Words can't even describe how thankful I am to everyone who has been faithfully praying and encouraging our family these past few weeks. Once again, I am overwhelmed by the amount of support and love shown to us. E-mails, cards, flowers, meals, watching Amaya, phone calls, etc.... And never have I been so overwhelmed by God's presence!! A dear friend of our family sent me a card this week and said, "Our God never sleeps nor slumbers!" How incredible is that!
Surgery overall went very well and I am so pleased to report that my tumor was BENIGN!! We had a few little bumps in the road... at late surgery report time... difficulty getting in an IV... finding out that a little oxygen mask wouldn't do the trick because of the location of the surgery and that I needed to be intubated (a breathing tube inserted down by throat)... a very looong surgery time... not having the luxury of a private room... and poor tolerance to pain meds. BUT - once again, God placed people in my paths to give me encouragement! The nurse who admitted me in the pre-op area just happened to be a good friend to my closest friend at work. She joked around and made me feel as comfortable as I could. I even got the only pre-op room with a bed so I could REALLY get comfortable!! Generally speaking, every single person taking care of me whether it was escort or the anesthesiologist or the IV technician was flat out amazing!
From the pre-op waiting room I had to say good-bye to Steve, I was then taken to another room to get prepped for surgery. The nurse asked me all of the same questions as the admitting nurse - double checking EVERYTHING! The anesthesiologist, certified nurse anesthetist, and OR circulating nurse came in to talk to me about what to expect etc. This is when I found out about the breathing tube... (eek!)... they put it in when I was "sleeping" and took it out when I was able to follow commands after surgery... and they were right - I don't remember anything. My ENT specialist - who is absolutely awesome - marked where she was going to be doing surgery and told me that she would do her very best no matter what happened. She told me it would be about a 2 hour procedure once she got the five nerves surrounding the tumor located and secured. While I was still under anesthesia, a pathologist would look at the cells of the tumor and determine whether it was benign or malignant.
Around 1:45pm, they brought me back to the OR... I'd been in an OR before during nursing school and have seen enough television shows depicting OR rooms, but for some reason I was still expecting Dr. McDreamy to be walking through the doors... my ENT specialist wished that were the case too! :-) Everyone was an absolute blast - the anesthesiologist was "trying" to tell jokes while the nurse anesthetist was putting in my "sleepy medication." I was told that pretty soon I would get really loopy and forget everything. I wasn't loopy at all - my IV was hurting too bad! They looked at my IV site and sure enough, it had blown through the vein. Literally, five seconds later the anesthesiologist had another IV put in on my other hand and I didn't feel a thing! We starting talking about the crazy things that Amaya does and the next thing I remember was the recovery room.
In recovery (around 6pm)... I remember being sick to my stomach and wanting to know where my mom was and wanting to know where Amaya was.
Around 7pm, I was brought up to my room and I remember being carted by an older lady, thinking... "so much for my private room." Then, a nurse told me to roll on my side and they were going to transfer me to my bed. A few minutes later, I saw Steve and his parents. My parents were taking care of Amaya all day and overnight, while Steve's parents kept him company in the hospital. I don't remember much of what Steve told me... I just remember him telling me that the tumor was benign and that Amaya was with my parents. Guess that was all that was on mind...
My hospital stay was very abbreviated - for which I am truly thankful. They inserted a drain right behind my ear to drain any fluid and for that reason, they kept me overnight. My overnight nurse was again absolutely awesome - very attentive and genuinely concerned. I felt bad because a trip to the bathroom only 5 feet away meant disconnecting my IV from the wall, unhooking my drain, taking off my pulse oximeter measuring my heart rate and oxygen level, and taking off my SCDs from my legs (compression devices to prevent blood clots - that in my humble opinion only disrupt a person's sleep and don't really do any good) only to then put them back on a few minutes later. I usually tried to time my trips when he had to give me pain medication or check my vital signs, but from 1am- 4am both me and my roommate were undisturbed and got some good sleep!
Steve had planned on spending the night with me in the hospital, but because I was in a semi-private room, there was barely enough room for him to even sit comfortably in a chair. He was at my bedside when I woke up that morning - what a great thing to see - he's pretty awesome too! My doctor came in right away in the morning and pulled the drain - probably one of the most disturbing things I had to go through during my entire stay - and she said I was good to go home! Seriously? She reassured me that everything went well in surgery - that all of my nerves were intact - and I'd follow up with her in three months. I still felt drugged up and woozy and unsure if I was going to be able to care for my incision at home, but if I'm good to go - let's go! Unfortunately, we had to wait nearly three hours for my prescriptions to get filled. Grr...
The remainder of Saturday went well... picked up Amaya and rested for most of the day. Sunday didn't go so well... Trying to find a delicate balance between taking enough pain medication without getting constipated was too difficult despite my best efforts - so no fancy schmancy medication for me... just Tylenol. And whether it was the lasting effects of the anesthesia or the pain medications or all of the above... my stomach didn't like anything I was doing and let me know it wasn't happy! Nurse Steve to the rescue! I'm so thankful for him!! I was able to get a good nap in after that episode and the remainder of the evening we rested while sipping apple juice.
Today's been a good day - except that our furnace died this morning. The pain is manageable with Tylenol - not ideal, but better than being constipated, drugged up, and drowsy all day. My left ear is still in a fog... feels like half of my head is underwater. My mom's going to bring me some mineral oil tomorrow to try to dry up the fluid that is in there. One of my nerves still hasn't woken up from surgery - the one that controls my smile... Grrr... I didn't think I was that vain of a person... but maybe I am. My doctor said it could take anywhere for a couple of days to up to a year for it to return back to normal. Let's hope it'll just be a few days... I kinda liked my smile... :-)
Steve's mom was able to come over for a few hours today to play with Amaya while Steve did some homework and I napped. Steve starts back up with grad school tomorrow evening and Thursday evening until the first week of August. My mom is planning on coming over tomorrow night to help with Amaya. Steve is still on a weight restriction for another 3 weeks, (but has been bending the rules a little) and I have a 10 pound weight restriction for another week... so Amaya has had to learn to be a little more independent!
In the past four months, we've had a total of four hospitalizations, two surgeries, and 3 ER visits (and that's just Steve and me!) What I've learned is this: God is faithful. God is always with us. God is just a prayer away. God will provide. God will supply your needs. So many people have told us, "God will never give you more than you can handle." Over the past few weeks, I've questioned this over and over and over. So many times I've hit my breaking point where I just didn't think I could make it - where I literally wanting to crawl in my bed and throw the covers over my head and be done. When Steve had to have surgery... When Amaya got the stomach flu... When I got hives... When I had to have surgery... Without my family, my church, my friends, my co-workers to uplift me, support me, encourage me... I wouldn't have been able to make it through... but without God... I am nothing... But with God and His faithful servants - I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!!