Back Surgery II

Of course nothing can ever be easy in the Slattery household.  We always manage to get the weird unusual sicknesses that no one else would ever get.  You know that kind of thing. 

So I had been officially 1 week post-op.  I had not been feeling very good at all.  My left leg was in alot of pain.  My foot was swollen and painful to walk on.  On Friday April 29th, I went into the clinic because my incision was leaking some fluid.  The PA took all the steri strips off and check out the wound.  Said everything looked  fine, no signs of infection.  Call us back if anything changes.  So I made it through the weekend, and even Monday really.   Monday night the incision had started leaking again so Dan put a gauze bandage over it just to protect my clothing.  It wasn't really that much so I wasn't worried.

Then Tuesday came around.  I drove for the first time, got everyone to school and then was home alone.  I can't do anything so I managed to get comfortable in a chair and was watching a movie.  About half way through my back felt really sweaty, so I got up and looked at my back in the mirror.  The SHOCK!  I suddenly went into when I realized my back was covered in blood.   I called my cousin Pam for a ride to the emergency room.  She dropped me off and went to get her little boy from preschool.  Dan was out of town in Laramie for the DUI Conference.  The nurse and ER doctor were very fast in examining my back and making a plan of attack.  First an IV....which they poked me in both arms for!  Yes I am still upset about that.  Human Pincushion is not in my life description.   Then I went to have a MRI with contrast.  They gave me morphine to help with the pain because I had to lay on my back....NOT comfortable.

The wonderful MRI ladies whisked me back to the ER, and then the Dr. came in and wanted to know when and what I had last eaten.  Then 3 nurses came in and JETTED me to pre-op.  Mind you everything was happening very quickly.  Once in pre-op, there were now 5 nurses, asking questions, changing my gown, and generally moving very fast.   The anesteologist was suddenly there and asking how last weeks surgery went.  I told him I didn't want to feel any burning, or basically any pain this time!  So within the matter of approx 30 minutes, I found myself in the OR again!  The words I heard were sucnifcant hematoma.  Scary!  They were going to go in and clean out all the blood that was exiting through my incision like a waterfall.

I woke up to the horrible back on FIRE again pain.  The wake up process was much more painful this time.  I not only had just endured my second surgery in a week, but now had a drain coming out of my body and 17 staples in my back instead of just steri strips.

I spent the night in the hospital and was finally able to get my pain under control.  I came home with the drain still in my back.  NOT fun.

Dan was still out of town, so my cousin Pam and her 4 kids moved in.  What a help they were to us.  We all managed to survive the impromptu sleep over.

I returned to the Dr. on that Friday.  He did take the drain out but the staples have to stay until Monday the 16th.  Right now I am off work indefinitely.  It is very quiet and boring when everyone is at work or sleeping but I suppose I will survive.  I am doing everything they have told me to do which is basically don't do anything but rest and walk.

I am not sure I am looking forward to tomorrow.  Tuesdays are my new nemesis!