Tuesday, March 8, 2011

So I Had Surgery...

Sorry I've been a little absent lately! This whole keeping one's head down business is not condusive to reading a whole lot. In fact, most of my interneting is down via my iPhone right now. But, I'm back for a bit getting pictures uploaded and a readers digest version of Thursday posted for all to enjoy.
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Aren't you excited? ;-)

Surgery was last Thursday and I must say, despite the whole having to have surgery, the experience was very positive. Leo hung out with me in my pre-op room, which helped keep me very calm. Jon and his mother were there so I wouldn't be uber bored. The nurses and staff were kind and funny. Couldn't ask for a better set up!

Tell me... how could I be freaking out with that face laying on my lap?
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My surgery lasted around an hour and a half. My amazing doctor, Dr. S, went into my eye with tiny instruments, took my ocular fluid out and placed a gas bubble in there which pushed my retina back into place. Then he peeled some membranes inside my eye to put things in a better position (so hopefully this won't happen again), and then went in with a 'cold laser' and sealed the holes that were created before and after my retina decided not to stick to the wall. Apparently, I had over 20 holes!! He told Jon his all time record was 23, but, I learned later that Dr. S simply stopped counting after he hit 20. So I may have beaten his record.
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I know, it's weird I care, but, it's the little things that carry you through the whole, "Holy crap I just had surgery" ordeal.

Post-op was a bit bumpy as we discovered morphine and Megan do not mix well- at all. The nurses were fantastic at giving me enough anti-nausea meds to help with that. I wasn't rushed out the door, in fact I left probably an hour later than planned because the medicine made me rather sleepy and they wanted to make sure I was relatively conscious before I left. My eye hurt for sure, but, the pain didn't bug me nearly as much as the nausea/throwing up biz did. I was very apologetic about the whole deal according to Jon and I also managed to be polite! Oh and I insisted on pictures lol. Because, these things are important after one has had their eye violated with needles and lasers.

So now I'm on day five of recovery. I have been a bit uncomfortable, but, nothing that has caused me great distress. The animals are being really sweet and gentle and Jon's caretaker abilities are exemplary! As I said, the whole head down deal isn't fun- at all. I have to use mirrors on the couch and on a massage chair so I can watch tv and keep my head down. Jon says I look like I'm praying a lot. Overall, things have been going well! Dr. S checked my eye yesterday and was very happy with how it's healing. I have to keep my head down for five more days and after that I can start returning to a more normal life.
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Thank you all for the kind words, good thoughts, and support! I really think they helped make this whole ordeal go really smoothly for me. I'll be back to reading and posting more regularly as my recovery allows. Shouln't be much longer. Love you guys!




15 comments:

Sarah said...

Yeesh. Beating records is no fun. I'm glad the recovery is going well, and I'm so glad Jon is such a great nurse!

Habebi said...

He is a good nurse. I should buy him some scrubs. ;-)

Sara Louise said...

All your babies there taking care of you (the furry ones). Best wishes for a full recovery soon xo

annelise said...

Good Lord. I'll admit I completely skimmed the paragraph where you described the procedure :)

So glad you're doing well. And so lucky to have Leo with you, I can imagine he would help keep you calm before going into surgery.

Take care, Megan! Fast recovery wishes!

Habebi said...

Sara Louise- yeah they are being so sweet. Keeping me company on the sofa and Leo's been doing lots of little tasks for. It's really not a bad way to recover. Thanks for the well wishes! Bisous!

Habebi said...

annelise- yeah when the doctor described what he was going to do I believe my response was, "oh thank God I'll be knocked out!"

Thank you for the well wishes. I'm sending many good vibes your way btw. I hope you're doing ok. Take care hun!

Caitie said...

Glad to read that you're on the mend! Thanks so much for the words of encourgement you passed onto me and I hope that you are being just as well taken care of. All the animals piled on top of you is fantastic. They are the best :-)

Habebi said...

Caitie- you are most welcome!! We all need those words sometimes even when we're deep in a funk and aren't sure what to do with them (at least in my experience). I hope they help you even if it's in the tiniest bit!!

Thank you for the well wishes and words of encouragement!! They helped a LOT! So cool to have people in my corner supporting me! I'm so lucky! Even my fur babies were there for me. Just really really awesome how well things have worked out.

Habebi said...

Thank you PoeticPrincess!! So far, so good. Hope you are doing well!

Clouds said...

omigoodness! i hope the operation went well. leo is so cute...

The Pliers said...

Fantastic post!

Just think how informed you've become about retinal detachments in such a short period of time. You might just help someone else out one day with that knowledge.

Bonne continuation!

Habebi said...

Clouds- Thank you! Leo is adorable isn't he? He works that sweet Lab face and then some.

Habebi said...

Pliers- Merci! And you are so, SO right once again!! I was telling co-workers about my ordeal and made a comment to the effect of, 'So, if you ever loose ANY bit of vision in your eye get to the ER or opthamologist STAT!' After that a co-worker talked about how she's glad she knows that now as she wouldn've been like me when I first noticed my vision loss.

They may never need that knowledge, but, hey better to have that information and never use it than not having that knowledge at all!

Sarah- Little Ark Photography said...

the thought of eye surgery sounds terrible and painful and yuck in general. hooray for you for getting through it and moving onward and upward. seeing leo in there warmed my heart, as i'm sure it did yours.

Habebi said...

Sarah- Thank you so much for the well wishes! You are right, the eye surgery was pretty painful and I still have some discomfort weeks later, though it's very tolerable as it's very localized thank goodness. How are you and your family doing? I hope all is well in your corner. :-) Take care!