Susan's surgery at UCSF with Dr. Hu on 19 and 22 March, 2013

[susancook]

Good luck, Susan! Your voice mail is full - I called yesterday, but it wouldn't let me leave a message.

Funny, I was also thinking of you and was going to call you! I will delete messages and call you this weekend. It's coming on our 1 year anniversary! Yea! Hugs, Susan

[susancook]

Personal trainer

I have hired a personal trainer at the gym at OHSU. I am afraid that I will hurt my back on all of the apparatus and besides, I still cannot figure out how to use the equipment. Plus, I could use some extra motivation! And no, it's not the hunk that oriented me.....maybe its not too late to change trainers?
Susan

[susancook]

Incisional/Ventral Hernia repair on Tuesday, 18 March, Yikes!

I am trying to get psyched up about surgery on Tuesday for repair of my incisional hernia. I like my general surgeon, Dr. Jamison. He does the ALIF openings for some of the orthopedic surgeons. He seems neat and meticulous, a great attribute in a surgeon. He also does most of the hernia repairs in Portland.

I will stay in the hospital 1-2 nights depending on pain control. I will stay in Portland after surgery.

I need to talk with the anesthesiologist before surgery. I wonder if there is any possibility of anesthesia other than general.

I am also, of course, very protective of my back and wonder about movement postop. Apparently, it is suggested that you logroll after surgery. On logrolling, I am a champ!

I was wondering when I would feel confident about having surgery, and I feel more resigned than confident. But, I am OK with the surgery, just wish that I felt that sense of confidence that I felt before my spine surgery. While I did have a lot of confidence in my spinal surgeon, I was in a lot of back pain and was looking forward to relief from chronic pain. This is the best time for me to have surgery since I am getting very tired of my pants not fitting with my hernia and we will be going to New Zealand and Australia in mid May. That gives me 2 months to recuperate.

My brother is going to be with my husband, Mark during th surgery. My daughter, who is a nurse, will have a few days off after my surgery to help me. My son offered to come up from California, but I think that he is busy enough trying to move up to Portland. His family is moving here in May and will live on the top 2 floors of a duplex and we bought together in Portland.

I am feeling down today, maybe more accurately, I am feeling introspective. I redid my advanced care directive which is always a wake up call.

I hope that I can take my meds for back muscle spasms and nerve regeneration soon after the surgery. I have that discomfort pretty much under control now with the meds. I have been going to the gym 2 times a week for the past month. I love swimming, and was very disappointed that I could not do the breaststroke because of the new kyphosis in my upper cervical vertebrae which I acquired as a result of repair of the thoracic kyphosis. Well, I tried to swim and found that I could not bring my head comfortably out of the water, to breathe with each stroke. I discussed this with my son, who suggested that I use my diving and snorkel mask. Bingo! It worked! I imagine that there were many swimmers chuckling at my swimming with mask and snorkel, plus I forgot to take off my black onyx necklace....a lovely touch! I swam 20 laps without stopping and could have easily gone another 10 or so.

I had a day of painful LLQ pain for one day last week. It started in the morning as soon as I tried to get out of bed and continued every time that I tried to get up from sitting or lying. I was also nauseated. Dr. Jamison said that incarceration was highly unlikely since the incision was completely open. In retrospect, I think that my intestine was partially obstructed or kinked. I considered going to the ER as i was in a lot of pain. I was surprisingly OK the next day. I will never know what happened. I just don't want it to happen again!

Surgery is at 12:30 on Tuesday. I will be there, hopefully with an improved attitude. I want this repair to be permanent. I want to get to feeling that i am FINALLY on the repair from my spinal surgery. The incisional hernia feels like it is a final step in my getting back to my life. Dr. Jamison will use a mesh to repair the incisional hernia. Unfortunately, the possibility of a failure of the repair was about 30%. Factors that increase chances of failure are: gaining weight, lifting too much weight, and poor nutrition.

Susan

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Susan,

Best of luck with your hernia repair---I will be thinking good thoughts for you! Please post and let us know how you're doing when you are able (or perhaps Mark would be willing to let us know).

Take good care,

[babyboomer16]

Susan, I know it is so hard to go through another obstacle toward your onward march toward a good quality of life! Please know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers. You made it through one of the most dangerous surgeries that there is (with your spine)~ you will get through this one like the real trooper you are. Please post when you are up to it~~~ Good Luck ! Linda

[Irina]

Susan,

Best of luck to you! Everything will be OK and over soon. I will be sending positive thoughts your way tomorrow. You have such a good family who cares about you. Btw, you gave me a chuckle describing swimming with a musk and guggles :-)

[mabeckoff]

Hope all goes well with your surgery. Please keep us informed when you can

Melissa

[susancook]

Incisional hernia repair accomplished!

I am sitting up in a chair with my abdominal binder on. My PCA is working well and the nurse also gave me some Toradol. I am not feeling any pain! If this does not make any sense, sorry. Surgery went well yesterday. I was hoping that the anesthesiologist could give me some analgesia in my lumbar spine, but the general surgeon and anesthesiologist discussed it and they decided that it was too risky for me to have a spinal headache and apply a blood patch.

The surgeon said that I had a weak muscle band that he had to cut out. The surgery took about 3 hours. The surgeon said that the surgery "went as expected". I still have my Foley catheter in. The surgeon said that I will be in the hospital for 3-5 days in spite of his earlier prediction of 1-2 days. He said that I had some atrophied abdominal tissue. He put in a mesh as he had planned.

The recovery is much less painful than I thought that it would be, but then again, I have a boatload of meds on board right now. One of the major factors influencing postop failure is weight gain. I did lost about 9 pounds before surgery and will most definitely lose about 20 pounds more in the next 6 months. Constipation and straining may also cause hernia surgery failure. I have lots of OTC meds for prevention of constipation! I am very motivated not to have this surgery done again! This is my final recovery step from spinal surgery!

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers. Susan

[Susie*Bee]

So glad to hear your surgery went so well. And you sound very lucid, so obviously not too "druggy". Looking forward to hearing when you get out and are able to see how things go. It sounds like it's all UP from now on. (big smile!)

[babyboomer16]

Good news!

Susan,
I am so very glad to hear it went well. You just keep that positive attitude and you'll be fine. I just want you to know I'v been thinking of you . So do everything they tell you and I will keep you in my prayers.
You know I can see why they want to keep you longer~~~ it's sounds like quite a surgery! Warm thoughts of you, Linda

[titaniumed]

Good news Susan....your on the road to recovery!

Ed

[susancook]

Thanks Ed, Susie, and Linda for your positive thought. I am still in the hospital, now sitting up in a chair with my abdomenal binder securely enveloping my mid section and keeping my guts in place. Deja vu of 60's girdles that I wore in high school. I should have kept them! My lower abdomen looks like a road map! I am on oral analgesics now, which don't cut the pain quite like the IV meds. If I can get the pain meds figured out today, I should be able to go home tomorrow. Bowels are a concern as I do not want to strain. I still have 2 drains in which are sucking out accumulated fluid and blood.

I woke up this morning to the sound of my bed alarm going off. Seems that I was half asleep and needed to potty quickly, but the staff is worried about my falling. Last thing that I need is a fall!

This surgery was not as bad as I thought that it would be.....well, so far, anyway.

I love, love, love my flat tummy. Dr. Jamison told my husband that he removed some abdomenal skin, so we figure that I also got a free tummy tuck! Now, if they can just figure out how to code it so Medicare pays for it!

Here's to continued healing and bye bye to my menopausal baby.

Susan

[Doodles]

Susan--
So glad the hernia surgery is behind you and sounds very successful--and a tummy tuck--awesome, I want that! I totally remember the girdles in high school and hose. Yuk! Before a daughter's wedding a couple years back, my girls thought I should try the miracle of spanx. I thought I might have to call 911 to get me out. Was half way in and couldn't get it on or off--giant fused spine doesn't help--do not try this at home or a dressing room in JC Penney's .
Take care and good luck with healing and that flat stomach! Janet

[jrnyc]

what a funny story about Spanx...

young women are missing out on those good old days, of real girdles
and panty girdles...they really did hold everything together!
i am glad those "good old days" are over...but i do think that modern
day "control top pantyhose" have nothing on the old time stuff that went
along with "stockings"

i was waiting for mention of your "menopausal baby" Susan.
nice that it is gone...and that you are on the mend...
please be very careful...
i think you have had enough surgery for awhile!

hope you feel better very soon.

jess...and Sparky

[Wish2bstraight]

Susan,

Sending my best wishes for your speedy recovery. It's too bad that you had to go through such a tough time to get a tummy tuck. LOL

Spanx, oh yeah, I remember a time I was in a dressing room and could not get that stuff off, half in and half in a roll around my back. I almost yelled for someone to help me. Don't remember how I got out of it, but I know not to try again, and that was well before my back surgery.

Oh what we do for a good laugh.

Happy recovery, Susan.

Libby