Monday morning came and I was getting really nervous. It only took 2 tries to get an IV started (yay me). Then came the block for my arm so I wouldn't be able to feel anything. They told me that different parts of my body would twitch until they found the right nerve for my arm. They kept hitting the nerve for my diaphragm. So I would uncontrollably start to twitch from my diaphragm which made me feel like I was having a seizure, along with uncontrollable grunting. Yeah it was great. They finally found the nerve for my arm and eventually it went completely numb. My surgery was scheduled for 8am. I was happy I wouldn't have to wait or be postponed for later in the day. Yet my surgeon was late. 830 came and went then about quarter till 9 she finally got there. They then tell me that they don't do surgeries until 830. Ummmmm....... then why schedule me at 8?!?! Annoyance. Anyways, once I was FINALLY taken back things went much better. They were able to only have to do a partial replacement. She said things couldn't have gone any better. She was really pleased. Once I was taken to my room they told me that once my block wore off they would give me morphine and norco for pain. My block wore off and I was in so much pain I couldn't stop crying. The morphine and norco did absolutely nothing to ease the pain. I asked my nurse (through tears) if there was anything else that could be given to me. She said no, that the block had worn off and I was getting exactly what the surgeon had prescribed. I took that as a hint to deal with the pain and stop my belly aching. Thank god that not much later the nurses switched out. My new nurse took one look at me and said she was going to call my surgeon and see if there was anything she could do for me. Within 30 minutes I was getting much stronger meds. Morphine every 2 hours and percocet every 4 hours. It helped and I was able to get a little sleep. Then about 4am she came in for another dose of morphine. As she was injecting it, it was extremely painful. She stopped and tried to get some blood to come through the iv but nothing was coming through. Turns out that at some point through the night the IV came out of the vein. My wrist had been slowly swelling and I think it was the meds from the iv pooling under the skin. So they pulled that IV out and 3 nurses (and needle sticks) later they were able to start a new IV. OMG! Once she injected the morphine through the new IV I felt absolutely nothing! I was so excited and was finally able to get some sleep. I almost didn't want to leave the hospital because I didn't want to be without the morphine. Eventually I went home on Tuesday. It's been so painful. I've not been able to concentrate on anything other than the pain because it is so overwhelming. But each day it gets a little better.
BEFORE
AFTER
I had a therapy appointment today. My surgeon wanted to see me also. She ended up taking my big bandages off. She also moved my shoulder around. I'm pretty excited at how much movement I already have without having any therapy yet. They weren't going to start therapy for another 2 weeks but they decided to start me next week. They have me on some additional pain meds which is going to help a lot. I'm really looking forward to therapy and to getting back to life! Thanks to everyone for all the support and well wishes. It means so much!
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