1rst day of surgery

[dawney]

Hello everyone , my name is Eric and I am Dawns boyfriend of 7 years. Today was Dawns first day of surgery and she wanted me to post for her.
Well to start off the day , we were suppose to be there at 7 A.M. and sure enough we overslept and arrived 1/2 hour late. All was well though because as you might know even with an appointment you still don't go right back. Everyone waits.
First of all, surgery #1 (anterior) is done and Dawn is doing well. She is in excruciating pain , but she says it was well worth it.
The surgery started at 9:30 A.M. with the first incision at 10:26.we waited patiently with 2 updates from the medical staff throughout the procedure. Surgery was completed at 3:00 and dawn was sent to the recovery room. The doctor , informed me that the surgery went better than expected especially since Dawn was suppose to have a rib removed , and upon exposure it was determined that the need to remove a rib for placement in her spine was no longer there.
Dawn's mother , aunt and myself would have to wait 3 hours before we would be allowed to see her. When I saw her she looked much better than I thought she would. First words out of her mouth was that She loved me and she was is so much pain. Right after that the nurse asked us to leave for a moment so she could do her tests on dawn. We left the room , stood right outside the drapes. Dawn screamed so loud in pain , I could no longer hold back the tears and I started to cry ( trying not to let her mother see , or that would have been bad ). After we were allowed in the room again Dawns first words were that the pain in her leg that has plagued her with so much pain for so long , was gone !!!!!! I had to be strong, and not start the tears again but that relief of her pain. Was a dream come true for me.
I dont want to write a book , or to bore everyone. But Day 1 was a blessing and worth it. Surgery #2 (posterior is scheduled for Friday. I will post again for her on friday after I return home. Take care all .

[LEELEE85]

Thats so good im glad she had a successful 1st op. All the best for friday aswell. Its good to hear that she's recovering ok. Keep us posted on her second op....

Thanks.. :) leelee

[janski66]

I'm new to this thread but am so glad to hear you made it through the half-way point :) :) It was great to hear that her leg pain seems to be gone already. God is with you and you have alot of us on these boards praying.....it must have been so awesome to see her wake up and tell you how much she loves you.
When I woke up from my last surgery in 1998 my first words after "is it over?" was "I'm so glad the Yankees won the World Series"- :D .I got to watch them win the night before my surgery with my husband. We had been married for 6yrs before that surgery.
We'll be here waiting to see how day 2 goes. Hang in there

[bbest]

Eric -

Thank you so much for posting. I am very happy to hear that the first surgery went well. Dawn is lucky to have someone who cares so much for her. Please let her know that we are all thinking about her and wishing her the absolute best. Please keep us updated.

Brandi

[abhbarry]

Thank you for posting. We will continue to keep her in our prayers. Stay strong!

[CHRIS WBS]

That does it. I'm leaving this forum for good. Surgery is no longer a consideration for me. I will live with my curvature and get on with my life. With so many outstanding medical advances made in just the past five years, there is no reason why anyone should have to come out of surgery screaming and in excruciating pain. As I've stated in earlier posts, this treatment is barbaric!

Good bye all and best wishes to everyone undergoing surgery in the near future.

Chris

[gayle]

that is so great they didnt have to remove a rib afterall! god is so great, im sure everything will go good on friday as well.

[bbest]

Chris -

I don't know if you will even see this, but I had to chime in.

You obviously have every right to make decisions regarding your own medical care and treatment. While, I don't know why Dawn woke up in excruciating pain I do know that the majority of patients I have spoken with or read about have had positive experiences. I woke up the day after my surgeries absolutely pain free. You are right, with the technology and advances in medicine today, there should be no reason for her to suffer like that. It is possible that the medication she was on was not the best one for her. I was originally put on a morphine PCA. I had some pain and discomfort on the morphine so they switched me to a dilaudid PCA which worked wonderfully.

I can understand how you feel, but to call a spinal fusion barbaric seems to be an emotional reponse and may serve as a disservice to those facing surgery in the near future.

I hope you will have a change of heart and stick around. You have made some valuable contributions to this forum and will be missed.

[makaylasmom]

Eric,

Thanks for posted- please send her all my prayers for a speedy recovery and bless you for posting!!

[Cakedec]

Chris WBS,

Before you leave, please read Dawney's boyfriend's post under new thread "Understand her pain". He explains better exactly what was going on with the tests and her pain that upset you.

Neither I, nor most people on this forum, woke up in excruciating pain after our surgery.

Deb

[sweetness514]

I woke up in excruciating pain for my first surgery, and that partly was b/c the meds- Morphine- didn't do much for me and they had to switch them after a few days. Also, for this last surgery I had an epidural cathetar placed before surgery, don't know if any of you had that but it helps tremendously with the pain, although the numbness in the arms and legs caused me some fears but it went away after a few days. I know a lot of people IRL that had the same experience and have read posts where some people here experienced the same thing, so I don't think I can say that the majority or minority had more or less pain than others-that's something that none of us can know for sure.

I think we're all different, and this is a big surgery, so it's not uncommon to have a lot of pain when it's over. I can't and will not speak for others, we all have different thresholds when it comes to pain, and sometimes it takes more time to get a hold of our pain.

As for Chris, if you think this surgery is barbaric that's your right and I don't have a problem with people's opinions, however un PC they might be. Good luck to you, whatever you decide to do with in the future.

I hope Dawn is doing better, and that they can get her pain under control.

[lelc2002@yahoo]

thks for the update, Eric! I have been thinking of her today while I was at my first post-op appointment! I'm sorry to hear about the pain factor. I would be checking constantly with the nurses to ensure she is on heavy pain killers. I would hope she was on morphine?? Ly

[janski66]

Eric- I know you are probably by Dawn's side as much as they let you through this but just in case you are checking the boards, I have medication advice. When I had my surgery, the most important thing I learned was to stay ahead of the pain, medication wise.(They did my anterior and posterior surgery in one shot-12hrs). After they took away my morphine pump, they were giving me Percocet and Flexeril. I had to have them change my dosing schedule because the pain kept getting out of control- I think the schedule I was on was for 2 Percocet every so many hrs. or something.Thanks to my mom's advice- we negotiated with the nurse and got the doctors permission to get the same number of tablets a day but instead of 2 at a time, 1 at a time more frequently.
I had a lot of muscle spasms a couple days after when they had me up moving, that's normal because when they expose the spine for the surgery, they have to cut through the muscles in your back. That's when muscle relaxants may become her best ally. Since you're at her side, thank God
you will be able to help her to get what she needs. Everyone is different
like a lot of us have said, so far it sounds like Dawn is a tough cookie.
( I am sorry if this is scary to anyone surfing the posts but facts are facts and we all did this for a better quality of life- which we have gotten).
Stay strong

[LindaRacine]

Hi Chris...

I know that the time leading up to surgery is really stressful, so I think your reaction to hearing about Dawn's pain was pretty normal. I had a similar reaction to a friend telling me that when she woke up, her back was on fire. The decision to have or not have surgery is a very personal thing, and you're the only one who can make that decision. I'd like you to think, however, of the people who have said that they don't have any memory of their first days post-op.

No one will ever tell you that this isn't a painful surgery. It is. But, drugs are much better than they used to be, and I think most people will tell you that the pain they have postop is tolerable.

Regards,
Linda

[SweetPea]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for posting Dawn's progress. It's good to hear she is doing well, and most of all her pain has been alleviated. Please keep us up on how she does. You both are in my prayers.

[Shari]

Hi Eric,

First of all say "HI" to Dawn from all of us and give her our best wishes. And DO NOT feel guilty for posting what you did. You were only expressing what you felt during her experience. You have NO reason to apologize!!!

If a certain person chooses this post to "announce" that they are leaving this forum, has nothing to do with you or what Dawn is going through!!! It is not an easy surgery to go through as a participant, or as a loved one standing by their side, as you clearly are!!! I personally am proud of you to get on here and express your feelings about her surgery. And clearly, she has expressed her relief of some of her discomfort and pain.

I know I had discomfort and pain after my surgery, wow , what a shock!!!
If I could have gotten up and ran out I would have, but who wouldn't!!!

Eric, you are truly a blessing in Dawn's life, and that fact that you expressed her pain as your pain, is amazing!!!

The person you feel you have to apologize too, in my opinion, has been a negative force for some time. Seems to me that that person has been referring to this procedure as barbaric for quite some time now.

I just want you and Dawn to know that there are many of us out there that respect and understand what what you are going through.

Don't let one negative person stop you from doing the positive thing to do!!!

Shari

[macky]

Shari, you said exactly what I was thinking and so well too!! Boy, I got a bit heated, then read your post and I cooled down a bit as I agreed with you absolutely everything that you said, you put it so well, i definately could not have said it any better.


Eric. congratulations on such a terrific post. I have been concerned about how Dawnie was going and it was so very good to come to this forum and see that through all this, all the things that are going thru your mind, you have had the time to tell us all how she was doing. What an extremely sensitive, caring man you are.

I can tell by your post that you have found your sole mate in Dawney, she sounds like such a lovely person, please give her my love and tell her way over here down under we are praying for her. xx (Australia)

Just a little note here. I remember when I had my first child I said to my best girl friend," there is just no way, no way I am every going to have any more children, I am not going through that pain again" oh yes Macky, four years later I had another son. Pain and thoughts of it drift away, and everything that we all go through, and have yet to go through, is definately worth it.

God bless you both and I am praying for you and Dawney,

Macky xx

[jgbphoto]

Hi Eric,
My mom is recovering from surgery in San Francisco. So I will think good thoughts and best wishes for you, Dawn, and all the other patients, family, and friends going through this recovery now.

Best of luck, you're not alone. We are all loved.

P.S. Chris, are you there? My mom's not had that severe pain post op. It's been managed by the pain medicine. Don't give up. They've taken great care of her.

Laura