The Surgery part 1

  I will break things down into small bits so it will be somewhat easier to understand. This will take several posts to do this in. The first bit is what I want to call the "surgery" Again I believe that it is very important to know who is best for you as far as a surgeons goes. Not all surgeons are the same and not all are good at all surgeries. This includes surgeons that say they do back surgeries. Not all back surgeons would be the right choice for all back surgeries. Remember what I mentioned before that only you and a doctor that you trust should make the decisions about your health care. This includes understanding what surgeons would be the best choice for the surgery that you are in need of. 

  In my case I spent so much time being told that not much is wrong with me that I never started thinking about surgery until I was on the air ambulance on my way to Calgary for surgery. Thoracic surgery that is. I remember when I got off the plane I was in so much pain that I could no even pee. I had a pump linked to my intravenous line that I held in my hands. When the pain got bad I would push on a button and the pain killer would be in my vein. That is if the intravenous is in a vein. It turned out that it was not going in my vein but in my muscle. I ended up in a hallway waiting to get in. The hallway was full of patients. When the flight nurse tried to take the pump away from me that I held in my hands I said no way and wrapped it tightly around my hands. There was no way in the pain I was in and in a hallway full of patients I was giving up my only source of pain killer. The flight nurse said that they had to get back to Whitehorse and couldn't go until they had the pump to take back to Whitehorse General Hospital. I said you find my doctor and get me out of this hall and I will give it back. So the flight nurse found my doctor and they got me out of that hallway and into a room. 

  A new intravenous was put in. They found a good vein on my hand. I had a bed and a room. It was about 36 hours later and I got up in my bed and said there is nothing wrong with me lets go home !! needless to say the medication was now working . The nurses were great. In part I think because they just settled their agreements and moral was high. I could really feel the difference between the hospital moral in Whitehorse as apposed to Calgary.

 I spent allot of time getting carted around to ex ray and MRI's. The MRI didn't go well as I found the position too uncomfortable to lay in. I was taken out and sent back to my room. The next scheduled MRI they made sure I was drugged enough that I didn't care about what position they put me in. Remember please ask for this when you need it. I thought that I would be a whiner not. Be comfortable. 

  Once the MRI was done the plan to have surgery was underway. I was getting really nervous about it. I was starting to understand how risky and rare my type of thoracic surgery was. I did as much research as I could in the short time I was in the hospital. I met my surgeon. He told me that he only has done 4 surgeries like mine. He also mentioned that there is not many surgeons that have done more. I signed the little piece of paper that said I will let the surgeon do the surgery and will let him off of the hook if it doesn't go well. I sure got to hate that paper later on after my surgery. I will let you know how the surgery went and we will get into stage 2 of recovery later on. 

  One thing positive that happened to you today is... One thing that happen positive to me is that this morning when I got up some plans had been made for me to go outside to deal with the internal pump I now carry.  I could be on my way soon. I am due to go out for some adjustment.  take care talk to you all later.