When you have four surgeries in just over two months - three of them at the same institution (the fourth, the liver surgery, was across the river on the East Bank) - you get to know the drill pretty well. I recognized all but one of the people working with me in the prep area. You also know what you dread, and for me that was the IV. For surgeries #2 and 3, it took three tries (and for one of those a fourth was placed after I was under anesthesia). Using the IV "expert." I guess I have small veins, plus they could only use the one arm. But I lucked out - the nurse got it in on the first try. Not only that, she did it so fast she was taping it in place before I even realized it was in (they use lidocaine before placing IVs). Hopefully this will be the last IV I will need for a long, long time, but if I do need one again, I am requesting her.
After the IV was in place, Scott came back to wait with me. We met the anesthesiologist, the nurse the anesthetist, the OR nurse, and finally Dr. Ogilvie finished his prior surgery and came in to discuss final details. I had scraped up my arms while weeding the garden, and when I used the antiseptic wipe on my arm, all the little scrapes flared up! Luckily, they were all superficial and the skin was not broken anywhere, so we were ok to move forward with surgery.
Finally, around 4:30 or 5, they were ready to start. The nurse anesthetist came in with a syringe of versed (an anti-anxiety med). When that made my hand and arm sting as it went through the IV, they gave me a narcotic. I was feeling loopy before we even parted with Scott.
I woke up in recovery around 7 or 8, I think. I felt pretty good. The resident working with Dr. Ogilvie came in to talk to me, but I have no recollection of what was said. I was pretty out of it, but I don't think I stayed in recovery for very long. I did have quite a long conversation with the nurse there, though. About what, I'm not sure (>8. They were fairly generous with the dilaudid, and gave me one last dose before I was taken to my room, where I would be switching to oral pain meds.
Dr. Ogilvie had given Scott an update after the surgery. The main concern had been the possible presence of residual tumor above the original tumor resection site, extending above the elbow. They located additional tumor and followed it along the tumor toward my shoulder. I guess they followed it quite a ways, as Dr. Ogilvie said he was getting frustrated as it kept going and they would have to go back and lengthen the incision. Finally, the tumor seemed to disappear. They opened the nerve and found that the tumor had actually infiltrated the nerve at this point. For this reason, they had to remove some nerve tissue, which would now probably result in some permanent loss of function in this hand. So Scott was surprised when he joined us on our way to my room and saw me using my arm, lifting my cup and spooning ice chips.
I woke up fairly early the next morning, and was waiting to hear if I could eat regular food before ordering breakfast (I hadn't eaten anything for almost 36 hours by this point!), when the resident came in at 7 to see how I was doing. I was pretty groggy, so I didn't ask many questions or retain much of what I was told. The pain was pretty manageable, with the worst of it in my arm above the incision, and he said that wasn't surprising as they were digging around a lot in the bicep.
The plan was to discharge me around noon. I ordered and ate breakfast, and they disconnected me from the IV pump but left the actual IV in. I got dressed and tried to read, but my eyes couldn't really focus on anything, so I tried to watch some tv. We learned that I didn't need any additional doses of antibiotics, so the IV was removed from my hand. By the time Scott arrived at the hospital, we were just waiting for the final discharge instructions.
I was feeling good enough that we stopped at the coop, Scott's house, and the Cake Eater Bakery before heading home, but I was fairly groggy the rest of the day and not able to focus on fine print. I felt fairly back to normal Wednesday morning.
I was able to remove the dressing Wednesday (yesterday) morning and shower. There are just steri-strips across the incision. Prior to this surgery the incision was about three inches long, and now it's been extended to about five inches, going above the elbow. Pain has been very minimal, so I haven't taken any pain meds since getting home. I took the day easy yesterday, and took an hour walk this morning. I felt just fine on the walk, so will try going back to running tomorrow morning.
The numbness in my first two fingers is definitely more pronounced. I think the thumb is about the same. I was able to cut up a watermelon and a canteloupe this morning, but I really notice the numbness in the index finger as I type. It will take a long time, maybe a year, before we learn how much of this numbness is permanent.
I will follow up with Dr. Ogilvie in two weeks, and I have an appointment with radiation oncology to get that process started on July 13th.
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